Vital Records Online by State

U.S. Vital Records Online - State by State Listing

Learn how to find and access digitized copies of vital records -- birth, marriage and death certificates -- for each US state online.
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Search indexed vital records online or browse actual digitized images of certificates of birth, death and marriage online. This listing directs you to vital records online for the United States, organized by state. The majority of these online vital records can be accessed for free. Those that require a fee to search or view are clearly indicated.

Alabama

  • Alabama Death Records, 1908-1974 Free
    A free name index to death certificates from the state of Alabama. Extracted information includes (where available) full birth and death date, place of birth and death, parents' names, spouses' name and occupation.

Arizona

  • Arizona Genealogy Birth and Death Certificates, 1844-1964 Free
    Search public birth certificates (1855-1933) and public death certificates (1844-1958) from the state of Arizona. This free vital records resource from Arizona Department of Health Services includes PDF images of the actual certificates.
  • Western States Marriage Records Index Free
    This growing database includes names and other information extracted from mostly pre-1900 marriage records in several western states, including quite a few from Arizona. More recent marriage records (as late as 1950s) are also included for several Arizona counties.

California

  • Western States Marriage Records Index Free
    This growing database includes names and other information extracted from mostly pre-1900 marriage records in several western states, including California - most notably the counties of Kern, Santa Barbara and Santa Clara. More recent marriage records are also included for several California counties.

Colorado

  • Western States Marriage Records Index Free
    This growing database includes names and other information extracted from 19th and 20th century marriage records in several western states, including a little over 5,000 records from Colorado. The majority of the included Colorado records are from Gilpin and Douglas counties.

Delaware

  • Delaware State Birth Records, 1861-1908 Free
    Searchable name index and images of Delaware birth records, including delayed birth records, free from FamilySearch.

Florida

  • Florida Deaths, 1877-1939 Free
    Free name index of Florida death records created by Florida Department of Health and Vital Statistics. Extracted information in this database includes (where available) full birth and death date, place of birth and death, parents' names, spouses' name, occupation, and date and place of burial.

Georgia

  • Georgia Death Records, 1914-1927 Free
    The Georgia State Archives has online digitized copies of death certificates issued by the state of Georgia between 1919 and 1927. There are also a number of certificates from 1914-1918, with the bulk dating from 1917 and 1918.

Idaho

  • Idaho Death Certificates, 1911-1937 Free
    Free name index to death certificates from the state of Idaho includes most information found on the original certificates including (where available) full birth and death date, place of birth and death, parents' names, spouses' name, occupation, and date and place of burial. From FamilySearch.
  • Western States Marriage Records Index Free
    This growing database includes names and other information extracted from 19th and 20th century marriage records in several western states, including over 180,000 marriage records from the state of Idaho.

Illinois

  • Cook County Birth Certificates, 1878-1922 Free
    FamilySearch offers indexes and images of certificates of birth as recorded at Cook County, Illinois - including the City of Chicago. Collection still being digitized and placed online and currently includes only years 1878-1915.
  • Cook County Birth Registers, 1871-1915 Free
    Name index and images of birth registers as recorded at Cook County, Illinois - including the City of Chicago, online at FamilySearch. Collection currently includes years 1871-1879, 1906-June 1907, and July 1908-1915.
  • Cook County Marriage Records, 1871-1920 Free
    Search or browse name index and images of marriage licenses and returns recorded in Cook County, Illinois, including the City of Chicago, online at FamilySearch.
  • Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 1763-1900 Free
    The Illinois State Archives and the Illinois State Genealogical Society offer this free searchable index online. Available information includes the full name of both parties, date and county of marriage, and the Vol. and page number, and/or the license number for the marriage record.
  • Cook County Clerk's Office - Birth Certificates, Marriage Licenses and Death Certificates Search is free. Payment required to view digital certificates.
    The Cook County Clerk's Office hosts this pay-per-view Web site to access their birth certificates (75 years or older), marriage licenses (50 years or older) and death certificates (20 years or older). Searches are free. Payment is required to view digital copies of the actual certificates. Covers Cook County and the City of Chicago.

