Free 1950 Census Search

PROVO, Utah — March 31, 2022 — Historic Journals LLC (sponsor of the Open Genealogy Data project) has created a website for searching the 1950 US Census for free. The website is found at free1950.com and does not require a subscription or creation of an account.

The census, taken every 10 years, is a very valuable source of historical information for anyone researching their own family history, as well as for researchers in many academic and professional fields. The census provides a glimpse into the lives of virtually everyone alive in the US at the time the census was taken. We see where they lived, and with whom. We see what they were doing for work at the time. We also see who lived around them.

Because the census includes a lot of personal information, each census is protected and kept private for 72 years. For the 1950 census, today is the last day of the privacy period. The National Archives will release the 1950 Census to the public for the first time just hours from now on April 1st. History and genealogy buffs will be able to get their first glimpses of this valuable data.

Initially, the search indexes will have many errors in them because they are automatically created using automatic handwriting recognition technology to transcribe the names of individuals. As corrections are made to the indexes, they will become more accurate and make it even easier to find information about people.

In addition to providing free search capabilities, the free1950.com website plans to provide access to bulk census index data soon. More details about accessing bulk census data will be made available in the coming days.

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