District of Columbia Census

Federal
Federal census records are found at the Family History Library, the National Archives, and other federal and state archives. The United States Research Outline provides more detailed information about these records.

In 1790, residents living east of the Potomac in what is now the District of Columbia were in Prince George and Montgomery counties of Maryland. The census for Maryland is indexed. The area west of the Potomac was included in the Virginia census, which is missing.

The Family History Library has the U.S. federal censuses of the District of Columbia for 1800 (the eastern portion only), 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920.

The 1810 and most of the 1890 censuses have been lost or destroyed. The enumerations of a few streets in 1890 are on FHL film 926498 and all the names have been indexed (FHL book 973 X2na 1890; films 543341-42). The veterans schedule for 1890 (FHL film 0338277) and an index (FHL book 975.3 X22j 1890) are also at the Family History Library.

Indexes are available for the 1800, 1810, 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, and 1870 censuses in book and microfiche formats. The 1880 has a partial soundex (phonetic) index on microfilm. The 1900 has a complete soundex as does the 1920 census. For the 1910 census, the Family History Library has a street index for the District of Columbia (FHL fiche 6331481).

Mortality schedules for 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880 are on FHL films 1549978-9. All have been indexed.

District and Police Censuses
In addition to the federal censuses, district censuses were taken beginning in 1803. Those for 1803, 1807, and 1818 have little information, but those for 1867 and 1878 are quite detailed. They provide name, age, sex, marital status, color, length of residence, occupation, and nativity of parents. These are at the Maryland State Archives.

Police censuses were also taken in 1885, 1894, 1897, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1912, 1915, 1917, 1919, and 1925 (the 1925 census is missing). These are similar in content to the 1820 federal census and were published in the Annual Reports of the Commissioner of the District of Columbia, which are available at the National Archives.