How to Find New York Birth Records

Finding United States Births New York Births 

Looking for a birth record from New York State as part of your genealogy research? New York State briefly kept birth records from 1847 to about 1850 and started recording births again in 1881. Copies of all records can obtained from either the village, town, or city of birth or by contacting the state archives.

New York City keeps birth records separately from New York State. Go to How to Find New York City Birth records to learn more.

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Next Step: When did the birth occur?

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 * Choose a time period :
 * Before 1847
 * 1847 to 1853
 * 1850 to 1880
 * 1881 to 1914
 * 1915 to 1936
 * After 1936
 * I don't know when the birth is


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Births Before 1847
Before 1847, no births were recorded by the state. You will need to search substitute records to locate your ancestor’s birth date and place. Substitutes for birth record information:

Return to top: Choose another birth year

Births Between 1847 and 1853
In 1847, New York State passed a law requiring that doctors and midwives report births, marriages, and deaths to the trustees of local school districts. Due to the complexities of this law, it quickly fell into disfavor and few communities reported births after 1850 (with many discontinuing after the 1847-1848 time period. Extant records for this time period are either held by the local village, town, or city clerk or by the county clerk.

PART A: You know the village, town, or city of birth

Try 1st: Determine if the records from your village, town, city, or county have been microfilmed by FamilySearch. Search the Catalog for both village/town/city and county and then order available microfilm copies to your local Family History Center.

Try 2nd: Order a copy of the birth record from the village, town, or city clerk. To locate contact information, search for the village, town, or city in the FamilySearch Research Wiki. Note that in some counties the county clerk holds all birth records for this time period.

If you do not want to order the birth record, you can search other records with birth information.

PART B: You do not know the village, town, or city of birth

If you do not know the village, town, or city of birth, learn more about the family using census, land, probate, and church records.

Births Between 1850 and 1880
After the failure of the 1847 law, no births were recorded by the State of New York between 1850 and 1880 though some cities (including Albany, Buffalo, Yonkers) started recording births in the 1870s. Try searching substitute records to locate your ancestor's birth date and place.

Return to top: Choose another birth year

Learn how to access records kept by Albany, Buffalo, and Yonkers from the 1870s.

Births Between 1881 and 1914
Starting in 1881, New York required that village, town, and city clerks record births. Copies of these births were then filed with the State Department of Health. Due to earlier city laws, births recorded in Albany, Buffalo, and Yonkers were not copied to the State between 1881 and 1914.

STEP ONE - Search the Index
The New York Archives as well as nine other repositories in New York hold copies of microfiche indexes to birth certificates. Contact one of these ten repositories (listed on the State Archives website) to search the index.

STEP TWO - Obtain the Certificate
With an exact date (from your records or the index above), you can order a copy of the birth record for a fee from the following locations:

See list of restrictions for ordering birth records

If you do not want to order the birth record, you can search other records with birth information.

If you have an exact date and place of birth, order a copy of the birth certificate.

Births in Albany (city), Buffalo, or Yonkers
Albany Birth records for the 1870-1914 time period can be ordered from the Albany Registrar of Vital Statistics.

Buffalo Birth records for the 1878-1914 time period can be ordered from the City Clerk of Buffalo.

Yonkers Birth records can be ordered from the City Clerk of Yonkers.

Births Between 1915 and 1936
Births recorded between 1915 and 1936 are recorded by the village, town, or city clerk where the birth occurred. Copies can also be obtained from the New York State Department of Health.

Births After 1936
Records for Births after 1936 (or less than 75 years ago) are limited by New York State law and can only obtained by