About VitalTrace

What we publish

For every U.S. state, the District of Columbia, and the populated U.S. territories, VitalTrace publishes the central state vital records office, its mailing address, telephone number, and current fee schedule for certified birth, death, and marriage certificates. For every county and county-equivalent in those jurisdictions — over three thousand entries in total — we publish a county-specific request page that walks through eligibility, accepted identification, and the step-by-step procedure to follow.

Where the data comes from

Our county directory begins from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 county-equivalents file (national_county2020.txt), the same authoritative list of FIPS-coded counties used by federal statistical agencies. Our state vital records office data is derived from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics “Where to Write for Vital Records” reference (cdc.gov/nchs/w2w), which is the federal directory of state vital records offices and their procedures. Both sources are public domain government data.

What we are not

VitalTrace is not a government agency. We do not issue certificates, we do not accept fees on behalf of any state or county office, and we have no affiliation with the U.S. Census Bureau or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When you are ready to order a record, you submit your request directly to the issuing office we list, on the official state vital records website we link to.

Editorial policy

The instructions on each county page are written to match the procedures of the responsible state vital records office. Fees, addresses, and processing times come from the published state directory at the time of compilation. State and county offices change their fees, online portals, and forms periodically — if you spot something out of date, please let us know and we will update it.