Where to Find Public Records on the Internet

You can use the Internet to find just about anything: a good restaurant, a half-forgotten old ad recording, a recommendation for a good book, a podcast about just about anything, and even public records . While our most personally identifiable information (usually) cannot be found online, you can track items such as birth certificates, marriage and divorce information, obituaries, licenses, and mortgage and bankruptcy information. Keep reading to find out where to find public records on the internet.

First, a quick note

All of the following websites and detection methods are completely free unless otherwise noted. There are many sites that advertise themselves as free, but once you enter the details of what you are looking for, they will try to charge you for their services – and even so, they usually don’t provide anything that you can’t find yourself. If you do have to pay for something, it will most likely involve traveling to a physical location (such as a courthouse) to obtain a copy of a certain public document.

Google

You can use Google to find a lot of preliminary information about someone. Just Google their name and you can start putting together a good trail (assuming they haven’t decided to pay for a service like DeleteMe , which removes their public information from the Internet). If you know what clubs, jobs, interests, etc. are associated with this person, or their address, your search will be more productive. You can also use Google to search for addresses and phone numbers if provided.

Zabasearch

The Zabasearch search engine may sound creepy , but it only returns results from content that is already publicly available on the Internet; it just brings it all together in one place. Zabasearch will return previous addresses and phone numbers only after searching by name (which you can also narrow by adding state). In case of anything more substantial, you will be asked to put some money into Intelius , the renowned free investigative service. (No thanks.) Zabasearch is great for finding names, addresses, and phone numbers (and sometimes birthdays) quickly and easily.

Vital records

Here are the best mega-sites for finding vital records:

• National Center for Health Statistics: Where to Write Vital Records : This is the place to start looking for information about birth, death, marriage, or divorce.
• MyHeritage : large list of public record categories; it’s a subscription service, but there is a free trial that can give you what you need.
• BRB Publications : large collection of links to public records; state, county and federal.

Phone books

If you are looking for something other than a private number or a mobile phone number (yes, sorry), you can find it online using the following directories:

• Anywho : white pages, yellow pages, international listings, and a free directory.
• Infobel : worldwide telephone directory; extremely extensive.
• Internet 800 Directory : Simply enter a product, service, company name, or toll free number.
• Wikipedia page on international dialing codes : Here’s a good example. Wikipedia has a slightly confusing but comprehensive account of area codes for almost every geographic location in the world.

Licenses

Need to find a professional license for someone? No problem:

• FindLaw Legal Directory : Database of licensed attorneys in the states.
• DocInfo : Find information about licensed doctors in the US with this tool from the Federation of State Medical Commissions.
• You can also do a simple Google search to find other licensed professionals.

Obituaries

You can also find the obituary online:

• Legacy.com Obituaries : Enter a last name and you will receive a list of newspaper obituaries along with entries from the Social Security Mortality Index.
• Social Security Death Index : Enter as much information as possible for the best results; very good tool.
• Death Indexes : A very extensive list of death records by state (and county), death certificate indexes, etc.
• Cindy’s List : An excellent list of death sites and obituaries; ranges from general indexes to local indexes.

Convictions

Convictions are fairly easy to track, although this varies from state to state.

• FBI Most Wanted : Includes Alerts, Featured Fugitives, etc.
• Sex Offenders: Staff List of Sexual Predators and Where They Live.
• Search for Federal Bureau of Prisons inmates : Use the first and last name to search the nationwide prison database.
• You can also search jail by jail by simply googling your state + “correctional department” or state + “death row”, etc.

miscellanea

There are many more good sites for public records. Here are a few more of my favorites:

• Real Estate Records : Search public property records to find property tax information and information about who owns a particular property.
• National Center for Personnel Records : The first place to start military records.
• NNDB : “The NNDB is an intelligence aggregator that tracks the actions of people we have identified as noteworthy, both living and dead.” Fascinating site.
• US Copyright Office : Search for records, registrations, and documents; helps you get as much information as possible to start your search.
• A weekly selection of presidential documents : in general, how it sounds; comes out every Monday.

This list is by no means definitive. Do you have a favorite public archive search site? Please share in the comments.

This article was originally published in 2007 and was updated on October 22, 2020 by Joel Cunningham with updated information, new links, and a new header image. The content has also been modified in line with current Lifehacker style guidelines.

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