Tennessee, county records
Find the right office in Knox County. Court cases, deeds and parcels, sheriff and jail records, vital records and county filings, each linked to the office that keeps them.
Start here
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. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee hears bankruptcy cases in Chattanooga, Greeneville, Knoxville and Winchester, with dockets and claims available through PACER.
Open official site Tennessee Federal CasesProperty records
Obtain property tax info by contacting the TN Comptroller of the Treasury.
Open official site Tennessee Property RecordsVital records
Request birth and death certificates from the TN Dept. of Health.
Open official site Tennessee Birth RecordsState records
Find active and inactive corporations by name from the Tennessee Department of State.
Open official site Tennessee Business & Corporation SearchState records
Search property and claim status by individual name or business through the Treasury Dept.
Open official site Tennessee Unclaimed PropertyPolice & jail
The Tennessee Department of Correction publishes its own list of offenders now under a sentence of death in Tennessee, with related facts on the state's death penalty.
Open official site Tennessee Death RowVital records
Request a copy of a marriage certificates from the TN Department of Health.
Open official site Tennessee Marriage SearchLocal record guide
County profile
Sheriff & Law Enforcement. Knox County Sheriff's Office is responsible for law enforcement in the unincorporated areas of Knox County.
Police Departments. In addition to Knox County Sheriff's Office, several municipal police departments operate within Knox County, including the Knoxville Police Department, Farragut Police Department, and others serving smaller communities.
Law Enforcement & Arrests. Law enforcement in Knox County, Tennessee, is primarily provided by Knox County Sheriff's Office (KCSO), headquartered at 400 West Main Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Knox County Detention Facility, operated by the Sheriff's Office, houses inmates and provides an online inmate lookup system accessible through the KCSO website, allowing the public to search current inmates by name, booking number, or other identifiers.
Criminal Records. For an authoritative source, see Criminal Background Search<!-- --> | <!-- -->Knox County Criminal Court .
Arrest Records. They are maintained by the arresting agency, primarily the 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 146 mine sites inside the county: 111 past producers, now closed, 14 prospects or occurrences that were never worked, 19 sites producing when the record was made, 1 processing plant, which is not a working, 1 site with no status in the record; the old survey maps add 96 holes drawn inside the county, 2 of them shafts or tunnels. The minerals the records name are Limestone, Dimension; Marble, Dimension; crushed stone.
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. Tennessee's coal regulatory program was run by OSMRE until the state took it back; the state AML program is in TDEC.
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.
Tennessee 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.
Knox County Archives holds non-current permanent county records, with its earliest material dating to 1792. Holdings include court, probate, land, tax and marriage series, but coverage varies by group. Staff retrieve files from closed storage; the reading room is not an open shelf of every original case. Its ordinary-copy schedule starts at $2 for the first page and $0.60 for later pages per request; certified requests start at $5 plus the later-page charge.
Give the names, approximate date, court if known and the kind of paper sought. A probate inventory, a will and a final estate settlement are distinct records even when filed for the same decedent. An archivist can identify the series before copying an unrelated bundle.
The archive divorce index supports single-name searches over a stated 1792 to 1985 period. The library expressly warns that many divorces from the 1970s and 1980s have not been entered. Search the spouse names separately and retain any court and date references. If the record is absent, ask staff about the relevant court series instead of concluding that a divorce never occurred.
The Register fee schedule prices many ordinary instruments at $12 for up to two pages, then $5 for each additional page, with taxes and other applicable charges separate. Certified Register copies are listed at $1 per page. The archive copy charges above belong to its service, not a universal price for every county custodian. The fee calculator is presented as an estimate, so a compound recording should be described before the final total is set.
The Register FAQ sends house-age inquiries to the Assessor and identifies separate court, probate, marriage and vital-record custodians. A deed establishes an instrument involving the land; it does not necessarily establish when the present building was constructed. Combine the correct recorded transfer with the assessment or permit evidence needed for the building question.
An inherited property investigation may move from an estate file to a deed, then to the parcel record. Keep the identifiers from each step so the next office can distinguish the deceased owner, later transferee and present parcel.
The Archives location page places research on the second floor of the East Tennessee History Center, 601 South Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Its weekday hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and its telephone is 865-215-8800. Confirm a requested series before making a trip, especially if the archive may hold only part of the relevant court period.
Tennessee Health certificate instructions explain that county health departments can issue birth or death certificates registered in the statewide electronic system, subject to identity and entitlement evidence. That service is different from historical archive research. A correction or delayed registration is also different from buying a copy of an existing registered record. The Tennessee records guide supplies the broader state search routes for the next stage.
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.
Non-current permanent county and court records.
Office page: knoxcountylibrary.org
Labor Department file
The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division closed 716 investigations in Knox County since fiscal 2005 and recorded $7,329,168 in back wages agreed for 6,845 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 616 on the Knox County record; 186 employers have a page of their own and open from the table, the rest show their whole record here. The 591 more with smaller records are on the Tennessee 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 Knox County Sheriff or a city police department in Knox County. Ask that agency for its record.
The Tennessee criminal history record comes from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI). Request a Tennessee name based criminal history check online through Tennessee Open Records Information Services (TORIS), paying by credit card. Fee: $29.00 for each name based check.
Search the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry (TBI), or every state at once on the National Sex Offender Public Website run by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Register with the county election commission or through the Tennessee Secretary of State, Division of Elections. You can also register online with the state online registration. You must be registered no later than 30 days before the election; mailed forms must be postmarked at least 30 days before.
Deeds and other recorded land documents in Knox County are kept by the Knox County register of deeds. Property values are set by the county assessor of property, and tax bills come from the county trustee.
Certified birth and death certificates for Tennessee come from the Tennessee Department of Health, Office of Vital Records. All county health departments can issue any birth or death certificate registered statewide with the Tennessee Office of Vital Records; you do not need to go to the county where the event occurred. In person with no appointment at Tennessee Vital Records, 1st Floor, Andrew Johnson Tower, 710 James Robertson Parkway, Nashville, TN 37243, or at any county health department; by mail to that address with a check or money order payable to Tennessee Vital Records; or online through VitalChek. Fee: $15.00 for each birth or death certificate, first and additional copies.
Business entity filings are searched with the Tennessee Secretary of State, Division of Business and Charitable Organizations. Business licenses are issued by the county clerk, and by the city if it imposes the business tax, where the business is located; businesses with taxable receipts over $3,000 need one.
No. The library identifies substantial unentered material from the later decades of the index period.
The library describes single-name searching; try the spouse names separately.
Staff retrieve records from closed storage for use in the reading room.
No. The Register lists its own certified-copy charge of $1 per page.
The Register directs building-age questions to the Assessor rather than treating a deed as construction evidence.
Use the second-floor reading room at the East Tennessee History Center, 601 South Gay Street.
The state describes issuance through county health departments for records in its statewide electronic system.
No. Its collection description says some record groups have limited items and limited time frames.
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.