Indiana

  • Indiana Marriages, 1911-1959 Free
    Indexed in partnership with the Indiana Genealogical Society, this free online name index includes details taken from marriage returns and licenses for the counties of Adams, Blackford, Decatur, Franklin, Henry, Huntington, Owen, Rush, and Sullivan.

Kentucky

  • Kentucky Death Certificates and Records, 1852-1953 Paid Ancestry.com subscription required
    This Ancestry.com collection includes the Kentucky Death Index 1911-2000, plus digitized Kentucky death certificates from 1911-1953. Earlier death records including mortuary records, registers of death and return of death are also available for many counties.
  • Kentucky Birth Index 1911-1999 Paid Ancestry.com subscription required
    An index to births recorded in the U.S. state of Kentucky between 1911 and 1999, including the following information: name, gender, race, birth date, birthplace, and parents' names.
  • Kentucky Marriage Index 1973-1999 Free
    An index to about 2.3 million individuals who were married in Kentucky between 1973 and 1999 from the University of Kentucky. Also included are a Kentucky Death Index 1911-1992 and Kentucky Divorce Index 1973-1993
  • Kentucky Vital Records Project Free
    This free resource includes the statewide Kentucky Death Index, plus approximately 250,000 digitized Kentucky death certificates from the twentieth century.

Louisiana

  • Louisiana Deaths, 1850-1875; 1894-1954 Free
    This free name index to Louisiana Deaths from FamilySearch includes statewide death records for all parishes for 1911-1954. Earlier death records available only for Jefferson Parish, 1850-1875 and 1905-1921.

Maine

  • Maine Marriage Index Free
    The Maine State Archives features this searchable online Marriage Index covering the years 1892 to 1996.
  • Maine Death Index Free
    A searchable online Death Index covering the years 1960 to 1996 from the Maine State Archives.

Massachusetts

  • Massachusetts Death Records, 1841-1915 Free
    A free name index and digitized images of Massachusetts statewide death registers and certificates from FamilySearch.
  • Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1910 Requires paid membership to NEHGS
    A name index and digitized images of Massachusetts statewide birth, death and marriage registers and certificates from the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS). Not all record images yet online, but those that are not can be ordered from NEHGS for a small fee.
  • Massachusetts Vital Records, 1911-1915 Requires paid membership to NEHGS
    A name index and digitized images of Massachusetts statewide birth, death and marriage registers and certificates from the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS). Births currently completed, marriages complete through 1914 and deaths still to be added in the future.

Michigan

  • Michigan Death Records, 1897-1920 Free
    The Seeking Michigan collection from the Library of Michigan features nearly 1 million digital images of death certificates online for free searching and viewing. Use the "Search Digital Archive" box at the top of this page to search this and other Seeking Michigan collections.
  • Michigan Deaths, 1867-1897 Free
    A free name index and digitized images of Michigan statewide death registration entries from FamilySearch.
  • Michigan Births, 1867-1902 Free
    A free name index and digitized images of Michigan statewide birth registration entries from FamilySearch.
  • Michigan Marriages, 1867-1902 Free
    A free name index and digitized images of marriages recorded in the state of Michigan from FamilySearch.

Minnesota

  • Minnesota Death Certificates Index Free
    The Minnesota Historical Society has a great online index to Minnesota death records from death cards from 1904 to 1907 and death certificates from 1908 to 2001.
  • Minnesota Birth Certificates Index Free
    A free index to Minnesota birth records from 1900-1934, and selected records from pre-1900 from te Minnesota Historical Society.
  • Minnesota Official Marriage System Free
    Free searchable index to marriage certificates from 87 participating Minnesota counties. Most marriage records date back to the 1860s, although some counties have them back to the early 1800s. Index links take you to an easy order form for purchasing a copy of the marriage certificate.

