Rhode Island, county records
Find the right office in Providence County. Court cases, deeds and parcels, sheriff and jail records, vital records and county filings, each linked to the office that keeps them.
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Every card below goes to the government office responsible for that record. Use the category buttons to narrow the list.
County court
The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, in Providence, hears federal civil and criminal cases; case files are found through PACER. State cases come from the Rhode Island Judiciary.
Open official site Rhode Island Federal CasesState records
Find active and inactive corporations by name from the RI Dept. of Business Regulation.
Open official site Rhode Island Business & Corporation SearchVital records
The Rhode Island Department of Health Center for Vital Records issues certified death certificates for a fee to eligible applicants. City and town clerks in Rhode Island also keep local death records.
Open official site Rhode Island Death RecordsProperty records
Obtain property tax info by contacting the State of RI.
Open official site Rhode Island Property RecordsVital records
Request a copy of a marriage certificates from the Rhode Island Department of Health.
Open official site Rhode Island Marriage SearchState records
Search property and claim status by individual name or business thru the state treasurer.
Open official site Rhode Island Unclaimed PropertyLocal record guide
County profile
Sheriff & Law Enforcement. Providence County Sheriff's Office is responsible for maintaining law and order across Providence County, particularly in unincorporated areas.
Police Departments. Providence County is served by several law enforcement agencies, including Providence County Sheriff's Office and municipal police departments such as the Providence Police Department, Cranston Police Department, and Pawtucket Police Department.
Law Enforcement & Arrests. The Rhode Island Department of Corrections operates the Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI) in Cranston, which houses state-level inmates and functions as the primary detention facility for Providence County at 40 Howard Avenue, Cranston, RI 02920. Major municipal police departments serving Providence County include Providence Police Department (325 Washington Street, Providence area), Pawtucket Police Department, Cranston Police Department, Woonsocket Police Department, East Providence Police Department, Warwick Police Department, and numerous smaller town police departments across Providence County's 24 municipalities.
Arrest Records. Arrest records in Providence County are maintained by the respective law enforcement agencies, including Providence County Sheriff's Office and municipal police departments.
Abandoned mine records
Where the workings are, and the office that holds the mine maps.
From the old mine records
The mine records hold 62 mine sites inside the county: 38 past producers, now closed, 4 prospects or occurrences that were never worked, 14 sites producing when the record was made, 1 processing plant, which is not a working, 5 sites with no status in the record; the old survey maps add 66 holes drawn inside the county, 0 of them shafts or tunnels. The minerals the records name are construction sand and gravel; Granite; Graphite.
A point in either file is a location, not a property line: the sheet shows the opening on the surface, not the rooms under it. The record that shows what runs under a parcel is the mine map. The OSMRE National Mine Map Repository holds scanned underground mine maps and answers requests for a named mine or an area. No state page on mines or abandoned mines was found; Rhode Island has no active state geological survey site for this.
Rows taken off the old survey maps open the USGS record of what sits at that spot, because no single feature on those maps has a page of its own. Rows from the mine records open their own USGS page.
Providence County sits over the Rhode Island Meta-Anthracite Region coal field and the coal there is anthracite, worked underground in many places. The two federal files record a shaft, an adit or a deposit where one was drawn on a survey sheet or catalogued as a site; neither file carries the outline of the workings, so the counts above are not the measure of what was mined under this county. The record that shows it is the mine map, held by the federal National Mine Map Repository.
Rhode Island abandoned mine maps ranks every county and town in the state by the workings recorded inside it, names the office that holds the mine maps, and says what to do if the ground moves.
Disclaimer: The mine information here is for general information only. Old mine records can be incomplete, outdated or wrong, and finding nothing here does not mean there is nothing there. Check with the mine map office named here before you rely on it, and have a qualified engineer look at any ground you are worried about. PublicRecordCenter.com assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors, omissions, or consequences arising from the use of this information.
Know before you ask
Each figure below was read on the official source linked beside it, October to November 2026. A fee or rule the source does not state is left out rather than guessed, and offices can change their schedules, so confirm on the source before you pay or travel.
The Providence Recorder states that Rhode Island records land documents by city or town, not by county. Its office covers property in the City of Providence. Research uses Room 506; documents for recording go to Room 508. Recording ends at 3:30 p.m., or 3 p.m. during the summer schedule.
A Providence County address in another municipality needs that city or town land-evidence office. Keep the municipality, plat and lot with the party names; the same owner can have property in multiple local recording systems.
The City of Providence vital service charges $22 for a walk-in birth, death or marriage certificate and $25 by mail, with $18 for additional copies requested that day. It does not accept cash. The office is at 25 Dorrance Street and normally operates weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with an earlier summer closing.
