Census records carry a goldmine of information for genealogists, a snapshot in time, in 5 or 10-year cycles. Dependant on the year or location of your Census you will find information such as your ancestor’s names, ages, address, occupation, relationship status, amongst other information. Different countries carry different information with more recent years carrying much more information than the original ones that tended to just list names and ages of occupants.
Australia
- State Library of Victoria – Many of the Census records for the period 1788-1901 no longer exist as they were destroyed at some point in time. The link here provides information on what may be available and how to find it. There are records that exist but they are few and far between, unfortunately, due to government policy Census data was destroyed following statistical analysis from 1901-1996.
Canada
- Ancestry.com has the Canadian Census Collection which has census information for each decade from 1851-1911, 1906 and 1916 for Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
United Kingdom
- Ancestry.com has census records for many jurisdictions worldwide offering transcriptions and original documents for download for a fee. The UK Census Collection contains records for 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911 for areas such as England, Wales, Scotland, Channel Islands, Isle of Man. Note though that not all areas have census data for every year or only a transcription is available.
- Findmypast has census records for many jurisdictions worldwide offering transcriptions and original documents for download for a fee. The UK Census Collection contains records for 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911, and 1921 for England, Wales, Scotland, however not all areas have census data for every year or there is only a transcription is available.
United States
- Census Finder – a search form to assist you in locating online census transcriptions and images, including Native American Census Record links.
Worldwide
- Census Finder – a search form to assist you in locating online census transcriptions and images, including Native American Census Record links.
- Family Search – this site run by the Church of Latter Day Saints contains numerous census records worldwide including Australia, Canada, Denmark, United Kingdom, Switzerland, and the USA.
- Free Census – this is a major project currently being undertaken by genealogists worldwide transcribing census records, much like the FreeBMD and FreeReg projects. The aim is to make a transcription of all Census records for England and Wales available for free. It is important to note that this is purely a transcription of the record and as always you need to refer to the original record to ensure the accuracy of this. It is obviously a mammoth task and it is advisable to check back regularly to see if your record has become available.
- USGenWeb Census Project – a project currently being run by volunteers to transcribe all USA census records for free access online.