Census Questions and Tracing Your Family History

Use the Questions to Help You Transcribe the Census Records

At some point you are very likely to need to know the census questions for each census year.

If you are going to transcribe census record data from microfilm rather than printing it from the microfilm machine, you are going to need a form which follows the order of questions on the original census form.

If you make your own, you need to know what the questions were and the order in which they were asked.

So, What Were The Questions?

To see the US questions for the census years from 1790 to 1940, use the year link in the US Census table below.

To see the Canadian questions for the census years from 1851 to 1921, use the year link in the Canada Census table below.

To Read The List In Your Browser

To open the Question List in your browser, just click on the appropriate link in the table below for the census year you wish to see. It will open the list in your browser. To get back to this page from there, simply use the "back" or "<" button on your browser.

To Download The Census Questions In An Acrobat File

If you want to save the question list to your computer so you can read it or print it later, you will need to download the Acrobat file containing the question list.

If you're on a PC, right-click (Mac users: Ctrl-click) on the year in the table below. Internet Explorer users, select Save Target As.... Firefox users select Save Link As... from the menu, and enter the file name and location where you wish to save the file. The file will download to your machine, and you will remain on this page.

To Get The Adobe Acrobat Reader For Your Computer

In order to read the Census Question List you have downloaded, you will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your machine. If you do not currently have it installed, you can get the Adobe Reader free here. This will open the Adobe site in a new window or a new tab in your browser so you do not have to leave this site. Follow the instructions at Adobe to install the reader on your machine, and then close that window or tab to return here.

United States Census Questions

1790	1800	1810	1820	1830	1840
1850	1860	1870	1880	1890	1900
1910	1920	1930	1940	1950	-

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Tables for the Canada Census Questions

Canada Census Before Confederation in 1867

1851 Canada East and West	1851 New Brunswick
1851 Nova Scotia	-
1861 Canada East and West	1861 New Brunswick
1861 Nova Scotia	1861 Prince Edward Island

Canada Census After Confederation in 1867

1871	1881	1891	1901
1906	1911	1916	1921
-	1926	1931	-

Another very important part of the information you need to keep for all census records and indexes you find is the source for your successful search. If you need to go back to that record, you need to know how to find it again. Also, sourcing is important for anyone reading your family history file to show them that you did not make this up!

Be Ready with the Correct Forms!