Helping you get the most out of our U.S. Census Collection has been a top priority. To date, we’ve painstakingly gone through hundreds of millions of records spanning hundreds of years to make these 14 censuses easier to search and sharper to see. And 1930 is in the works. Take a look — you might just discover someone who was here the whole time.
Deciphering a name on some U.S. Census records can be difficult. So we’ve enhanced the 1850, 1860, 1870, 1900, 1910 and 1920 censuses by adding an alternate where the information was unclear — over 20% new names in total. This improved indexing lets you find a record by searching either name.
Only heads of households were mentioned by name in early censuses. And many of them shared that name (John Smith, for example) with others in their community. We’ve expanded the indexes for the 1790-1840 censuses with at least four new fields — like the total number of people in the household — so you can use your family knowledge to narrow down your search results.
Begin your free family tree with a few simple facts. We’ll help you discover a lot more.
Start your treeThis ensures you can access all historical records on Ancestry.com.
Now's the perfect time to dig in or renew the search for the missing pieces in your family story.
Click the plus signs below to see the difference.
![]() |
1910 U.S. Census Search collection |
| Before | After | |
![]() |
![]() |