Free tool
The Census Window
Which U.S. censuses could have counted the people living in your house, and which of those records you can read today.
Gablebook Plus $1.95/month or $19.50/year, or a $1.00 Print Week · Free during preview. The Census Window is always free.
How the window is worked out
- The United States has counted its people every ten years since 1790.
- The National Archives opens individual census records 72 years after the count. The 1950 census opened on April 1, 2022; the 1960 census opens on April 1, 2032. (National Archives, 1950 Census)
- Most of the 1890 population schedules were lost after a fire at the Commerce Department building in Washington in January 1921. (National Archives, Prologue)
- Place names: part of Newburgh Township; the Village of South Newburgh from 1907; the Village of Garfield Heights from 1919; a city in 1930, after that year’s census counted more than 5,000 people. The 1930 census still lists it as Garfield Heights Village, so the window shows the city name from 1940. Town populations 1920–2020 are the U.S. Census counts listed on Wikipedia’s “Garfield Heights, Ohio” page. (Encyclopedia of Cleveland History; USGenWeb 1930 census index, Cuyahoga County)
- A house is counted only if people lived in it on census day, so a house can sit in the window and still not appear. Street names and house numbers have changed in many towns; check old maps if an address does not match.