Decennial Population and Housing Censuses Guide

Counting the U.S. Population

Every ten years since 1790 the U.S. Bureau of the Census has surveyed the inhabitants of the country, and has produced statistical reports summarizing the findings of those enumerations. Taking a decennial census is mandated by Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution. The number of persons residing in states is used 1) to apportion the members of the House of Representatives among the states, and 2) frequently to distribute federal grant monies to the states.

Decennial Census Statistics

The NCSU Libraries contains summary statistical reports compiled from each of the U.S. decennial censuses. The majority of the Census Bureau's products are now issued only electronically. Digital products began modestly with some CD-ROM products for the 1980 census. More recently the Census Bureau has scanned some earlier census reports and made them available in .PDF format.

This guide summarizes the NCSU Libraries holdings of decennial population and housing census reports from 1790 to the present. The Libraries' census holdings on these two topics and links to electronic resources are listed for each decennial census:

1790	1800	1810	1820	1830
1840	1850	1860	1870	1880
1890	1900	1910	1920	1930
1940	1950	1960	1970	1980
1990	2000

Statistics vs. Schedules

In addition to publishing summary statistics compiled from census returns, the Census Bureau also releases the survey instruments that individuals or census enumerators completed. Census schedules are held in confidence for 72 years to protect individuals' private information. The most recently released census schedules are these from the 1930 census that were released in 2002. The NCSU Libraries does not collect census schedules.

The census schedules are of great interest to genealogists and family historians, and are available locally in the State Library of North Carolina's Genealogical Search Room. The North Carolina Office of Archives and History's Archives Search Room is another source of genealogical information relating to North Carolinians. Both of these state agencies are a part of the Department of Cultural Resources, and their search rooms are located at 109 East Jones Street, Raleigh.