Illinois People Search

Start with the Secretary of State business search, the IDOC custody search and re:SearchIL for court filings. If you know the county, go to its circuit clerk and recorder for certified copies; Cook County, the largest, is listed here.

• Illinois Secretary of State business entity searchCorporations, LLCs, nonprofits and partnerships with agents and status
• IDOC Individual in Custody SearchCurrent and recent state inmates with sentence and release date
• re:SearchILStatewide search of e-filed Illinois court documents
• Illinois Sex Offender RegistryIllinois State Police registry by name, address or ZIP code
• Cook County Clerk, recordingsDeeds, mortgages and liens, formerly the Recorder of Deeds
• IDPH Division of Vital RecordsBirth, death and other records, with rules and fees

Illinois has about 12.5 million people in 102 counties. Cook County, home to Chicago and about 40 percent of the state's people, holds the largest share of records, and statewide e-filing has changed court access since 2018.

The Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140) gives the public a right of access to state and local agency records. Court records, business filings, deeds and inmate records each have their own search, most of them by name, and Cook County splits its records across several separate websites.

Three statewide systems handle most Illinois records research: the Illinois Courts e-services suite, the Illinois Department of Corrections, and the Illinois State Police Bureau of Identification.

• eFileIL, Illinois CourtsStatewide e-filing system for civil cases in every court
• Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140)Full text, with exemptions and request rules

Illinois court records have moved decisively online over the past several years. Civil filings in every county now flow through a single eFileIL pipeline, and the resulting documents are accessible via Re:SearchIL, a Tyler-hosted portal similar to the federal PACER system.

For name searches, many counties still use their own docket systems. Cook County publishes its own Circuit Court docket, and the Appellate and Supreme Courts post opinions and dockets on the state courts website.

• Illinois CourtsSupreme and Appellate Court dockets, opinions and rules

Illinois deeds are recorded by each county, usually by the recorder of deeds or the recordings division of the county clerk, and property is assessed by the county or township assessor. There is no statewide portal, but Cook County and the collar counties (DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will) all have online systems.

In Cook County, the Recorder of Deeds office was abolished and folded into the Cook County Clerk's Office in 2020. Deeds, mortgages, and liens are now searchable through the Clerk's recordings portal. Assessment data lives separately at the Cook County Assessor.

• Cook County AssessorAssessed value, exemptions and sales by address or PIN
• Cook County Property Tax PortalTaxes, assessments, exemptions and appeals for each parcel

Illinois business filings are administered by the Department of Business Services at the Secretary of State's office. The free online Business Entity Search returns the registered agent, principal office address, formation date, and standing of every active corporation, LLC, and limited partnership.

For professional licensing, doctors, nurses, contractors, real-estate agents, cosmetologists, and dozens of other regulated professions, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) maintains a separate license-lookup tool.

Illinois SOS, Corporation/LLC Search

• Illinois Secretary of State business searchesFile detail reports and certificates of good standing

The Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) operates the state prison system and publishes a free Individual in Custody Search. Records cover individuals currently in custody, on parole, and recent releases. For sex-offender registration, the Illinois State Police runs the statewide registry under the Sex Offender Registration Act.

For county-jail inmates, you'll need to check the Sheriff's website for the relevant county; there is no statewide jail-roster system, but Cook County, DuPage, and most populous counties publish daily booking lists.

• VINELink, IllinoisCustody status and release alerts for victims

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), Division of Vital Records, holds birth, death, marriage, and stillbirth records for the state. Birth records are restricted: only the registrant, parents, legal guardians, or authorized representatives can obtain a certified copy until the record reaches roughly 75 years old. Death records have shorter restrictions and become more broadly available 20 years after the date of death.

Marriage and divorce certificates are issued by the County Clerk of the county where the license was issued or the divorce was filed, IDPH only verifies that an event occurred. The Vital Records office in Springfield (925 E. Ridgely Ave.) accepts walk-ins between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. weekdays.

• IDPH, obtain a birth certificateApplication and fees for a certified Illinois birth certificate

Voter records in Illinois are held by the State Board of Elections and by each county clerk. The State Board's online tools let any resident verify their own registration, polling place, and recent ballot history. Bulk voter-registration lists are available to candidates, parties, and certain authorized researchers, but they are not a public search tool for casual lookups.

For people search purposes, voter data confirms that someone has been registered at a particular address in a specific county, useful as an address-history breadcrumb when paired with court and property records.

• Illinois State Board of ElectionsVoter registration lookup and campaign finance disclosures

The Illinois State Archives, operated by the Secretary of State, is the long-term home for state and local government records that have permanent historical value. Holdings include early census-style records, militia rolls, naturalization indexes, and a Statewide Death Index for deaths before 1916.

For obituaries, public libraries, particularly the Chicago Public Library, Newberry Library, and county historical societies, maintain extensive newspaper microfilm archives. Many libraries also subscribe to GenealogyBank or Newspapers.com for member access.

• Illinois State Archives databasesDeath indexes, early state records and other genealogy collections

Illinois counties range widely in size. Cook County alone has more people than most U.S. states, and the collar counties (DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will) each have several hundred thousand to over a million residents, each with its own online systems. In rural downstate counties, start with the county clerk and the circuit clerk.

For people search work in Cook, plan on using at least three different portals: Cook County Assessor (for property), Cook County Clerk (for deeds and elections), and the Cook County Circuit Court Clerk (for cases). DuPage and Lake County publish similar three-portal setups; smaller counties typically combine all three under the County Clerk.

Always confirm county before searching. Illinois has 102 counties and many have similar-sounding names (Madison/Macoupin, Logan/Mason, Champaign/Christian). A search in the wrong county returns nothing, even when good records exist.

Check re:SearchIL and the circuit clerk of the county. re:SearchIL has the e-filed documents from about 2018 on; older docket history often sits only in the circuit clerk's own system.

For Cook County, treat each portal as a separate database. The Assessor, Clerk, and Circuit Court systems do not share a unified ID. Cross-reference using full name and date of birth where possible.

Use the IDOC search for any criminal-history confirmation. A name match in IDOC means the person served state prison time, a stronger signal than a docket entry, which only proves a charge was filed.

Combine a people search with Illinois-specific record searches for a complete profile. These companion directories are already live on PublicRecordCenter.com:

• Illinois Public RecordsMain state directory, all record types
• About Illinois RecordsCivic overview & public records law
• People Search GuideHow people-finding actually works
• Genealogy SearchFamily history & ancestry
• Vital RecordsBirth, death, marriage & divorce
• Judgments & LiensCivil judgments & debt records