New York State census records have been taken for the entire state every ten years since 1825, with the exception of 1885 and 1895. Between 1885 and 1905, the census was taken once in 1892. The earliest New York State census in 1790 was for Albany County only.
To access all of the information available on a census record, you need to go to the record itself; the index provides only part of the information recorded. To locate a census record about a person, you must know his/her name, the name of the head of the household, and the state or territory in whch the person lived at the time of the census.
| NEW YORK STATE CENSUS | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Data | Indexes |
| 1790 | Head of household, numbers of males and females in age ranges | |
| 1825 | Same as 1790 PLUS number of voters, and the number of marriages, births, and deaths in the previous year | Cortlandt, Lewis, & Yates counties |
| 1835 | Same as 1825 | |
| 1845 | Same as 1835 PLUS place of birth | |
| 1855 | Names all members of household, relation to head, age, sex, color birthplace, marital status, residence, occupation, voters, naturalization, aliens, colored persons not taxed, land owner, handicapped adult | Montgomery, Schenectady, Scoharie, Greene, Allegany, Broome, Cayuga, Cortlandt, Delaware, Erie,Herkimer, Madison, Monroe, Niagara, & Wayne counties |
| 1865 | Same as 1855 PLUS number of children, number of marriages, place of employment, native & naturalized voters, servicemen absent from home, veteran status | Herkimer, Niagara, & Wayne counties |
| 1875 | Same as 1865 PLUS military status, names of those who have been married or have died in the previous year. | Herkimer & Wayne counties |
| 1892 | Names of all household members, sex, age, color, birth country, citizen or alien, occupation. | |
| 1905 | Names of all household members, relation to head, color, sex, age, birth country, years in U.S., citizen or alien, previous residence of institutional inmates. | |
| 1915 | Same as 1905 PLUS date of naturalization, infants under one year | |
| 1925 | Same as 1915 PLUS place of naturalization | |
Adapted from chapter on New York State in Lainhart, State Census Records (1997). See Select Bibliography for complete reference and more print sources.