Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Office

Age Search and Birth Records

No agency within the Department of Commerce issues, maintains, or makes use of birth certificates, including the U.S. Census Bureau. The state Health Department or the Department of Vital Statistics of the state in which you were born should be able to provide a personal birth certificate. To assist you in your data search, we have enclosed the addresses on where to write for birth records in the United States.

Please be aware that the "Notification of Birth Registration" form, issued by the U.S. Census Bureau during the first half of the twentieth century, is not a birth certificate. The U.S. Census Bureau designed this form in 1924, at the request of various state vital statistics offices, to promote the accurate registration of births in the United States. The notification was completed and sent to parents of newborns when the state office of vital records received information on the birth and made up a birth registration record. If parents found errors in the information shown on the form, they were asked to correct them and return the form so the state's record could be corrected accordingly. The notification was used until the late 1940s and then discontinued once states were keeping satisfactory birth records. The U.S. Census Bureau does not maintain these records. Certified copies of birth records must be obtained from the vital statistics office where the event occurred.

If you have any questions about this service, please contact the Personal Census Search Unit, U.S. Census Bureau via mail at P.O. Box 1545, Jeffersonville, IN 47131 or via phone at 812-218-3046. Under statute and regulation, the $65 application fee may not be waived.