Iowa registered its first births, deaths and marriages on July 1, 1880, and the Iowa Health and Human Services vital records page says every original record registered since then is on file with the Bureau of Vital Statistics in Des Moines, while local registrars in the county recorder offices keep the records of events in their own county. The two copies are not treated alike. The state page says that vital records maintained at the state level are closed to inspection, and the state application adds that birth, marriage and death records may nonetheless be inspected as of right under Iowa Code section 22 when they are in the custody of the county registrar, citing the department rule at 144.43. A certified copy from either office still requires a direct or tangible interest.
Price and paperwork are the same at both levels: $20 for each record search, with a certified copy if one is found and a no record letter if not, and the fee is never refunded. The state insists on a notarized signature on every mailed application, and the how to request a certified record page warns that an order that does not follow the instructions is returned unprocessed. VitalChek is the only outside vendor the department has authorized, and the department tells applicants not to pay any site for the free state form.
- $20 a copy: every certified copy costs $20, paid to the issuing registrar, and the fee is kept for the search if no record is found.
- Notary required: a mailed application must be signed in front of a notary public or an Iowa registrar; in person applicants sign in front of vital records staff.
- County books open: records in the custody of the county registrar may be inspected as of right under Iowa Code chapter 22, while the state file is closed.
- Two hours in Des Moines: walk in requests received by 2 p.m. on a weekday are processed in two hours; mail takes four to six weeks.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Iowa's own systems: the Iowa Health and Human Services vital records page, the department's page on how to request a certified record, the department's genealogy search guidelines and requirements page, the Iowa vital record application, form 470-5451, July 2026 revision, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Who is entitled to an Iowa death certificate
The application for an Iowa vital record, form 470-5451 in its July 2026 revision, says entitled persons are the person named on the record or that person's spouse, children, parents listed on the record, grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, or legal representative or guardian, and that proof of entitlement must be provided with more documentation possible on request from the state or county office. The vital records page adds that legal guardians, legal representatives and siblings must supply additional proof.
Every application must be in writing, completely identify the record, state the purpose for the copy and satisfactorily establish entitlement, and the applicant signs under penalty of perjury that the information is accurate and the entitlement real.
The $20 fee and the no record letter
At both the county and the state level a fee of $20 is required for each record search, with a copy issued if the record is found and a record search letter, also called a no record letter, if it is not; the fee is not refundable. Payment to the state is by check or money order to the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, with credit cards accepted for in person requests and cash never accepted. The vital records page warns that some county registrars take only cash or money orders at the counter and only money orders by mail.
Fees must be paid in United States funds at the time of application. Separately, the state charges an administrative processing fee of $15, in force since July 1, 2019, for amendments, delayed registrations, legal changes of name, court orders and similar actions.
Mail, with a notary
A mailed request contains the completed application with a notarized signature, a clear photocopy of the applicant's current government photo identification and the $20 for each copy, sent to the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, Bureau of Health Statistics, Lucas State Office Building, 1st Floor, 321 East 12th Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50319-0075. The form provides the notary block, and the department publishes a separate sheet of identity documents a notary may rely on.
Most certificates are processed and mailed within about four to six weeks of a complete application. An applicant who has not received a certificate 30 days after it was mailed may file an affidavit of non receipt for a free replacement, but only between 30 and 90 days from issuance and only through the office that issued it; after 90 days a replacement costs the normal fee.
In person in two hours, or VitalChek
The state office at 321 East 12th Street takes in person requests from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays except state holidays, and a request received by 2 p.m. is processed in two hours; the applicant completes and signs the form in front of vital records staff, which replaces the notary, and shows current government photo identification. VitalChek, described as the only third party vendor authorized to accept orders for Iowa vital records, takes online orders for shipment with fees starting at $14 per order, online orders for will call pickup in Des Moines, which requires an Iowa address, and telephone orders at (866) 809-0290 from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Central time on weekdays with fees starting at $9 per order. The department asks everyone needing a certificate for a Real ID license to order well ahead, since the times are averages rather than promises.
County recorders and the 1954 line
County recorders can issue certified copies of all deaths that occurred from 1954 to the present, along with births from 1986 and marriages from 1954, and a death before 1954 may still be ordered from the county of residence or the county where the death occurred when that county has the record. The county does not hold everything: the vital records page lists records that are never in a county's physical custody, including delayed records filed a year or more after the event, records sealed by a court and all birth, death and marriage records from 1921 to 1941, which must come from the state. The state form may be used at a county recorder office as well as at the bureau.
Older deaths and genealogy searches
The genealogy guidelines page says a statewide search of death records can be made for deaths from July 1, 1904 forward. For a death before that date the application must name a specific county, a specific year and a specific first and last name, and each search meeting those rules costs $20; the vital records page prices the 1880 to 1895 death search the same way, $20 for each county and year, with a copy if found and a no record letter if not.
Genealogy requests can be made in person but are always mailed, never picked up or filled the same day, and the application says they may take up to 60 business days whatever the route; staff decide whether a pre 1941 request can be treated as an ordinary order and served the same day. Iowa's own death indexes run in blocks, 1896 to 1900, 1901 to 1903, 1904 to 1929 and so on to the present, and the department points researchers to the State Historical Museum for census records from 1850 to 1925 and to the Iowa Genealogical Society.
Where the record leads next
A death in Iowa sets other files moving. The estate opens in the district court in the county, covered by the Iowa court records guide, and the county recorder who issues death certificates is the same office that records the deed when land passes, described in the Iowa property records guide. The birth side of the bureau, including the exchange of the old wallet size birth cards, is in the Iowa birth certificates guide, and requests to other state agencies under Iowa Code chapter 22 in the Iowa public records law guide.
Questions about Iowa death records
Related Iowa records
Iowa readers can continue with the Iowa birth certificates guide for the same bureau, Iowa court records for probate, Iowa property records for the county recorder, the Iowa public records law guide, and the Iowa county pages for every recorder.