Idaho People Search

Idaho has one free statewide court search, so a search usually starts there and with the state business, prison, sex offender and vital records offices. Deeds and property records stay with the 44 counties; Ada County, the largest, is listed here and the others further down.

• Idaho iCourt PortalFree statewide civil, criminal and traffic case search for all 44 counties
• Idaho SOSBiz, Secretary of StateCorporations, LLCs, trade names and UCC liens
• IDOC resident and client searchState inmates and people on probation or parole
• ISP Sex Offender RegistryIdaho State Police registry by name, city, county or ZIP code
• Idaho Bureau of Vital Records and Health StatisticsBirth, death, marriage and divorce certificates for eligible requesters
• Ada County Clerk, property recordsDeeds, mortgages and liens recorded in Boise and Ada County

The Idaho Public Records Act (Idaho Code section 74-101 and the sections after it, formerly section 9-338) presumes that every state and local government record is open unless a law exempts it.

Anyone may request Idaho public records, resident or not. Agencies must grant or deny a request within three working days, or within ten working days when they need more time to find or compile the records. A denial can be appealed to the district court.

This page links only the official state and county offices: the courts, licensing boards and county clerks that keep the records.

These statewide offices hold or point to most Idaho public records.

• Idaho.govDirectory of Idaho state agencies and online services
• Idaho Secretary of StateBusiness filings, trademarks, UCC, elections and campaign finance
• Idaho Supreme Court and Judicial BranchAppellate dockets, opinions and court rules
• Idaho State Historical Society and State ArchivesTerritorial records, early vital records and historical documents
• Idaho State BarAttorney licensing and discipline in Idaho
• Idaho LegislatureIdaho Code, bills and committee records

Idaho utilizes a unified trial court system. At the base level are the Magistrate Divisions (handling misdemeanors, small claims, infractions, and juvenile cases) and the District Courts (handling felonies, major civil litigation, and domestic relations). The state is geographically divided into 7 Judicial Districts, which dictate judicial administration.

The districts are organized roughly by region: the 1st District covers the North Idaho Panhandle (Kootenai, Bonner); the 2nd District covers the north-central region (Nez Perce, Latah); the 3rd District handles the western Treasure Valley (Canyon); the 4th District encompasses the Boise metro (Ada); the 5th District covers the Magic Valley (Twin Falls); the 6th District handles the southeast (Bannock); and the 7th District spans the east (Bonneville, Madison).

Between 2017 and 2019 Idaho moved every county to one case management system, so the free iCourt portal, linked in Where to Look, searches court records statewide.

Common Mistake: iCourt does not show sealed, expunged or juvenile cases, and some cases from before the 2017 move may exist only in paper files or older systems at the county courthouse.

• PACER, U.S. District Court for IdahoFederal cases from Boise, Coeur d'Alene and Pocatello

There is no statewide property search in Idaho. In each of the 44 counties the assessor values property, the recorder (often the county clerk) records deeds, mortgages and liens, and the treasurer collects the tax.

Search the county where the property is. The Idaho State Tax Commission handles income and business taxes, keeps those filings private and has no parcel search, and the Idaho Department of Lands manages state trust land, not private deeds.

Researcher Tip: Rural, farm and timber deeds in North Idaho and on the Snake River Plain often refer to mining claims (above all in the Silver Valley of Shoshone County), timber rights and water rights. Check the county assessor against the water rights database of the Idaho Department of Water Resources.

The assessors of the largest counties:

• Ada County AssessorBoise area property values, owners and maps
• Canyon County AssessorNampa and Caldwell property values and owners
• Kootenai County AssessorCoeur d'Alene area property values and owners
• Bonneville County AssessorIdaho Falls area property values and owners
• Bannock County AssessorPocatello area property values and owners
• Twin Falls County AssessorTwin Falls area property values and owners

Note: for legal verification and chain-of-title research, use the official county portals.

The Secretary of State keeps business filings and the Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses keeps most professional licenses.

Idaho merged the former Division of Building Safety and several licensing boards into the Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses (DOPL), which now licenses contractors, tradespeople and many health professionals.

• Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional LicensesContractors, trades, nursing, medicine and dozens of other licenses

If an individual has been sentenced to state prison or is under felony community supervision (probation/parole), their records are managed by the Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC). Idaho operates several major facilities, including the Idaho State Correctional Institution (ISCI) and Maximum Security Institution (IMSI) in Kuna, the Idaho Correctional Institution-Orofino (ICIO), and specialized women's facilities like PWCC in Pocatello.

Because Idaho lacks a federal prison facility, individuals convicted of federal crimes in the District of Idaho are typically transferred out of state, often to FCI Sheridan in Oregon, FCI Lompoc in California, or USP Terre Haute in Indiana.

Common Mistake: The IDOC Offender Search database only lists individuals who have been convicted and remanded to state custody, or those on felony probation/parole. It does not display individuals held in county jails awaiting trial or serving misdemeanor sentences. For recent arrests or jail holds, you must search the specific county sheriff's roster (e.g., Ada County Sheriff's Arrests).

• Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locatorFederal inmates sentenced in Idaho, all held out of state

The Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics in the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare issues birth and death certificates, which are closely protected.

Idaho imposes a 100-year confidentiality period on birth records and a 50-year confidentiality period on death records. During these windows, only immediate family members or legal representatives may request certified copies. Older records become public archival documents. Conversely, marriage licenses are filed with the local County Recorder where the license was issued, and divorce decrees are maintained by the County Clerk of the District Court.

Privacy Note: Because of these limits, recent family links come from obituaries, probate filings in iCourt and county marriage indexes, which are generally public once filed.

Idaho does not publish voter files for public browsing. Parties and candidates can get voter lists for campaign use, not for commercial use, and the public can check only their own registration.

• VoteIdaho.govCheck your own registration and polling place

• Sunshine financial disclosureContributions to state and local candidates and PACs

For historical searches, the state archives and the University of Idaho hold most digitized Idaho records.

The Idaho State Historical Society and State Archives in Boise hold the territorial records. For newspapers, the University of Idaho Library's digital collections add to the Library of Congress's Chronicling America titles for Idaho.

• University of Idaho Library digital collectionsDigitized historical Idaho newspapers and collections

Court records are statewide, but deeds, local tax assessments, sheriff's arrests and marriage records stay with each of the 44 counties.

The Treasure Valley (4th and 3rd Judicial Districts)

The Treasure Valley holds most of Idaho's people and businesses.

• Ada County Sheriff's OfficeJail roster and arrests for Boise, Meridian, Eagle, Kuna and Star
• Canyon CountyCounty offices for Nampa and Caldwell, with property and arrest records

Payette, Gem, Washington, Adams, Owyhee, Valley and Boise counties are the rural counties around the Treasure Valley.

North Idaho / The Panhandle (1st and 2nd Judicial Districts)

North Idaho grew from timber, mining and railroads and has close ties to the Spokane area of Washington.

• Kootenai CountyCoeur d'Alene, Post Falls and Hayden; many residents also have Washington records
• Nez Perce CountyCounty offices for Lewiston
• Latah CountyCounty offices for Moscow
• Shoshone CountySilver Valley county offices; property often involves mining rights

The other northern counties are Boundary, Benewah, Bonner (Sandpoint), Clearwater and Idaho County, the largest county in the state by area.

Eastern Idaho (7th and 6th Judicial Districts)

Eastern Idaho borders Wyoming and Utah and includes the Idaho National Laboratory, two universities and large farming areas.

• Bonneville CountyCounty offices for Idaho Falls
• Bannock CountyCounty offices for Pocatello, home of Idaho State University
• Madison CountyCounty offices for Rexburg, home of BYU-Idaho

The other eastern counties are Bingham, Jefferson, Fremont, Teton, Clark, Butte, Custer, Lemhi, Bear Lake, Caribou, Franklin, Oneida and Power.

South-Central / Magic Valley (5th Judicial District)

• Twin Falls CountyCounty offices for the Magic Valley
• Blaine CountyKetchum and Sun Valley; property is often held by LLCs and trusts

The other south central counties are Jerome, Lincoln, Minidoka, Gooding, Cassia, Camas and Elmore.

Tribal Note: Researchers should also be aware of sovereign tribal jurisdictions within state borders, including the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, Nez Perce Tribe, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes (Fort Hall), Shoshone-Paiute Tribes (Duck Valley, straddling the NV border), and the Kootenai Tribe. Certain civil and law enforcement matters occurring on tribal lands may be processed in tribal courts rather than county district courts.

A few Idaho patterns change how a search works:

Use name variations: Eastern Idaho (Madison, Bonneville, Bingham, Jefferson, Fremont) has many common Scandinavian and English surnames such as Jensen, Hansen and Smith, so match middle initials and birth dates in iCourt to avoid the wrong person.

North and south differ: North Idaho searches often involve timber land, mining claims and records in Washington or Montana.

Check trade names: Many Idaho farm and small business owners work under a trade name rather than an LLC, so search SOSBiz trade names too.

Combine IDOC and Local Jails: For a complete corrections timeline, always cross-reference the state-level IDOC search with the specific county jail roster where the subject resides.

Researcher Tip: Start with iCourt for statewide civil and criminal dockets, then search SOSBiz for companies and trade names, then use the county named in the court records to search that county assessor for property.

Public records in Idaho are governed by Title 74 of the Idaho Code, which leans toward openness but limits some uses of personal data.

Unlike California (CCPA) or Utah (UCPA), Idaho has no general consumer privacy law. It does protect student data in school technology, and Idaho Code section 28-51-104 and the sections after it require businesses to report breaches of unencrypted personal information.

The Idaho Secretary of State runs an Address Confidentiality Program for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and some other crimes, giving participants a substitute address for public filings. It is not an opt out for the general public.

Idaho allows limited sealing and expungement of criminal records (Idaho Code section 67-3004, and section 20-525A for juveniles) and has no automatic sealing law.

Privacy Note: Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, court dockets, arrest rosters and property records cannot be used for employment, credit or tenant decisions except through a consumer reporting agency.