The IAGenWeb Project - Census Info

INTRODUCTION TO IOWA'S CENSUS
IOWA'S FEDERAL CENSUS YEARS
WHERE TO FIND THE FEDERAL CENSUS MICROFILMS
WHERE TO FIND THE STATE CENSUS MICROFILMS
RESEARCH/DATA TRANSCRIPTION TOOLS
IOWA FEDERAL CENSUS PROJECT
IOWA STATE CENSUS PROJECT

OTHER HELPFUL WEBSITES

Iowa's Territorial & State Census Years

1836	Wisconsin Territorial Census: Includes the original counties of Dubuque and Demoine; covered the area to become Iowa.
1838	Wisconsin Territorial Census: Includes the original counties of Dubuque and Demoine; covered the area to become Iowa.
1838	Special Census: Van Buren County only.
1840	Territorial Census; 18 original counties and several precincts which comprised the area then known as Iowa.
1841	Special Census: Includes head of household; Incomplete
1844	Special Census: Keokuk County only.
1846	Special Census: Louisa, Polk, and Wapello counties.
1847	Special Census: Clinton, Davis, Louisa, Marion, Scott, Van Buren & Wapello counties.
1849	Special Census: Benton, Boone, Clinton, Jackson, Louisa, Madison, Poweshiek, Scott, Van Buren, & Washington counties.
1850	Special Census: Black Hawk, Pottawatomie, Tama, Clarke, Taylor, & Page counties.
1851	Special Census: Cedar, Clinton, Decatur, Gutherie, Iowa, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Madison, Mahaska, Page, Pottawattamie, Poweshiek, Scott, & Washington counties.
1852*	Special Census: Appanoose, Benton, Black Hawk, Boone, Buchanan, Butler, Cedar, Clayton, Davis, Des Moines, Fayette, Fremont, Gutherie, Henry, Iowa, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Jones, Keokuk, Lee, Linn, Louisa, Lucas, Madison, Mahaska, Muscatine, Marion, Marshall, Mills, Monroe, Page, Polk, Pottawattamie, Powesheshiek, Scott, Tama, Taylor, Union, Van Buren, Warren, Washington, Winnesheik, Wapello and Wayne counties.
1853	Special Census: Warren County only.
1854	Special Census: Adams, Adair, Allamakee, Appanoose, Benton, Black Hawk, Boone, Bremer, Buchanan, Cedar, Chickasaw, Clarke, Clayton, Clinton, Crawford, Dallas, Davis, Decatur, Delaware, Dubuque, Des Moines, Fayette, Fremont, Gutherie, Hardin, Harrison, Henry, Iowa, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Jones, Keokuk, Lee, Linn, Louisa, Lucas, Madison, Mahaska, Marion, Marshall, Mills, Monona, Muscatine, Montgomery, Monroe, Page, Polk, Pottawattamie, Poweshiek, Scott, Shelby, Story, Tama, Taylor, Union, Van Buren, Wapello, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Webster and Winnesheik counties.
1856	State Population Census; First Iowa state census naming every member of the household. Also states years resided in state.
1859	Special Census: Adair, Adams, Allamakee, Appanoose, Audubon, Benton, Black Hawk, Boone, Bremer, Buchanan, Butler, Calhoun, Carroll, Cass, Cedar, Cerro Gordo, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Clarke, Clayton, Clinton, Crawford, Dallas, Davis, Decatur, Delaware, Des Moines, Dickinson, Dubuque, Fayette, Floyd, Franklin, Fremont, Greene, Grundy, Gutherie, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Harrison, Henry, Howard, Humboldt, Ida, Iowa, Jackson, Jasper, Lucas, Madison, Mahaska, Marion, Marshall, Mills, Mitchell, Monona, Monroe, Montgomery, Muscatine, Page, Palo Alto, Plymouth, Pocahontas, Polk, Pottawattamie, Poweshiek, Ringgold, Sac, Scott, Shelby, Story, Tama, Taylor, Union, Van Buren, Wapello, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Webster, Winnebago, Winnesheik, Woodbury, Worth and Wright counties.
1881	City/Town Schedules: Mason City, Cerro Gordo County only.
1885	State Population Census
1888	City/Town Schedules: Algona, Kossuth County only.
1889	City/Town Schedules: North Des Moines, Polk County; Cherokee, Cherokee County.
1891	City/Town Schedules: Emmetsburg, Palo Alto County; Spencer, Clay County; Villisca, Montgomery County.
1892	City/Town Schedules: Carroll, Carroll County; Wright and Eagle Grove, Wright County; Esterville, Emmett County; Jefferson, Greene County; Tama, Tama County
1893	City/Town Schedules: Mystic, Appanoose County; Hampton, Franklin County; Ames and Nevada, Story County; West Union, Fayette County
1895	State Population Census
1895	City/Town Schedules: Bloomfield, Davis County; Independence, Buchanan County.
1896	Oelwein, Fayette County.
1897	City/Town Schedules: New Hampton, Chickasaw County.
1905	State Population Census; difficult to read.
1915	State Population Census; filmed on 16mm with high reduction 42x filming & needs a high magnification reader to read it.
1925	State Population Census; by townships; lists names, relationships, sex, age, marital status and date if married, parent's names and birth place of parents.

* The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints enumerated its members in Pottawatomie, Iowa, as part of the Iowa state census ordered in 1852 for all residents. The Church schedules contain the standard information asked for in the Iowa tally, but also include wagons, guns, number of family members ill, aged, or infirmed, and oxen/cattle/horses. These data suggest a dual function for the census; to comply with the Iowa law and to prepare for transporting a large body of people westward, a project even then underway.

Last updated on
August 12, 2001