The deciding fact is the place of death, not the place of residence or burial. The State Department of Health death certificate page says its Vital Records unit holds deaths from 1881 onward for the whole state apart from New York City, and holds nothing for Manhattan, Kings, Queens, Bronx or Richmond counties. The same deaths can also be ordered from the local Registrar of Vital Statistics in the town or city where the death took place, an option worth using because Albany posts a notice that it is running significant delays. For a death inside the city, the city Health Department death page is the starting point, and it states that it issues nothing for Nassau, Suffolk or any other county.
The city system changed this year. Its Bureau of Vital Statistics stopped taking requests for 1950 death certificates on December 1, 2025 and moved the whole 1950 year to the Municipal Archives in January 2026, so the Health Department now serves deaths from 1951 forward and the Archives hold the older years. A death that happened before the certificate was registered cannot be ordered at all yet: the city says a certificate becomes available only after the medical facility reports the death and the case is registered. Both departments name a single authorized online vendor, and the city warns that other sites charge high fees for the same certificate, with complaints going to the city consumer protection department or 311.
- Outside the city: Albany holds deaths since 1881, at $30 a copy by post or $45 plus a vendor fee online or by phone.
- Inside the city: each certificate is $15 plus a processing fee of $9.30 online, $7.50 by premium mail or $2.75 in person.
- Cause of death: the city keeps the medical report confidential and releases it only to close family, the informant or the person in charge of disposition.
- Before 1951 in the city: the Municipal Archives hold the records, including the 1950 year moved there in January 2026.
Written by SearchSystems.net from New York's own systems: the New York State Department of Health death certificates page, the state genealogy records and resources page, the state page on correcting and amending vital records, the New York City Health Department death certificates page, the city page on death certificate corrections, the city birth and death records fees page, the city Department of Records genealogy page, the city Department of Records ordering page, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Who can order a death certificate outside New York City
Albany draws its line around four relatives. A spouse, parent, child or sibling of the person who died may order a certified copy; anyone else has to document a lawful right or claim. The department gives the example of a benefit claim, where the applicant would enclose an official letter from the paying agency saying it needs the death record to process the claim. Executors, cousins and creditors should expect to assemble that kind of paper before applying.
Identification is either one photo document or two address documents. The photo options are a driver license, a state nondriver photo card, a passport or a United States military photo card. The alternative is two items showing the applicant name and address, such as a utility or telephone bill or a government letter no more than six months old. Applicants living in a foreign country that requires a passport for travel must add a copy of their United States passport, and leaving that out is one of the denial reasons the department lists by name.
State prices, payment and the mailing address
A mailed application costs $30 per copy. Ordering online or by telephone costs $45 per copy plus the vendor processing fee, which is charged once per transaction rather than per copy, so a family needing several copies saves by putting them on one order. Mail goes to the New York State Department of Health, Vital Records Certification Unit, P.O. Box 2602, Albany, NY 12220-2602, with a personal check, postal money order or certified check payable to the NYS Department of Health.
Orders from abroad must be paid by a check drawn on a United States bank or an international money order, and the department says not to send cash. Online and phone orders take Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express or an electronic check. The Vital Records Call Center answers at (855) 322-1022.
Ordering a death certificate in the five boroughs
The city sells each certificate for $15, and the extra charge depends on the channel. Online orders through the authorized vendor add a $9.30 processing fee and take two to three weeks, plus up to two more weeks in the regular mail, with UPS Express shipping available for another $21 that speeds delivery but not processing; the city also limits online ordering to people whose own name is on the record. Premium mail orders add $7.50 and take about two to three weeks.
A non-premium mail application avoids the processing fee but is handled manually and takes eight to twelve weeks. In-person orders add $2.75 and need an appointment. Deaths from 1951 to 1970 take an extra two weeks because they have to be searched.
When a funeral home handled the arrangements, the fastest copy usually comes from the funeral director, who can order certificates for the family for up to one year after the death. Where no funeral home is involved, or the disposition is not final, an entitled person such as a spouse, child, domestic partner, the informant or the person in control of the disposition can order directly. Mail and in-person orders go to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene at 125 Worth Street, Room 119, in Manhattan.
The city also accepts orders from an entitled party through that person's attorney, but not through paralegals or couriers, and the attorney must send a letter on official letterhead, a signed application, a copy of the client photo identification, the client's original letter of authorization, proof of licensure and the attorney's own photo identification.
The confidential cause of death report in the city
A New York City death certificate has two parts: the standard certificate with the name, sex and date of birth of the person who died, and a separate confidential medical report of the cause of death. Most banks, insurers and agencies need only the standard certificate. Adding the cause of death costs nothing extra, but only a spouse, domestic partner, parent, child, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, the informant named on the certificate or the person in charge of disposition may receive it, and the applicant asks for it by checking box 20 on the application.
Nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, great grandchildren and grandnieces or grandnephews may order the certificate without the cause of death.
Certificates signed by the Office of Chief Medical Examiner always show the cause of death. If the cause or manner reads undetermined or pending further study, the city directs families to the Medical Examiner at 212-447-2030, and a certificate showing a pending cause can be exchanged within 90 days of its issue date, printed at the bottom of the certificate, without paying the $15 fee again.
Old deaths, genealogy copies and the archives
Outside the city, the state issues uncertified genealogy copies of death certificates once they have been on file for at least 50 years, and waives that wait for a direct line descendant such as a child, grandchild or great grandchild who proves the relationship. The fee is $22 for a search of up to three years of the index, rising in steps to $82 for 21 to 30 years and $202 for 81 to 90 years, charged separately for each record.
Albany warns that a genealogy request may take eight months or longer and suggests sending it to the local registrar instead when the municipality is known. Deaths in the cities of Albany, Buffalo and Yonkers before January 1, 1914 are not held by the state at all and must be requested from the local registrar of that city.
For the five boroughs, the Municipal Archives run the Historical Vital Records of NYC site, with digitized birth, death and marriage records from 1855 to 1950 that can be searched, downloaded or ordered as certified copies. A copy needed for legal use must be ordered with a Letter of Exemplification and sent by mail. The Department of Records ordering page also offers the Medical Examiner investigation of death reports from 1918, when that office was created, through 1951; such a report exists only where the Medical Examiner signed the death certificate, which generally meant homicides and deaths that happened without medical supervision.
Correcting a death certificate in each system
Outside the city, the state's corrections and amendments page allows a death certificate to be corrected when an error was made at the time the record was filed. A correction does not create a new document; the change is added to the certificate, which then carries the history of the change. Only birth records can be amended in New York, so a death certificate can be corrected but never reissued as a fresh record. The department's separate page on correcting a death certificate did not answer when it was read for this guide, so the application itself should be requested from the Vital Records Call Center at (855) 322-1022.
In the city, a correction request can come from a spouse or registered domestic partner, a child, parent or sibling, the informant, a court appointed guardian or fiduciary, an estate beneficiary or the person in control of the disposition. It goes by mail or by appointment, takes about twelve weeks plus mailing time, and costs a nonrefundable $40 processing fee plus $15 per certificate for most corrections. Each item needs original proof: a Social Security card or Administration letter for the number, a discharge paper for military service, two proofs of address for residence, a marriage, partnership, separation or divorce document for marital status, and a Surrogate's Court order to remove the informant.
Errors made by the hospital or doctor within twelve months of the death should be corrected by that facility, which can file electronically.
Questions about New York death records
Related New York records
For the matching birth side of these two systems, read the New York birth certificates guide; estates that move into Surrogate's Court are covered under New York court records, requests to agencies under the New York public records law guide, and local registrars appear on the New York county pages.