Census Questionnaires

Pre-1990 Questionnaires

• 200 Years of U.S. Census Taking: Population and Housing Questions, 1790-1990. Bureau of the Census, 1989. (Davis Reference Desk Federal Documents C3.2:T93.) [Includes questionnaires and a very useful bibliography.]
• Census Questions and Enumeration Forms via University of Minnesota

• Facsimiles of Respondent Instructions and Questionnaire Pages (PDF)
• 100% data based on responses to questions asked on both the short form and the long form, asked of all persons and housing units
• Sample data based on responses to questions on long form, asked of a sample of households
• "The decennial census uses both short and long form surveys to gather information. The short form asks a limited number of basic population and housing questions. These questions are asked of all persons and housing units and are often referred to as 100-percent questions. The short form includes questions about each person's age, sex, race, marital status, and household relationship. It also asks basic housing questions, including the number of units in the structure, number of rooms in the unit, etc. The census also asks a portion of households to complete the long form. The long form includes the 100-percent questions and additional questions about education, employment, income, homeowner costs, units in structure, number of rooms, plumbing facilities, etc." (American FactFinder)

• Census 2000 informational questionnaire
• Also visit Census 2000 via the Census Bureau.
• 100% data are based on responses to those questions that were asked on both the short form and the long form. These questions were asked of all persons and housing units. The subjects of these questions included: age, Hispanic or Latino origin, household relationship, race, sex, tenure, and vacancy characteristics.
• Sample data are based on responses to questions on the long form only, asked of a sample of households. "A long-form questionnaire was used to gather more detailed information from approximately a 1-in-6 sample. It included the following subjects:

• "Population age, ancestry, citizenship, class of worker, disability, educational attainment, employment status, family type, foreign-born status, grandparents as caregivers, group quarters, hispanic or latino, household type and relationship, income in 1999, industry, labor force status, language spoken at home, marital status, means of transportation to work, occupation, place of birth, place of work, poverty status in 1999, private vehicle occupancy, race, residence in 1995, school enrollment, sex, travel time to work, veteran/military status, work status in 1999, and workers in family in 1999.

  "Housing age of householder, bedrooms, farm residence, heating fuel, hispanic origin of householder, housing units, kitchen facilities, meals included in rent, mortgage status, occupancy status, plumbing facilities, race of householder, rent, rooms, selected monthly owner costs, telephone service availability, tenure, units in structure, utilities in rent, value of housing unit, vehicles available, year householder moved into unit, and year structure built." (American FactFinder)

Return to top

See also 1990 Census Tables and Variables; Census Documentation, Guides, and History.
Back to A Guide to the Decennial Census with a focus on 1990 and 2000 census data

Barbara Levergood, Former Electronic Documents Librarian

Can't Find What You Are Looking For? How Can We Help You?