Missouri

New Hampshire

  • New Hampshire Birth Records, Early to 1900 Free
    FamilySearch has online a free index and digital images of early New Hampshire birth records to 1900.

New Mexico

  • New Mexico Death Records, 1889-1945 Free
    FamilySearch has online a free name index to death certificates and records of death from the state of New Mexico. Available information (where provided) includes full name, date and place of birth and death, spouse and/or parents' names, occupation and date/place of burial.

North Carolina

  • North Carolina Deaths, 1906-1930 Free
    FamilySearch features a free name index and digital images of death certificates recorded in the state of North Carolina

Ohio

  • Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953 Free
    A free name index and digital images of Ohio statewide death certificates from FamilySearch.

Pennsylvania

  • Philadelphia City Death Certificates, 1803-1915 Free
    This free online collection from FamilySearch includes a variety of digitized death records, depending on the time period: death certificates, returns of death, and even undertaker transit permits.
  • Philadelphia Marriage Indexes, 1885-1951 Free
    Digital marriage indexes online at FamilySearch are arranged by the names of brides and grooms with the year of marriage and license number. Fully searchable.

Rhode Island

  • Rhode Island Births & Christenings, 1600–1914 Free
    A partial name index to birth, baptism, and christening records from Rhode Island, compiled from a variety of sources. FamilySearch.org offers coverage details, including how many records are included by location and time period.
  • Rhode Island Deaths & Burials, 1802–1950 Free
    A partial name index to death and burial records from the state of Rhode Island. Most of the records extracted in this database of 840,000+ names include source information. FamilySearch includes information on coverage details in this article, with details on included records by time period and locality.
  • Rhode Island Marriages, 1724–1916 Free
    A partial name index to birth, baptism, and christening records from Rhode Island, compiled from a variety of sources. Scroll down in this article on FamilySearch.org for coverage details, including how many records are included by location and time period.

South Carolina

  • South Carolina Deaths, 1915–1943
    FamilySearch hosts this free online collection of digitized S.C. death certificates from the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Records are arranged by year and alphabetically by locality, and a searchable name index is also available.
  • South Carolina Death Records, 1822–1955 Paid Ancestry.com subscription required
    This searchable database plus digital images includes statewide death certificates, 1915-1955; Charleston City death records, 1821-1914; Spartanburg City death records, 1895-1897 and 1903-1914; and Union City death records, 1900 and 1913-1914.
  • South Carolina Delayed Births, 1766–1900 Paid Ancestry.com subscription required
    This partial database of delayed South Carolina birth certificates (includes digitized images) contains approximately 25,000 birth returns for the city of Charleston, South Carolina from the years 1877-1901, and approximately 55,000 delayed applications for birth certificates from throughout the state, covering the years 1766-1900.

South Dakota

  • South Dakota Birth Records Over 100 Years Old Free
    More than 225,000 South Dakota births are searchable in this free online database of birth records from the South Dakota Department of Health, including many delayed birth certificates issued for people born before statewide registration began in 1905.
  • South Dakota Death Index, 1905–1955 Paid Ancestry.com subscription required
    This index to deaths that occurred in South Dakota between 1905 and 1955 contains the death certificate number, name of deceased, county or county code, and date of death.

Tennessee

  • Tennessee Death Records, 1914–1955 Free
    FamilySearch hosts this free searchable database, plus digitized images, of Tennessee death certificates from the beginning of statewide registration in 1914.
  • Tennessee County Marriages, 1790–1950 Free
    Search and/or browse images of marriage registers, marriage licenses, marriage bonds, and marriage certificates acquired from local Tennessee county courthouses. This growing collection on FamilySearch is not yet complete -- browse the records to see what is currently available by county.