An overnight return envelope changes delivery arrangements rather than eligibility. Include the application, identification and required payment; a fast carrier cannot supply missing event details or correct an incomplete request.
The Pawtucket birth instructions direct older local events, or Rhode Island births where the mother lived in Pawtucket, to the city record service. They describe statewide municipal access for the later birth series. The city copy charge is $22 in person or $25 by mail/online, with $18 same-record duplicates; online card orders add the stated surcharge.
Use the exact event year when deciding whether a statewide electronic route applies. For a boundary year described differently by neighboring offices, ask the registrar to confirm availability rather than assuming every historic book is shared statewide.
The Pawtucket death instructions say deaths from 2022 onward are available statewide at any municipality. Earlier records require a Pawtucket event or residence connection under the city guidance.
This distinction can save a request sent to the wrong town. Establish both the place of death and the decedent residence at the time, then ask the registrar which record it holds. Present residence of the person ordering does not determine the historical custodian.
The Rhode Island Judiciary access guide describes the Public Portal as a register of actions or docket. General public remote access is narrower than courthouse access to public electronic documents. Confidential and sealed material remains restricted.
Save the court and case number from the docket, then identify the filed order, judgment or exhibit needed. A chronological event list can show that a document was filed without displaying its contents. Use the clerk of the court involved for the underlying copy or certification.
Where to go
Each office below was read on its own site. A field the office does not publish is left out rather than filled in from a directory.
Office page: providenceri.gov
Office page: providenceri.gov
Pawtucket and qualifying statewide electronic vital records.
Office page: pawtucketri.gov
Labor Department file
The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division closed 1,066 investigations in Providence County since fiscal 2005 and recorded $11,793,180 in back wages agreed for 9,904 workers. The county is the one the Census Bureau puts each employer's ZIP code in. Snapshot of April 22, 2026; a case here is a finding by the Division, not a court judgment.
The 25 employers with the most back wages agreed, of 903 on the Providence County record; 301 employers have a page of their own and open from the table, the rest show their whole record here. The 878 more with smaller records are on the Rhode Island wage theft records page, whose search answers for every employer in the state.
Straight answers
Open only the answer you need.
Booking photos are kept by the agency that made the arrest, such as the state police or a town or city police department. Ask that agency for its record.
The Rhode Island criminal history record comes from the Rhode Island Attorney General, Bureau of Criminal Identification (BCI). Get a state BCI check in person at the Attorney General's Customer Service Center in Cranston with ID and a credit or debit card, or by mail with the release form and a $5.00 check or money order payable to BCI. Fee: $5.00.
Search the Rhode Island Sex Offender Registry (RISOR), Rhode Island State Police, or every state at once on the National Sex Offender Public Website run by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Register with the local board of canvassers (city or town) or through the Rhode Island Department of State, Elections Division. You can also register online with the state online registration. You must be registered to vote 30 days before an election to take part in it; without a Rhode Island driver's license or state ID, the online system makes a form to print and mail to your local board of canvassers.
Deeds and other recorded land documents in Providence County are kept by the city or town clerk. Property values are set by the city or town tax assessor, and tax bills come from the city or town tax collector. Source: official state page.
Certified birth and death certificates for Rhode Island come from the Rhode Island Department of Health, Center for Vital Records. Go to the city or town hall where you lived at the time of the event, or where it occurred, for birth certificates of births before 1960 and death and marriage certificates of events before 2022. By mail with check or money order payable to the General Treasurer, State of Rhode Island, to Center for Vital Records, Simpson Hall, 6 Harrington Rd., Cranston, RI 02920 (or the drop box there), or in person at Simpson Hall, with an appointment to avoid waiting. Fee: $22 for the first copy and $18 for each extra copy bought the same day.
Business entity filings are searched with the Rhode Island Department of State, Business Services Division.
The Providence Recorder explanation says Rhode Island land recording is municipal. Use the city or town where the property is located.
The office instructions identify Room 506 for research and Room 508 for recordings, with a separate recording cutoff.
The payment notice says the vital office does not accept cash. Bring an accepted payment method.
The fee list distinguishes $22 walk-in and $25 mail orders, plus the stated duplicate-copy price.
The Pawtucket guidance identifies that residence connection as a local record route, alongside births occurring in the city.
The death service describes statewide municipal availability for deaths from 2022 onward. Older events have different local-custody rules.
The Judiciary guide distinguishes the remote register of actions from broader courthouse access to public documents.
No. The access rules summary preserves restrictions on sealed and confidential cases and documents even at courthouse terminals.
Same county
Use the city page when a record was created by a municipal police department or city office; use the county page for courts, deeds, vital records and jail custody.