Source:United States. 1880 U.S. Census Population Schedule

Usage Tips

The 1880 census began on 1 June 1880 for the general population of the United States. The enumeration was to be completed within thirty days, or two weeks for communities with populations of 10,000 or more. Regardless of when an individual was contacted, all responses were to reflect the status of the individual as of 1 June 1880, the official Census Day.

Thirty-eight states (including the recently admitted Colorado) were enumerated in the 1880 census, along with eight territories: Arizona, Dakota, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Non-organized Alaska was also enumerated, but the "Indian Territory" (now Oklahoma) was not enumerated for non-Indians.

Enumerators (census takers) collected the following information for each household:

• Address (name of the street; house number)
• Occupant (name of each person and their relationship to head of family)
• Personal (sex, race, age, marital status, ability to read and write, birthplace, and birthplace of parents)
• Occupation (trade or profession; number of months unemployed)
• Health (whether blind, deaf and dumb, crippled, maimed, idiotic, insane, bedridden, or otherwise disabled)

The 1880 census was the first to identify an individual’s relation to the head of household. In addition, the 1880 census was the first to identify the state, county, and other subdivisions; the name of the street and house number for urban households; illness or disability at the time the census was taken; marital status; number of months unemployed during the year; and the state or country of birth of every individual’s father and mother.

FamilySearch

The entire 1880 census was transcribed and put freely accessible online at FamilySearch.org several years ago. As a result, there are fewer "independent" transcriptions of this census online.

The FamilySearch interface permits searching by name, birthplace, birth year (range), and location, and the results include links to the adjacent households on that page. Results also include a link to the census image for those with Ancestry.com memberships.

Transcriptions

• Transcriptions by State

Related Resources

• Blank 1880 census worksheet -- via this landing page
• Key showing National Archive roll number, LDS Family History Library roll number, and area covered on microfilm [1]
• List of FHL film numbers [2] Book version
• Results and statistical reports online [3]

• Vol. 11-12 at FHC [4]
• Compendium at FHC [5]

• Enumerators and descriptions of their subdivisions [6]