Population schedules are the manuscript census records containing the responses of individuals answering decennial census questionnaires. Decennial census records are confidential for 72 years to protect respondents' privacy. Currently, census records for 1790-1950 are publicly available. Digital copies of these population schedules are available for free through the National Archives (1940 & 1950) and FamilySearch (1790-1950) and through subscription services like Ancestry (1790-1950) and Heritage Quest (1790-1950).
The U.S. Census Bureau also captured specific social and economic information using non-population schedules. The type of information collected by the Census varied over time. Agriculture, mortality, and social statistics schedules are available for the census years of 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880. Manufacturing schedules are available for 1820, 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880.
Currently, for NJ, only the 1850-1880 Mortality schedules are available digitally through FamilySearch. The NJ State Library has the following NJ non-population schedules available on microfilm.
The NJ State Archives has additional schedules, including the 1880 schedule of Defective and Delinquent Persons.
Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files contain anonymized individual records for a sample of persons or households. PUMS files enable data users to create custom estimates and tables that are not available through products published by the U.S. Census Bureau.
