Free US Census Records & Model Tree
Census Record Search
The Gold Standard for Ancestor Identification
Based on our tree database, 64.8% of US-born ancestors cite the US Census as the primary record source for ancestor identification — nearly 3x the next source. If your ancestor lived in the US between 1900 and 1950, there is almost certainly a census record for them.
We Built Our Own Index
We re-read the original federal census images with modern AI — surfacing people that older indexes mis-transcribed or skipped. Free to search, no subscription.
Model Tree — Family Network
Other sites hand you one record. We've modeled census households into a connected network — for any ancestor we show their likely relatives across census decades and suggest a family cluster to confirm.
See Who Shares Your Ancestor
Matched on the same census record, not just a similar name — so you can collaborate and grow your tree beyond what the census covers.
How It Works
Search a name
Type in someone from your tree.
See the record
You'll get household members, ages, birthplaces, and the original handwritten page.
Find who else has this ancestor
We show you other researchers with the same person in their tree — confirmed by the same census data.
Grow your tree together
Connect with them and fill in the parts of your tree that go beyond what census records cover.
Browse by Surname
Popular Surnames
Top 100 surnames by record count