Coverage & Priorities
Priorities are based only upon Iowa state censuses that span the gap between missing federal census years and those with very interesting data. We would be grateful for any census you would like to transcribe.
| YEAR | COVERAGE | NOTES | PRIORITY |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1836 | Wisconsin Territorial Census: Includes the original counties of Dubuque and Demoines, which covered the area to become Iowa. | Lists the head of household and the number of males and females within certain age groups. | Complete |
| 1838 | Wisconsin Territorial Census: Includes the original counties of Dubuque and Des Moines along with Cedar, Clayton, Clinton, Henry, Johnson, Lee, Louisa, Muscatine, Scott, Slaughter (renamed Washington) and Van Buren counties (and possibly Delaware, Jackson, Jones, Linn); covered the area to become Iowa Territory. | Lists names of principal persons; white males, white females, free males of color and free females of color. | Microfilm transcription complete (need missing enumerations) |
| 1840 | Territorial Census; 18 original counties and several precincts which comprised the area then known as Iowa. | Low | |
| 1841 | Special Census: Includes head of household; Incomplete | Low | |
| 1844 | Special Census: Johnson County. | Lists the head of household and "Number of Souls". | Low |
| 1844 | Special Census: Keokuk County only. | Lists Head of Household and number of males over 21, males under 21 and females | Low |
| 1846 | Special Census: Louisa, Polk, and Wapello counties. | Lists the head of household and the number of males under 21, males over 21, females under 21 and females over 21. | Low |
| 1847 | Special Census: Clinton, Davis, Louisa, Marion, Scott, Van Buren & Wapello counties. | Lists head of household and the total number of persons living in the household. | Low |
| 1849 | Special Census: Benton, Boone, Clinton, Jackson, Louisa, Madison, Poweshiek, Scott, Van Buren, & Washington counties. | Low | |
| 1850 | Special Census: Black Hawk, Pottawatomie, Tama, Clarke, Taylor, & Page counties. | Low | |
| 1851 | Special Census: Cedar, Clinton, Decatur, Guthrie, Iowa, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Madison, Mahaska, Page, Pottawattamie, Poweshiek, Scott, & Washington counties. | Low | |
| 1852 | Special Census: Appanoose, Benton, Black Hawk, Boone, Bremer, Buchanan, Butler, Cedar, Clarke, Clayton, Clinton, Davis, Des Moines, Fayette, Fremont, Guthrie, Henry, Iowa, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Jones, Keokuk, Lee, Linn, Louisa, Lucas, Madison, Mahaska, Muscatine, Marion, Marshall, Mills, Monroe, Page, Polk, Pottawattamie, Poweshiek, Scott, Tama, Taylor, Union, Van Buren, Warren, Washington, Winnesheik, Wapello, Wayne and Yell (became part of Webster) counties. | Many counties have been transcribed. Please volunteer for your county of interest! | |
| 1853 | Special Census: Warren County only. | Low | |
| 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, Guthrie, 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, Ringgold, Scott, Shelby, Story, Tama, Taylor, Union, Van Buren, Wapello, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Webster and Winnesheik counties. | All counties have been complely transcribed from microfilm. Several counties are missing from microfilm. We hope to find the missing counties one day. | |
| 1856 | State Population Census; First Iowa state census naming every member of the household. Also states years resided in state. | Very High | |
| 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, Guthrie, 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. | It appears only statictics are available. | Med |
| 1875 | Agricultural Census (names head-of-household and household population stats): Carroll County. More Info | Med High | |
| 1881 | City/Town Schedules: Mason City, Cerro Gordo County only. | Low | |
| 1885 | State Population Census | Very High | |
| 1888 | City/Town Schedules: Algona, Kossuth County only. | Low | |
| 1889 | City/Town Schedules: North Des Moines, Polk County; Cherokee, Cherokee County. | Low | |
| 1891 | City/Town Schedules: Emmetsburg, Palo Alto County; Spencer, Clay County; Villisca, Montgomery County. | Low | |
| 1892 | City/Town Schedules: Carroll, Carroll County; Wright and Eagle Grove, Wright County; Esterville, Emmet County; Jefferson, Greene County; Tama, Tama County | Low | |
| 1893 | City/Town Schedules: Mystic, Appanoose County; Hampton, Franklin County; Ames and Nevada, Story County; West Union, Fayette County | Low | |
| 1895 | State Population Census | Very High | |
| 1895 | City/Town Schedules: Bloomfield, Davis County; Independence, Buchanan County. | Med | |
| 1896 | Oelwein, Fayette County. | Low | |
| 1897 | City/Town Schedules: New Hampton, Chickasaw County. | Low | |
| 1905 | State Population Census; difficult to read. | Med | |
| 1915 | State Population Census; filmed on 16mm with high reduction 42x filming & needs a high magnification reader to read it. | Med | |
| 1925 | State Population Census; by townships; lists names, relationships, sex, age, marital status, education, military, occupation, religion, parent's names, their birth places and marriage place. | Very High |
Questions, comments, suggestions welcome. Please email the State Census Coordinator.