Federal records can confirm when and where someone died, and point you to the right newspaper for an obituary. The census, its mortality schedules and the Social Security Death Index are the most useful, and most of them are free.
Federal census records, 1790–1950
The United States has taken a census every 10 years since 1790. Individual census records are kept private for 72 years, so the 1950 census, released in April 2022, is the most recent one available; the 1960 census will be released in 2032. Almost all of the 1890 census was destroyed after a 1921 fire.
The 1790 to 1840 censuses name only the head of each household. From 1850 on, every person is listed by name with age and birthplace; from 1880, the census also gives each person’s relationship to the head of household and parents’ birthplaces; and later censuses add details such as year of immigration. Comparing a family across censuses helps narrow down when someone died.
- 1950 Census website, National Archives — free, searchable images of the 1950 census.
- Census records, National Archives — guides to every census year and where to view them.
- FamilySearch — free indexes and images of the 1790 to 1950 censuses (free account). Ancestry also has them by subscription, and many public libraries offer it free in the library.
Census mortality schedules, 1850–1880
The 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 federal censuses included mortality schedules: lists of people who died in the 12 months before census day. They give the person’s name, age, sex, birthplace, occupation, month of death and cause of death. In 1885, five states and territories that took their own census with federal help (Colorado, Florida, Nebraska, and the Dakota and New Mexico territories) also recorded deaths.
Because they cover only one year in ten, mortality schedules are hit or miss, but they are valuable for deaths before states kept death records. Many are indexed on FamilySearch and Ancestry; the originals are held by the National Archives and by state archives and libraries.
The Social Security Death Index
The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) is a public version of the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File. It lists people whose deaths were reported to the SSA, mostly from 1962, with a few from 1936. It gives the person’s name, birth and death dates, Social Security number and often the ZIP code of last residence, which tells you which local paper to search.
FamilySearch has a free copy covering deaths through about 2014. Since 2014, federal law has kept deaths out of the public file for three years. Not everyone is listed: people who never had a Social Security number, or whose deaths weren’t reported to the SSA, are missing.
Copies of a Social Security application (SS-5)
A person’s application for a Social Security number, form SS-5, lists their parents’ names, birth date and birthplace, which makes it valuable for family history. You can request a copy of a deceased person’s SS-5 from the Social Security Administration under the Freedom of Information Act. There is a fee, and you may need proof of death if the person is not in the Death Master File. Parents’ names are usually withheld unless the parents are known to have died or were born more than 120 years ago.
- Social Security Administration FOIA requests — how to request an SS-5 copy and current fees.
Once you have a date and place of death, our state guides show where to find that state’s death certificates and newspapers.