Your Guide to the

1940 uS CenSuS

How to Find Your Family in Free Census Records Online

1Make a list of relatives you want to look for.Who do you know was alive on or before April 1, 1940? (People born later in the year weren’t supposed to be counted.) Write

down their full names and any other key details you know about them: when they were born, where they would have been living dur-ing the census year, any other people who would have been in their households.

Record this information on the 1940 Census Checklist included in this packet—it will serve as a to-do list as you work through the rest of the steps.

2 Pinpoint residences. You won’t be able to search the 1940 records by name right away: efforts to index the names and other data in the census

can’t begin until the records become public, and the work will take months to complete.

In the meantime, you can look up your relatives if you know what “enu-meration district” (eD) they lived in. to figure out the right eD, you’ll need to know your relative’s street address or neighborhood. Several places to look for a place of residence:

• city directories• 1930 census (especially if you think the family stayed put)• newspapers

Record the residence information you find on your 1940 Census Checklist.

3ID the ED.Using Steve Morse’s 1940 Census eD finder <stevemorse.org/census/unified.html>, plug the address in to find out what

enumeration district that location was in.

You also can consult eD maps from the National Archives, following the instructions on its website <www.archives.gov/research/cen-sus/1940/start-research.html> (see the third step).

Write the enumeration district on your 1940 Census Checklist. of course, you might not have been able to pinpoint the eD for every relative you want to look for in the census. on your checklist, highlight the names of the relatives for whom you do know the eD. You’ll focus on looking for these people’s records first.

4Visit <1940census.archives.gov>.the digitized 1940 census records will be live on this website as of April 2. In the past, record releases of this magnitude have

overwhelmed web servers, so don’t be alarmed if the expected heavy traffic causes slow load times or temporary site outages—keep trying.

When you get to this site, you’ll be able to pick out an enumeration district to view its records. Browse through the records to find your relative. Look for street addresses in the left side of the census record.

Many people have the same name, so check that the ages and details about other household members match what you know about your family—that way, you’ll be sure you’ve found the right person.

Soon after the records are released on <1940census.archives.gov>, you’ll be able to browse them on several other genealogy websites, too:

• Ancestry.com• Archives.com• CensusRecords.com• FamilySearch.org

Note that all these sites will offer access to the 1940 census for free—you don’t need to pay to view them even on a subscription website.

5Make sense of the census records. Use the included 1940 Census Form to help understand the column headers on the records as you view them. When you

find your relative, copy the information from his household onto the form for future reference.

on your 1940 Census Checklist, note the page number where you found your family so you can easily look it up again later.

Your Guide to the 1940 US Census

Census Search ChecklistGetting organized will make it easier to identify your ancestors in 1940 census records. Fill in this chart (feel free to make photocopies) with the names of the folks you’re looking for and their basic information in 1940.

name Age in 1940

Marital Status (single,

div., wid.)

Likely Household Members (names and ages in 1940)

Place of residence (ideally, a street

address)

ed Search result

1. Parents:

Spouse:

Children:

2. Parents:

Spouse:

Children:

3. Parents:

Spouse:

Children:

4. Parents:

Spouse:

Children:

5. Parents:

Spouse:

Children:

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Find these and more genealogy how-to books, CDs, classes and article downloads at ShopFamilyTree.com <shopfamilytree.com>.

The GenealoGisT’s Census PoCkeT RefeRenCeby the editors of Family Tree Magazine#W8870

This handy collection puts census-related resources, tips, lists and need-to-know facts right at your fingertips.

Census seCrets CDby the editors of Family Tree Magazine#Z9348

Packed with easy-to-understand how-tos, tools, quick-reference guides and checklists, this CD will be your census research companion.

Online Census seCrets On-DemanD webinarPresented by Allison Dolan #Z7022

Learn the best strategies for finding your ancestors in online US census records.

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