Federal Databases

Federal vs State vs County vs City Public Records — A Complete Comparison

There is no single nationwide database for U.S. public records. Records live at four distinct jurisdictional levels, each with its own laws, search tools, and limitations. Knowing which level holds the record you want saves hours of wasted searching.

Why the "national criminal database" doesn't exist (and what comes closest)

The most common misconception about U.S. public records is that the FBI, or some other federal agency, maintains a single searchable database of every criminal record in the country. It does not. The FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC) is an index used by law enforcement — it is not open to the public, and many states do not contribute complete records to it.

Criminal records originate at the county courthouse, where charges are filed and adjudicated. From there, they may (or may not) be reported up to the state's criminal-history repository, and from there may (or may not) be forwarded to the FBI. Each step is voluntary, irregular, and full of gaps. As a result:

• A "nationwide criminal background check" sold by commercial services is really a stitched-together search across hundreds of separate state and county databases — never complete.
• The closest legitimate national tools are NSOPW (sex offenders), BOP Inmate Locator (federal prisoners only), and PACER (federal court filings only).
• For a comprehensive criminal-history check, you must search county-by-county where the subject has lived.

How federal and state courts split jurisdiction

Per the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, federal and state courts hear fundamentally different cases:

• Federal courts hear cases involving federal law, the U.S. Constitution, bankruptcy, federal crimes, disputes between states, admiralty law, and disputes where the parties are from different states (diversity jurisdiction). All federal court filings are accessible via PACER.
• State and county courts hear the vast majority of cases that affect ordinary people — most criminal cases, family law (divorce, custody, adoption), probate (wills and estates), contracts, personal injury, traffic, and small claims. There is no PACER equivalent — each state runs its own system.

Property records: always county, never federal

Real-property records — deeds, mortgages, liens, ownership history, property-tax assessments — are recorded at the county recorder or register of deeds office. There is no federal property registry. Even within a single state, county-by-county systems are not interoperable. If you don't know which county a property is in, start with the city or zip code and look up the county on the U.S. Census geographic relationship files.

Vital records: state or county, varies

Birth, death, marriage, and divorce records are issued at the state Department of Health in some states, at the county clerk or register of deeds in others, and sometimes both (state issues a copy, county issues the original). The CDC's "Where to Write for Vital Records" is the canonical lookup for which agency issues which record in which state.

Practical search strategy: top-down vs. bottom-up

For most public-records questions, the correct order to search is:

1. County first. Most records you'll ever want — criminal, property, marriage, civil — originate at the county. Find the county; find the records.
2. State second. If the county doesn't have it (or has only a partial index), the state-level repository may have a consolidated view: a state court portal, a sex offender registry, a professional license database.
3. Federal last. Only step up to federal sources if you're looking for federal crimes, bankruptcies, immigration, military service, or other inherently federal records.
4. City only for hyper-local issues. Parking citations, code violations, and city-employee records are usually city-only.

What FCRA does (and doesn't) limit

The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) regulates how consumer-reporting agencies (background-check companies, credit bureaus) collect and report public-record information. Notably, FCRA generally prohibits commercial consumer reports from including:

• Arrests older than 7 years (unless leading to a conviction)
• Civil judgments & tax liens older than 7 years
• Bankruptcies older than 10 years

However, FCRA does not delete or restrict the underlying public record itself. If you search county courthouse records directly, those older records are still public. FCRA only governs what a paid consumer-reporting service may report to an employer, landlord, or lender.

Use the federal databases tabbed below for the federal layer of this picture. For state and county records, visit the relevant state page.