Research Guides: Census Data: Historic Census Data

Historic Data on the Internet

Finding historic census data can be a little difficult. The Census Bureau makes available the data from the 2010 and 2000 Censuses online at American Factfinder. However, they do not provide access to the earlier censuses any longer.

Explore census data
Data.census.gov is the new platform to access demographic and economic data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The vision for data.census.gov is to improve the customer experience by making data available from one centralized place so that data users spend less time searching for data and content, and more time using it. ...
Use the Chrome browser for best results.
Censuses - Topic Guide
A guide from the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) highlighting their collection of census information.
Census of Population and Housing
These are the scanned forms of the censuses from 1790 to the present.
Historic Census Publications
This guide comes from the University of Michigan's Library. Most of the resources it points to are freely available. There may be some that are limited to Michigan's students, staff and faculty. If that happens, check with our own online catalog, the Baker/Berry Reference Desk or the Evans Map Room for alternatives.
NHGIS (National Historical Geographic Information System)
The National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS) is a project to create and freely disseminate a database incorporating all available aggregate census information for the United States between 1790 and 2000. STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION!
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*Collect and enrich historical and contemporary U.S. Census summary data.
* Incorporate these data into a Geographic Information Systems framework.
*Create a web-based system for access to both census data and the metadata.
Social Explorer
This resource lets you visualize historical and current census data. Social Explorer also includes data for crime, health, religion, censuses for Canada and the United Kingdom and development indicators.
To take full advantage of Social Explorer, you must create an account within the resource.
U. S. Census Bureau Data Repository
The ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research) announced a new data repository of census information from the U. S. Census Bureau. This new repository preserves and disseminates survey instruments, specifications, data dictionaries, codebooks, and other materials from the U. S. Census Bureau.