By law, census records for privacy reasons are not open to the public for 72 years. That means the 1950 census became available on April 1st 2022.

The various genealogical web sites that you use to search on-line records will give you the ability to search the 1950 census records. But before a site can allow searching the 1950 census they will have to index the names in the census. That may take a different amount of time for the different sites. We will update this page with the latest information and links to the various search sites. We will also indicate if a subscription is needed to access the census. Some sites that normally require a subscription may make the 1950 census available for free. For each site we will give 2 links. 1 for information on the census for their site and 1 for actually searching their site.

But you don't have to wait till April 1st to start. There are things you can and should do to get ready for it.
     Get familiar with the census form and questions asked. Click here to see blank form.
     Review the people in your family tree so you know who you want to look up.
     Review the reference and instruction manual that was given to enumerators. Click here to see the manual.

If you want be able to find people before the indexing is completed, you can do it if you know what enumeration district they were in and the street they lived on. To do that you will need to do the following. How to do the below steps won't be detailed here. But you should be able to find how on other sites. The indexing is estimated to be completed by the end of summer and will then be searchable and this step will not be needed.
     Find the 1950 home addresses of your ancestors.
     Pinpoint the enumeration districts and find the corresponding maps. You can find them here. The Steve Morse's 1950 Census Page has a few utilities that makes finding this information easier.


Ancestry
Ancestry Information       Free. All States images loaded. 10 States indexed.
Though this is a subscription site, they will be allowing searches of the 1950 census for free. You can enter your email address to be notified when your state is indexed and searchable.
     Click Here to search the states that have been indexed.
     Click Here for a map of the states that have been fully indexed. Don’t see your state? You should still try searching for your family anyway! Thanks to their proprietary AI technology, they have already completed an early index of the records with key fields for you to search. So, even though they can’t mark it “done” yet, there’s a good chance you can find your family, right now.

FamilySearch
FamilySearch Information       Free. Many States images loaded or partially loaded. 7 States indexed.
It is a free site but you need to create an account if you don't have one. They are looking for volunteers to help in the indexing. See the site for how to volunteer.
     Click Here to search the states that have been indexed. This link also has a map showing which states have been indexed
     Click Here to browse the images. You can use the map or use the drop down boxes on the left to get to the county and city you are interested in. Then scroll through the list to get to the enumeration district that your relative lived in. See above on how to find the enumeration district. Once at the enumeration district you have to scroll through up to 100 pages of the actual census records to find your relative. It is not easy but doable. Or you can wait until the census is indexed sometime this summer.
     Once you have located the desired record you can save it to your computer. On the left hand side of the image is a menu. The first item in the menu is a + sign then a - sign. The last entry in the menu is to download. Click on that to save the image to your computer.

MyHertitage
MyHertitage Information
MyHertitage blog entry about 1950 Census
     Free. All States images loaded. 9 States indexed.
Though this is a subscription site, they are allowing searches of the 1950 census for free.
     Click Here to search the states that have been indexed. In the upper right corner of the image is a button to make the image full screen. Clicking that will make the looking at the image easier. It is also needed to be able to print or save the record to your computer.
     While looking at the record in full screen mode, there are buttons in the upper right corner of the record to print or download the record to save it to your computer as a JPG. Once you click download a new image of the record is displayed. On my computer using the Firefox web browser, I right click the image and select save image.
     Click Here to browse the rest of the states images. Enter the state and county to get a list of enumeration districts or enter the enumeration district itself. See above on how to find the enumeration district. In the upper right corner of the image is a button to make the image full screen. Clicking that will make the searching easier. You have to scroll through up to 100 pages of the actual census records to find your relative. It is not easy but doable. Or you can wait until the census is indexed sometime this summer.
     Once you have located the desired record there are buttons in the upper right corner of the image to print or download the record to save it to your computer as a JPG. Once you click download a new image of the record is displayed. On my computer using the Firefox web browser, I right click the image and select save image.

National Archives
National Archives      Free. 50 States images loaded. 50 States indexed.
They have worked with Amazon AI to have the indexing done. But an index done by computer is not as good as one done by a human.
     Click Here to search. Using the boxes on the left you can near the search by state an county if known and enter the last name of the desired person. It says to enter the first and/or last name but one should only use the first name if the first name is vary unique. The search engine will bring back anyone with the first name whether or not they have that last name. Then scroll through the list of results to find your relative. Click on the button "Population Schedule" to see the actual census for a result.
     Once you have located the desired record you can save it to your computer as a JPG by clicking on the vertical 3 dots above the image on the right and selecting download. A window will pop-up for you to select the resolution you want to save it as. The larger the number the clearer the image will be and the easier it will be to read. My computer screen normally has a resolution of 1920 x 1080. The larger the number the larger the save file will be. I have been using the second entry on the screen. After the record is saved it will come back to this pop-up screen and you will need to click on the close button on the bottom.