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Census Days and Age Rules

The day each census was taken and how it counted ages, for 88 censuses of Great Britain, Ireland, the United States, Canada and more. Every row comes from an official source: the census act, the enumerators’ instructions or the census report.

A census age gives a range of birth dates, not a year. Someone aged 4 on 6 April 1891 was born between 7 April 1886 and 6 April 1887, while the index usually says about 1887.

Work out a birth range

Choose the census and enter the age as it was written. A baby recorded as 3/12 or 3 months is 0 years and 3 months.

Age years months

Great Britain and Ireland

YearWhereCensus dayAges countedSource
1841England, Wales, Scotland, Isle of Man and Channel Islands6 June 1841Under 15 exact; adults rounded down to 5 yearsnationalarchives.gov.uk, scotlandspeople.gov.uk
1851England, Wales, Scotland, Isle of Man and Channel Islands30 March 1851At last birthdaynationalarchives.gov.uk, scotlandspeople.gov.uk
1861England, Wales, Scotland, Isle of Man and Channel Islands7 April 1861At last birthdaynationalarchives.gov.uk, scotlandspeople.gov.uk
1871England, Wales, Scotland, Isle of Man and Channel Islands2 April 1871At last birthdaynationalarchives.gov.uk, scotlandspeople.gov.uk
1881England, Wales, Scotland, Isle of Man and Channel Islands3 April 1881At last birthdaynationalarchives.gov.uk, scotlandspeople.gov.uk
1891England, Wales, Scotland, Isle of Man and Channel Islands5 April 1891At last birthdaynationalarchives.gov.uk, scotlandspeople.gov.uk
1901England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Isle of Man and Channel Islands31 March 1901At last birthdaynationalarchives.gov.uk, scotlandspeople.gov.uk, nationalarchives.ie
1911England, Wales, Ireland, Isle of Man and Channel Islands2 April 1911At last birthdaynationalarchives.gov.uk, nationalarchives.ie
1921England, Wales, Isle of Man and Channel Islands19 June 1921In years and monthsnationalarchives.gov.uk
1926Ireland18 April 1926In years and monthsnationalarchives.ie

United States

YearWhereCensus dayAges countedSource
1790United States2 August 1790Age groups onlyarchives.gov
1800United States4 August 1800Age groups onlyarchives.gov
1810United States6 August 1810Age groups onlyarchives.gov
1820United States7 August 1820Age groups onlyarchives.gov
1830United States1 June 1830Age groups onlyarchives.gov
1840United States1 June 1840Age groups onlyarchives.gov
1850United States1 June 1850At last birthdaycensus.gov
1855New York State1 June 1855At last birthdayarchive.org
1860United States1 June 1860At last birthdaycensus.gov
1865New York State1 June 1865At last birthdaynysl.ptfs.com
1865Rhode Island State1 June 1865At last birthdayarchive.org
1870United States1 June 1870At last birthdaycensus.gov
1875Rhode Island State1 June 1875At last birthdayarchive.org
1880United States1 June 1880At last birthdaycensus.gov
1885Florida State1 June 1885At last birthdayarchives.gov
1890United States1 June 1890At nearest birthdaycensus.gov
1895Minnesota State1 June 1895At last birthdayrevisor.mn.gov
1905New York State1 June 1905At last birthdayarchive.org
1910United States15 April 1910At last birthdaycensus.gov
1915Rhode Island State15 April 1915At last birthdayfamilysearch.org
1920United States1 January 1920At last birthdaycensus.gov
1925Rhode Island State15 April 1925At last birthdayfamilysearch.org
1930United States1 April 1930At last birthdaycensus.gov
1935Florida State8 April 1935At last birthdaystars.library.ucf.edu
1940United States1 April 1940At last birthdaycensus.gov

Canada

YearWhereCensus dayAges countedSource
1851Canada East and West11 January 1852At next birthdaycanada.ca
1861Canada East and West13 January 1861At next birthdaycanada.ca
1861Nova Scotia30 March 1861Age groups onlypublications.gc.ca
1870Manitoba16 July 1870At next birthdaycanadiana.ca
1871Canada2 April 1871At last birthdayarchive.org
1881Canada4 April 1881At last birthdayarchive.org
1891Canada6 April 1891At last birthdayarchive.org
1906Prairie Provinces24 June 1906At last birthdayarchive.org
1916Prairie Provinces1 June 1916At last birthdaypublications.gc.ca
1921Canada1 June 1921At last birthdayarchive.org
1926Prairie Provinces1 June 1926At last birthdayarchive.org
1931Canada1 June 1931At last birthdayarchive.org
1945Newfoundland1 October 1945At last birthdayarchive.org

Elsewhere

YearWhereCensus dayAges countedSource
1841New South Wales2 March 1841Age groups onlyresearchdata.edu.au
1870Denmark1 February 1870At last birthdaydst.dk
1880Denmark1 February 1880At last birthdaydst.dk
1890Denmark1 February 1890At last birthdaydst.dk

British and Irish schedules listed everyone who slept in the house on census night, so the census day is that Sunday. Censuses not listed here are still being checked against an official source.

Free to use

This table is free to use for anything, with no credit needed (CC0). Genealogy Assistant uses it to add birth ranges to census records on Ancestry and FamilySearch.

Version 2026.11, checked against its sources on 4 November 2026. Found a mistake? Email [email protected] with the census and your source.