Texas

  • Texas Deaths, 1890–1976 Free
    Almost 9 million digitized records are included in this free collection of Texas statewide death certificates—including delayed certificates, foreign deaths, and probate obituaries—from the Texas Department of State Health Services in Austin, and hosted online by FamilySearch.org.
  • Texas Deaths, 1977–1986 Free
    Images of Texas statewide death certificates, including delayed certificates, are available online in this free FamilySearch.org collection, from the Texas Department of State Health Services. For a list of records by dates and localities currently published in this collection, select the "browse" feature.

Utah

  • Utah Death Certificate Index, 1904–1961 Free
    The Utah Division of Archives & Records Service hosts free downloadable images of Utah death certificates for the period 1904 to 1960; 1961 is also available as browsable images, but not yet indexed.
  • Salt Lake County Death Records, 1908-1949 Free
    A free name index and images for Salt Lake County death records from 1908-1949 from FamilySearch. Also included are a few deaths occurring before 1908 where the remains were re-interred between 1908 and 1949.
  • Utah Death Registers, 1847–1966 Paid Ancestry.com subscription required.
    This collection of images and index includes deaths that occurred in Utah between 1905 and 1951, Utah death registers for 1898–1905 (the dates vary slightly by county, and Grand County includes records for 1961–1966), and interment records for Salt Lake City, 1848–1933.

Vermont

  • Vermont Vital Records, 1760–1954 Free
    Name index and images (index cards) of town clerk transcriptions of births, marriages and deaths in Vermont through 1954. Indexing is ongoing, and additional records from 1955–2008 will be added to the collection as they are completed.
  • Vermont Death Records, 1909-2008 Paid Ancestry.com subscription required
    Name index and images of death certificates and amended death certificates issued in Vermont from 1955–2008.

Virginia

  • Death Indexing - Virginia Free
    A fully-searchable index to Virginia city and county death registers compiled 1853-1896, part of an on-going project sponsored by the Virginia Genealogical Society. Fifteen cities and counties have been indexed to date.
  • Virginia Births and Christenings, 1853-1917 Free
    Almost 2 million names can be searched in this name index to birth, baptism and christening records from the state of Virginia. Online at FamilySearch.org.

Washington

  • Washington State Archives - Birth Records, 1891–1907 Free
    The Washington State Archives has begun to digitize the birth records in their collections and make them available online for free. Available birth records cover the period 1891–1907 (birth records after 1907 are not open to the public) for most counties.
  • Washington State Archives - Death Records, 1891–1907 Free
    The Washington State Archives has begun to digitize the available death records in their collections and put them online for free. Available death records cover the period 1891–1907. Post-1907 death records in Washington are not open to the public for research.
  • Washington State Archives - Marriage Records, 1866-2002 Free
    These online marriage records include indexed, digitized images created by the Washington State Archives in a project to make the entire marriage series available from the beginning of marriage record keeping in 1866. The more current index records (approximately 1995 forward) are updated by partner Auditors on a periodic basis and may not include images.

West Virginia

  • West Virginia Vital Records Research Project Free
    One of the first states to start making vital records available online, West Virginia hosts indexes and images to birth and death records dating back to about 1853, and marriage records dating back to county formations. Records and time periods available vary by county.

Wisconsin

  • Wisconsin Genealogy Index Free
    Search for pre-1907 Vital Records, including birth, death, and marriage records, in this free online database of the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Wyoming

  • Wyoming Marriages, 1877-1920 Free
    A free name index to approximately 14,000 marriage records from the state of Wyoming online at FamilySearch.org.
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Powell, Kimberly. "Vital Records Online by State." ThoughtCo, Nov. 22, 2020, thoughtco.com/vital-records-online-by-state-1422785. Powell, Kimberly. (2020, November 22). Vital Records Online by State. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/vital-records-online-by-state-1422785 Powell, Kimberly. "Vital Records Online by State." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/vital-records-online-by-state-1422785 (accessed March 19, 2024).