The 1940 & 1950 US Censuses: seeing the exact street where your parents or grandparents grew up.

What the 1940 Census Reveals That No Earlier Census Asked

Taken in April 1940 at the tail end of the Great Depression and on the eve of World War II, the 1940 US Federal Census introduced socioeconomic questions that paint an extraordinary portrait of a family’s daily life:

• Exact street address and whether the home was owned or rented (with the house’s market value or monthly rent in dollars).
• A circle-X symbol (⊗) next to one person’s name in each household—identifying the exact family member who opened the door and answered the census taker’s questions!
• Highest grade of school completed by each adult and child.
• Where each person lived five years earlier, on April 1, 1935—crucial for tracking families who moved during the Dust Bowl or Great Depression.
• Exact occupation, industry, hours worked during the last week of March 1940, weeks worked in 1939, and annual wage/salary income.

The 1950 Census & “Sample Line” Questions

Taken starting April 1, 1950 during the post-WWII baby boom, the 1950 Census captures America’s mid-century transformation. In addition to the main household rows at the top of the sheet, six lines on every page were designated as “Sample Lines” summarized at the bottom of the form.

If your parent, grandparent, or great-grandparent landed on one of those six sample lines, the bottom of the sheet records their parents’ birthplaces, where they lived one year earlier (1949), their 1949 income, and whether they served in World War II, World War I, or any other US military conflict.

Using Enumeration District (ED) Maps When a Street Name Changed

When a family cannot be found by name search because of an OCR transcription error, our historians bypass name indexes entirely by using National Archives Enumeration District (ED) maps—locating the exact city block or rural township from a city directory or family letter and reading the neighborhood street by street.