Guide
Overview
A death record in the United States exists in three places: the state or county death certificate, the Social Security Administration's Death Master File, and the private and volunteer databases built from obituaries and cemetery records. Death certificates are the legal proof and are issued by the state vital records office or the county where the death occurred, with certified copies restricted to family and people with a legal interest for a period that ranges from 25 to 50 years in most states and is open to anyone in a few.
The Social Security Death Index is the public version of the Death Master File and lists name, birth and death dates, Social Security number and last residence for most deaths reported to Social Security since 1962. A 2013 federal law closed each new record to the public for three years after the death and limited the current file to certified users, and the free genealogy indexes stopped updating around 2014.
Official sources on this page were checked on September 25, 2026.
Guide
Death certificates by state
Statewide death registration spread state by state, with the last states joining the national registration area in 1933 and many registering since the 1890s or earlier, with the state vital records office holding the index and the county clerk or health department holding local copies. A certified copy costs 10 to 30 dollars and needs proof of relationship in most states while the record is restricted. Informational copies, stamped not valid for legal purposes, are available to anyone in states such as California and Texas. Older deaths past the restriction period are usually at the state archives and often indexed online free.
Guide
The Social Security Death Index and the Death Master File
The free Social Security Death Index at FamilySearch covers 1962 to 2014 and is searched by name, birth year and death year. Ancestry and other genealogy services carry the same data with the Social Security number. The Death Master File itself is maintained by the Social Security Administration and distributed through the National Technical Information Service to banks, insurers and pension funds that certify their use. A person who finds themselves wrongly listed as dead contacts a Social Security office with identification to correct the record.
Guide
Obituaries, cemeteries and veterans
Obituaries are indexed by newspapers, by Legacy.com and by the genealogy services, and the county newspaper pages on this site list the papers for each area. Find a Grave and BillionGraves index cemetery headstones with photographs. The Department of Veterans Affairs Nationwide Gravesite Locator covers burials in national cemeteries and veterans in private cemeteries with a government marker, and the National Cemetery Administration's records go back to the Civil War.
Straight answers
Death Records questions
How do I find out if someone has died?
Search the Social Security Death Index for deaths through 2014, obituary indexes and Find a Grave for recent deaths, and order the death certificate from the state where the death occurred if you need legal proof.
Who can get a death certificate?
Certified copies go to family and people with a legal interest for a restriction period that runs 25 to 50 years in most states. Informational copies are available to anyone in some states, and older records are open at the state archives.
Why does the Social Security Death Index stop at 2014?
A 2013 federal law closed new Death Master File records to the public for three years after death and limited the current file to certified users, and the free genealogy indexes stopped updating around 2014.