History of TorontoSourced history of Toronto, Ontario

Census Finder for Ontario Genealogy

This finder lists the Canadian censuses with named returns that fall within a person’s lifetime. Enter a birth year, and a death year if known, to see the census years, what each asked, how age was recorded and where the returns are held.

What the list contains

The data come from the pages of Library and Archives Canada about each census, from 1842 to 1931. They describe what each census asked and where the named returns can be searched. Later censuses are closed for a long period for privacy reasons, so the list ends at 1931. Whether a given household was counted, and whether a page survives and can be read, has to be checked in the archive.

Next steps

Use the birth year calculator to turn an age in a census into a birth year, and the records checklist for birth, marriage, death and land records. Names of people in York County in the 1880s can be searched in the 1885 sketches.

Last verified: October 2026

Censuses as plain text
  • Census of Canada West (1842): Taken February 1, 1842. Name of the head of each family, number of people in the household by sex and broad age group, birthplace groups (England, Ireland, United States), time in the province, religion, farm land and buildings, mills and factories.
  • Census of the Canadas (1851): Names, occupations, birthplace, religion, age, sex, marital status, ethnic origin, relationship to head of household, disabilities, births and deaths, housing, livestock. Rural returns add mills and places of worship; urban returns add manufacturers.
  • Census of the Canadas (1861): Canada West form of 60 columns: occupation, birthplace, religion, school attendance, literacy, births and deaths in 1860, housing, and business details. Counted January 14, 1861.
  • Census of Canada (1871): First federal census, begun April 2, 1871. Schedule 1 names each person with sex, age, birthplace, religion, origin, occupation, marital status, school attendance, literacy over age 20, and infirmities. Schedule 2 records deaths.
  • Census of Canada (1881): Begun April 4, 1881. Name, sex, age, birth details, country or province of birth, religion, origin, occupation, marital status, school attendance, and infirmities.
  • Census of Canada (1891): Begun April 6, 1891, with 216 questions across 9 schedules. Adds whether a person was French-Canadian, birthplace of each parent, employer or employee status, and unemployment in the week before the census.
  • Census of Canada (1901): Taken March 31, 1901, with 561 questions across 11 schedules. Schedule 1 gives name, sex, race (called colour), relationship to head, marital status, birthplace, immigration and naturalization years, religion, occupation, education, language, and infirmities. First census to ask the full date of birth and mother tongue.
  • Census of Canada (1911): Begun June 11, 1911, with 549 questions across 13 schedules. Name, sex, relationship to head, marital status, birth details, origin and nationality, religion, occupation, earnings, insurance, schooling, spoken language, and infirmities.
  • Census of Canada (1921): Taken June 1, 1921, with 565 questions across five schedules. Schedule 1 records household and dwelling details, birthplace and parents' birthplaces, immigration and naturalization years, nationality, origin, language, religion, literacy, school attendance, occupation, earnings, and unemployment.
  • Census of Canada (1931): Taken June 1, 1931. Schedule 1 has 40 questions on population, including unemployment and, for the first time, whether a family owned a radio.