How we gather and check these figures

Every fee, processing time, and ordering method on this site is read from a state’s official vital-records office page (or another official .gov source) and recorded with the URL we read it from and the date we read it. We do not generate numbers from memory, and we do not carry over figures we can’t point to a source for.

Primary sources only

The state vital-records office is the load-bearing citation for each state. Commercial aggregators — services that resell certificates with a markup — are used only to cross-check completeness, never as a primary source. You can see the full citation list, with last-verified dates, on the Sources page.

Honest about the unknown

Many offices do not publish a fixed processing timeline. Where that’s the case, we say so and point you to the office rather than inventing a range. If we cannot confirm a fee from an official source, we mark it unverified instead of guessing.

Annual refresh

Fees change — Colorado raised its certified-copy fee effective January 2026, for example. We re-check the dataset on an annual cadence and record what changed on the changelog.

Professional review

Professional review in progress. This site is informational and is not legal or financial advice; always confirm details with the state’s office before relying on them.