State Census Information: A Research Guide: Introduction

In addition to the decennial censuses conducted by the the United States government and the Census Bureau, individual states have also conducted censuses at various times to supplement the Federal census. See the list of state censuses on the US Census Bureau's genealogy page for state censuses by year.

The state-level census-gathering efforts were discontinued in the early part of the twentieth century. Today, state-level census information is derived from the Federal Census. See the United States Census: Online and Print Sources library guide for more information about the Federal Census.

This guide pulls together reference materials about censuses conducted by the states. It includes both the census records, (listings of individuals by name) and statistical tabulations.

In addition to sources of general information about state censuses, this guide includes more detail about the state censuses of New York and how to access the data from those censuses. Because of local interest, more detail about the state census data is also available for Tompkins County, New York.