How Birth Certificates Work in Iowa

The Bureau of Health Statistics in the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services issues the state's certified records from the Lucas State Office Building in Des Moines. Its guidance on requesting a certified record carries one requirement that shapes every Iowa application: all applications must be notarized. A postal application is signed in front of a notary, and an in person application is completed and signed in front of vital records staff, which serves the same purpose.

Each copy of a certified record costs twenty dollars, and the bureau is explicit about what happens when a search fails: the applicant receives a notification of the record search, and the twenty dollar fee is retained for the search. County recorders share the work, issuing certified copies of births that occurred from 1986 to the present, with deaths and marriages from 1954. Local offices that issue vital records appear on the Iowa county pages.

  • Twenty dollars a copy: the fee for each certified record, kept for the search even where nothing is found.
  • Notarisation every time: postal applications are signed before a notary; in person applications are signed in front of staff.
  • Two hours at the counter: requests received by two in the afternoon on a weekday are processed within two hours.
  • Counties from 1986: county recorders issue births from that year, with earlier births from the county of the event or the state.

Written by SearchSystems.net from Iowa's own systems: the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services page on requesting a certified record, the department's vital records pages, the Iowa vital record application form, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.

The notary requirement, and the way round it

Iowa's insistence on notarisation catches people who are used to posting a form and a photocopy. For a postal request, the application must carry a notarized signature, and the bureau publishes a list of the identity documents a notary should see. For an in person request there is no notary involved: the written application must be satisfactorily completed and signed in front of vital records staff, who witness it instead, and the applicant shows valid current government issued photo identification.

For anyone without easy access to a notary, attending the Des Moines office or a county recorder is therefore simpler than posting, as well as faster.

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The counter, and the two hour rule

In person requests are accepted at the state vital records office on weekdays between seven in the morning and half past four, except state observed holidays, and the bureau commits to a turnaround rather than a promise of same day service: requests received by two in the afternoon from Monday to Friday are processed in two hours. That makes an early visit the quickest route in the state. County recorders also issue certificates over the counter for the years they hold, which for a modern birth is anything from 1986 onward.

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Ordering online or by telephone

Remote orders run through the single third party vendor the department authorises to accept orders for Iowa vital records. The telephone line is open on weekdays from six in the morning until seven in the evening central time, except holidays, at the twenty dollar record fee plus an additional vendor fee starting at nine dollars per order. Online ordering carries a higher vendor fee, starting at fourteen dollars per order. One restriction applies to collection: to use will call, an individual must have an Iowa address, so an out of state requester cannot order online and collect in Des Moines.

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The wallet card exchange

Iowa issued small wallet sized newborn birth certificates between March 1993 and October 2009, and those cards do not carry all the information now needed for identification, although the bureau notes that nothing on them is wrong and that the transport department currently accepts them for driver licence issuance. The exchange programme lets an entitled person swap one for a full certificate at no cost. An entitled person means the person of record if they are eighteen, the person's parents as listed on the certificate, direct blood family members, or a legal spouse.

The process is to complete the ordinary application with a notarized signature and return it with a copy of a driving licence and the original wallet card, in person or by post, with no charge for the replacement certificate and no charge for standard mailing. Anyone who wants to keep the card and also hold a full sized certificate must follow the ordinary paid process, and may only apply at the state vital records office rather than a county.

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Commemorative and nonviable birth certificates

Alongside the certified copy, Iowa offers a commemorative certificate of birth, marriage or birth resulting in stillbirth. It is a parchment document with a gold foil border, an image of the state capitol and the record information in calligraphy, signed by the Governor and the State Registrar, measuring eight and a half by eleven inches and suitable for framing. It costs thirty five dollars, arrives in a protective envelope about sixty business days after application, and requires a notarized application and a photocopy of current government issued photo identification.

Applicants must meet the same direct and tangible interest standard, essentially immediate family, that applies to certified records. A separate certificate of nonviable birth is available only to the patient of a nonviable birth, on submitting the certification form, identification, payment and the request form.

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Which office holds which years

County recorders can issue certified copies of births from 1986 to the present, deaths from 1954 and marriages from 1954. For events before those dates the routes differ by record type: a birth record may be ordered from the county in which the event occurred, a marriage record from the county where the application occurred, and a death record from the county of residence or the county where the death occurred, with the state office able to supply any of them.

Genealogy requests have their own paperwork, the bureau publishing a proof of entitlement addendum for family history applications, which is how a researcher documents the direct and tangible interest Iowa requires.

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Questions about Iowa birth certificates

What does an Iowa birth certificate cost?
Twenty dollars for each certified copy, plus a vendor fee starting at nine dollars by telephone or fourteen dollars online; a commemorative certificate costs thirty five dollars.
Does my application really need a notary?
Yes for a postal application. An in person application is instead completed and signed in front of vital records staff, which removes the need for a notary.
Does Iowa keep the fee after a failed search?
You receive a notification of the record search and the twenty dollar fee is retained for the search rather than refunded.
How fast is the state office?
Requests received in person by two in the afternoon on a weekday are processed within two hours, with the office open from seven in the morning until half past four.
Which years can a county recorder issue?
Births from 1986 to the present, and deaths and marriages from 1954; earlier records come from the relevant county or from the state office.
Can I exchange an old wallet card certificate?
Yes, free of charge, by returning the notarized application, a copy of your driving licence and the original card; keeping the card and buying a full certificate instead is the ordinary paid process at the state office.

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Iowa's other records guides on this site are the Iowa public records law guide for chapter 22, the Iowa death records guide for the same bureau, the Iowa court records guide for the judicial branch search, and the Iowa county pages for every county office.