Washington, Whatcom County
Where Bellingham's records are kept. Bellingham has its own city government and police department; county and state offices keep its other public records.
Start here
The cards below include Bellingham's own offices, along with State of Washington offices; the Whatcom County offices are on our Whatcom County page. Use the category buttons to narrow the list.
Police & jail
Washington State Department of Corrections Mailing Address: Post Office Box 41100, Mail Stop 41100 Olympia, Washington 98504-1100 Physical Address: 7345 Linderson Way SW Tumwater, WA 98501-6504
Open official site Find An Offender StatewideState records
A division of the Office of the Secretary of State that preserves Washington's public records, offering online records, an archives catalog, Ask an Archivist help and five regional branches.
Open official site Washington State ArchivesCounty court
Hears bankruptcy cases from Washington west of the Cascades, between the Oregon line and Canada, at courthouses in Seattle and Tacoma; links cover PACER case lookup, proof of claim filing and document copies.
Open official site U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of WashingtonVital records
The Center for Health Statistics issues certified Washington birth, death, stillbirth, marriage and divorce certificates; online orders go through VitalChek, its only approved vendor, and office visits are by appointment.
Open official site Washington State Department of Health Vital RecordsPolice & jail
Department of Corrections search of people now incarcerated or wanted for arrest by the department, plus Washington's wanted list and a tips form; you must accept its terms before searching.
Open official site Washington Department of Corrections Incarcerated Data SearchPolice & jail
Posts active alerts and lists of missing children, Indigenous people and other missing persons, takes tips on a 24 hour toll free line and helps families once local police have a report.
Open official site Washington State Patrol Missing and Unidentified Persons UnitPolice & jail
Washington State Patrol list of wanted people with downloadable posters; do not contact anyone shown, since they may be armed, and call 911 or the agency listed with each person.
Open official site Washington State Patrol Most WantedPolice & jail
The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs explains state registration rules and risk levels and links the public registry at wasor.org, which shows Level II and III offenders and some Level I.
Open official site WASPC Registered Sex Offender InformationPolice & jail
WSP sells conviction records: an instant WATCH search online for $11, or mail requests by name for $32 or by fingerprints for $58; public results show convictions and recent arrests still pending.
Open official site Washington State Patrol Criminal History RecordsFederal
U.S. Census Bureau fact table for Bellingham city, Washington: 96,395 people estimated for July 2025 and 91,482 counted in 2020, plus figures on households, home values, income, schooling and employers.
Open official site U.S. Census Bureau QuickFactsCity records
Bellingham City Hall at 210 Lottie Street, phone (360) 778-8000, with municipal court and parking ticket information, the municipal code, voter information, online payments, maps and issue reporting.
Open official site City of BellinghamPolice & jail
Bellingham Police Department, 505 Grand Ave, Bellingham WA 98225 Hours: 9 a.m. Law enforcement services 505 Grand Avenue Bellingham, WA 98225 Phone: (360) 778-8800 Fax: (360) 778-8701
Open official site Bellingham Police DepartmentEverything else, organized
13 more Bellingham sources not listed above.
Local record guide
Local profile
Bellingham, a place of 91,482 people, is the seat of Whatcom County. Court and property records sit with Whatcom County, and birth and death certificates come from the State of Washington. Bellingham's own offices are in the cards above, and our Whatcom County page lists each county office.
Abandoned mine records
Where the workings are, and the office that holds the mine maps.
From the old mine records
The mine records hold 4 mine sites inside the city or town limits: 3 past producers, now closed, 1 processing plant, which is not a working; the old survey maps add 6 holes drawn inside the city or town limits, 0 of them shafts or tunnels. The minerals the records name are construction sand and gravel; Magnesite.
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. Washington has no state abandoned mine land program page; the survey's coal mine maps are the record.
Bellingham sits over a mapped coal field and the coal there is medium and high volatile bituminous, 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 town. The record that shows it is the mine map, held by Washington Geological Survey, Coal Mine Map Collection and linked below.
Washington 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.
Labor Department file
The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division closed 46 investigations with a Bellingham address since fiscal 2005 and recorded $1,403,663 in back wages agreed for 399 workers. Snapshot of April 22, 2026; a case here is a finding by the Division, not a court judgment, and the city is the one written on the employer's record.
| Employer | Cases | Back wages | Workers |
|---|---|---|---|
| J & J Comfort Zone, Inc. | 1 | $520,708 | 82 |
| Exxel Pacific, Inc | 3 | $224,933 | 40 |
| Pacific Coast Foods, Inc. | 1 | $148,051 | 19 |
| Heath Tecna, Inc. | 1 | $108,735 | 51 |
| Cherry Valera | 1 | $105,274 | 1 |
| Zheng's Restaurant, Inc. | 1 | $56,930 | 4 |
| Lychee Buffet | 1 | $40,000 | 0 |
| Mt. Baker Roofing, Inc. | 1 | $31,743 | 1 |
| Whatcom Association of Training Centers, Inc | 1 | $24,158 | 30 |
| Brown & Cole Stores, LLC | 2 | $24,154 | 11 |
| Lake Whatcom Residential and Treatment Center | 2 | $22,343 | 36 |
| Super Buffet WA, Inc. | 1 | $14,118 | 4 |
| Ying-Ruay Corp | 1 | $10,352 | 13 |
| Rum-Ruay Corporation | 1 | $9,981 | 4 |
| Golden Specialty, Inc. | 1 | $9,814 | 6 |
| Ma-Ray Corporation; Kotra-Ruay Inc. | 1 | $9,453 | 16 |
| Whatcom County Fire Protection District #8 | 1 | $9,288 | 13 |
| Northwest Hospitality Development, LLC | 1 | $8,228 | 1 |
| Home Attendant Care, Inc. | 1 | $7,962 | 23 |
| Big Sky Industries, Ltd. | 1 | $7,790 | 17 |
| El Agave, LLC | 1 | $2,978 | 4 |
| Nav & Gurj, Inc | 1 | $2,773 | 15 |
| El Gitano Restaurant III, Inc. | 1 | $1,277 | 1 |
| Madrona Medical Group P.S. | 1 | $967 | 1 |
| Habitat For Humanity In Whatcom County, Inc. | 1 | $482 | 1 |
The 25 employers with the most back wages agreed, of 41 whose address on the record is in Bellingham; 15 employers have a page of their own and open from the table, the rest show their whole record here. The 16 more with smaller records are on the Washington wage theft records page, whose search answers for every employer in the state.
Straight answers
Open only the answer you need.
Voter registration in Washington is run by the Washington Secretary of State and local election officials. Its site lists the registration deadline, online voter registration, polling places and the local election office for Bellingham.
Deeds for property in Bellingham are recorded by the Whatcom County Auditor, and the county office that assesses property keeps the tax values. Our Whatcom County page lists the county offices.
Certified birth and death certificates for events in Washington come from the state vital records office, Washington Center for Health Statistics. Its site lists who may order a copy, the fee and how to order.
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.