New York City Birth Records | New York Genealogical & Biographical Society

Birth records are some of the most sought-after family history records because of the sentimental value and the wealth of information they hold.

In New York State, there are essentially two separate civil systems for tracking births—one in New York City serving the city's five boroughs, and one in Albany, serving the majority of other municipalities in the state.

For this reason, researchers looking for birth records from New York City will need to look in different places than those researching people born elsewhere. The good news is New York City birth records begin earlier and are easier to access than those kept in Albany.

If you're looking for a birth record outside of New York City, visit our New York State vital records guide.

Before Starting: What is New York City?

Finding birth records from New York City can be slightly complicated because the modern, five-borough city we know today was not formed until 1898. Before that period, "New York City" typically only refers to the borough of Manhattan.

Brooklyn (Kings County), Queens, Staten Island (Richmond County), and the Bronx were independent entities and therefore created birth records separately until 1898.

Although there are pre-1898 birth records from Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx included in some New York City collections, researchers may need to investigate further. We recommend looking at the local level of whatever the governing municipality was at the time of the event.

To understand the geographic landscape of the five boroughs before 1898, we highly recommend reading our article Before the Five-borough City: The Old Cities, Towns, and Villages That Came Together to Form 'Greater New York'.

This guide covers birth records for all five boroughs found in modern New York City, even for years that a borough was not part of New York City (pre-1898).

1664 & Earlier: Dutch Colonial New York

For the most part, there are no civil birth records available for this period. While the Dutch governed colonial New York City, the duty of tracking births, marriages, and deaths was a function of the church, not the state.

Researchers investigating Dutch Colonial New York should seek religious records as a substitute; there are many transcriptions of Dutch Reformed Church records available online.

For more general guidance, read our article Religious Records as Vital Records Substitutes.

1665–1783: English Colonial New York

Under the English, churches continued to be the main institutions that recorded births, but a few town governments began keeping records of these events as well.

Researchers should primarily look for religious records as substitutes, but it’s also worth checking for town records.

There is no central collection of colonial town records, so if you know what town your ancestor may have lived in, begin by searching for records of that town or nearby towns.

Our article Before the Five-borough City: The Old Cities, Towns, and Villages That Came Together to Form 'Greater New York' gives a good overview of what these municipalities were (including maps).

Investigate at the town level with an internet search, or consult one of our county guides for family history researchers for leads on what may be available for the specific location of interest.

1783–1846: Early United States Period

Despite the sweeping changes that occurred as a result of the American Revolution, the new New York State government changed very little in the way of vital record keeping.

For the most part, those looking for New York City birth records during this time period will still need to look for religious records as substitutes. Some town records may be available as well—investigate at the local level.

One notable exception is that in 1799, births of children born to enslaved women began to be tracked by local authorities. The Northeast Slavery Record Index contains some of these records (and many others related to enslaved people) for New York.

Other records can be found by investigating records of specific towns and villages, but the existence and availability vary widely.

1847–1866: Birth Records in Local Libers

In 1847, New York State passed an official law that directed local governments to track vital records.

In general, researchers will be able to find official birth records from Manhattan from 1847 and 1848 and then from 1853 onwards. These are not full birth certificates but are births tracked in libers (large books of handwritten records) kept by local clerks.

For municipalities in the other boroughs, the existence of records varies widely and typically begins later. A few towns kept track of births for a few years beginning in 1847, but then not again for several decades. Some towns on Staten Island kept records more consistently beginning in 1847.

Many of these records (including records from the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island) can be found at the Municipal Archives in New York City. Our Guide to the New York City Municipal Archives features a comprehensive breakdown of what records are held at the Municipal Archives for what towns and time periods.

FamilySearch has indexed and extracted information from many of these records in their collection New York, New York City Births, 1846 – 1909. Images of these records are not available online; those can only be accessed at the Municipal Archives in New York City.

A small number of births for Manhattan in this period are available on the NYC Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS) website.

1866–1909: Birth Certificates Begin

In 1866, New York City (still only Manhattan at this point) and Brooklyn began creating official birth certificates. These certificates can be found on the Municipal Archives' Historical Vital Records website and in person at the Municipal Archives in Manhattan.

We recommend searching the Historical Vital Records website by certificate number. Learn more and hear other tips in our NYC vital records webinar.

Records for municipalities in the Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island vary greatly for this period. On the Historical Vital Records website, Bronx records begin in 1895, Queens in 1888, and Staten Island in 1898. Earlier libers for some municipalities in these boroughs are available in person at the Municipal Archives. See our Guide to the New York City Municipal Archives for the full details.

Information from some of these records has been extracted and indexed and is available on FamilySearch in the collection New York, New York City Births, 1846 – 1909.

Ancestry.com has a similar, but more robust database of indexed/extracted New York City birth certificates. While there are no digital images on Ancestry.com, the amount of information extracted is more comprehensive than any other New York City birth index currently online. Visit Ancestry.com to search and learn more about the collection – New York, New York, U.S., Index to Birth Certificates, 1866-1909.

The Italian Genealogical Group and the German Genealogy Group also have indexes to New York City birth certificates for this time period.

Researchers should also note that birth certificates (officially required by New York State) beginning in 1880 for the Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island may be located in Albany—since these counties weren't yet a part of New York City, they were treated like all other locations in New York State. Read our Guide to New York State Vital Records for more information on obtaining certificates from Albany.

1910–Present: Restricted Access

More recent birth certificates in New York City are maintained by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH).

After 100 years, these records are supposed to be transferred to the New York City Municipal Archives for public access. However, there are currently over a decade's worth of birth records that have not been transferred. Birth certificates from 1910 onward are held at the Department of Mental Health and Hygiene.

Vital certificates that are still at the Department of Health cannot be accessed by the public.

Individuals with one of the following relationships to the subject of the birth certificate can obtain copies of birth records from DOHMH if the subject is deceased (another great reason to seek a death certificate):

Spouse/domestic partner
Parent
Child
Sibling
Niece/nephew
Aunt/uncle
Grandchild/great-grandchild
Grandniece/grandnephew

For more information, see the birth certificate FAQ section on the DOHMH website.