Nationwide Sex Offender Portal

Sex Offender Registry Lookup

A sex offender registry is a government list of people convicted of certain sex crimes after they finish their prison time or while they're on probation or parole. Every state has one. So does the District of Columbia, every U.S. territory, and most federally recognized tribes. The federal government runs a single search portal that pulls from all of them at once.

Updated April 2026

What a Registry Actually Is

The federal law that built the modern system is the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, or SORNA. It's Title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. SORNA sets the minimum standards every state registry has to meet. States can be stricter than SORNA. They can't be looser without losing federal funding.

The public-facing search that covers everything in one query is NSOPW.gov, the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website. It's run by the Department of Justice's SMART Office. When you search there, you're really searching every state, territory, and tribe at once.

A registry entry is not the same thing as a criminal record. It's not a background check. It's a post-release supervision and notification tool. If you need an actual criminal history for hiring, renting, or insurance decisions, you need a real background check from a Consumer Reporting Agency that follows the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Registry data is not a legal substitute.

Federal and Nationwide Resources

NSOPW.gov Official

The National Sex Offender Public Website. Free, official, no login. One search hits every state, territorial, and tribal registry. The fastest place to start.

 SMART Office, SORNA Information Federal Law

The federal office that oversees registration and notification law. Useful if you want to read the actual rules or check what each state has to comply with.

 FBI Sex Offender Registry Resources Reference

The FBI's overview of the registry system and related public-safety resources. Mostly background, not a search tool.

 MissingKids.org Safety

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Safety resources, education materials, and a separate set of tools tied to child recovery and prevention.

Browse Sex Offender Registries by State

Select any state to open its registry portal, including the official state agency search and county-level sheriff resources where available. Stars (★) indicate states with detailed county-level data on the PRC page.

Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

A Short History of How the System Got Built

Three federal laws stacked on top of each other to make the modern registry.

1994, the Wetterling Act

The Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act. First federal law that required every state to create a registry. Public notification was allowed but not required.

1996, Megan's Law

Signed by President Clinton on May 17, 1996. Amended the Wetterling Act and required states to release relevant information to the public when needed for safety. Named after seven-year-old Megan Kanka of New Jersey.

2006, SORNA, the Adam Walsh Act

Standardized everything. Created the three-tier classification system still in use. Required quarterly in-person verification for the most serious offenders. Mandated public online registries.

The Three SORNA Tiers

Every registrable offense falls into one of three tiers based on how serious the underlying crime is. The tier sets how long someone has to register, how often they have to verify in person, and how visible the listing is.

Tier Typical Offenses Registration Period Verification
Tier I
Lowest		 Misdemeanor-level offenses. Possession of child pornography in some states. First-time, non-aggravated false imprisonment of a minor. 15 years, sometimes reduced to 10 with a clean record Annually
Tier II
Middle		 Sex trafficking. Coercion or enticement of a minor. Sexual contact with a minor age 13 to 17. Production of child pornography. 25 years Every 6 months
Tier III
Most serious		 Aggravated sexual abuse. Sexual abuse of a child under 13. Non-parental kidnapping of a minor. Any Tier II offense after a prior Tier II or III conviction. Life Every 3 months

Source, SORNA section 115, 34 U.S.C. section 20915, and the SMART Office. States can go longer than SORNA's floor. North Carolina puts Tier II at 30 years, for example. They can't go shorter without falling out of compliance.

Why Each State's Search Looks Different

Federal law sets a floor. Above that, every state runs its own registry on its own software with its own display rules. So the search you do in Texas does not look like the search you do in Vermont.

  • Search fields are different.Some states let you search by name, ZIP code, address radius, or physical description. Some only let you search by name or county. A few only let you search by exact name match, which is useless if you have the wrong spelling.
  • The data shown on a record is different.Most states show name, photo, physical description, offense, and a general location. Some go further and show the precise home address, employer, vehicle, school, or social media identifiers. A few are much more limited.
  • Update frequency is different.Some registries update in real time when an offender registers, moves, or absconds. Others batch updates daily, weekly, or monthly. A new registration event can take anywhere from 3 to 15 days to show up publicly.
  • Juvenile rules are different.Federal law lets each state decide whether to publicly list juveniles adjudicated for Tier III offenses. Some states publish them. Most don't.
  • Removal rules are different.Most states let Tier I offenders petition to be removed after the registration period if they have a clean record. Tier III is usually lifetime everywhere.

How to Actually Use the Registries

Start at NSOPW.gov. It's the fastest single search and it covers everything.

If you find someone, click through to the state registry. The state version often has more detail than what NSOPW shows.

If you don't find someone you expected to find, that doesn't necessarily mean they aren't on a registry. It can mean the spelling in the registry doesn't match what you typed. Try variations, including middle names and common misspellings. It can mean they registered recently and the data hasn't pushed to NSOPW yet. It can also mean they completed their registration period and were removed legally.

For neighborhood-level searches, the registry's map view is usually the right tool. NSOPW has a map. Most states have one too. They show registered offenders within a radius of an address.

Things You Can't Legally Do With This Data

  • Use it for tenant screening on its own.Federal law requires that decisions about housing, employment, credit, or insurance go through an FCRA-compliant background check. Pulling a name off the registry and denying a rental application is a legal problem.
  • Use it for employment screening on its own.Same reason.
  • Harass, intimidate, threaten, vandalize, or retaliate against a registered offender.Every state's registry statute prohibits this. Federal law does too. Some states impose criminal penalties.
  • Republish or scrape the data for commercial use.Most state registries have terms of use that prohibit this. Some have actively pursued sites that did it.

The registry exists for community awareness. That's the legal use. Anything beyond awareness gets into territory that violates either federal civil rights law or the state's own registration statute.