Search the Virginia Residents Directory
The Virginia Residents Directory is a free way to look up people across the Commonwealth. Use it to search public records, court files, vital records, and licensee data tied to Virginia residents. The state holds over 8.1 million people across 95 counties and 39 independent cities. Many state and local agencies keep open records you can search by name. This page shows where to look, what to ask for, and which office holds what. Start your search above. The directory pulls from court data, state agencies, and the Library of Virginia archives.
Virginia Residents Directory Overview
How to Search the Virginia Residents Directory
Start with a name. Most public record searches in Virginia begin with a first and last name. If you have a city or county, that helps a lot. Virginia is split into 95 counties and 39 independent cities. The independent city setup is rare in the U.S. Cities like Richmond, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach are not part of any county. That means a search for a person in those cities goes straight to the city, not to a county clerk. Knowing this saves time.
The state portal at virginia.gov is the main hub. From there you can reach the DMV, the State Police, the Department of Health, and the court system. Each office holds part of what makes up a full residents directory in Virginia. The Virginia FOIA Act, found at Va. Code § 2.2-3700 through § 2.2-3714, gives you the right to ask for records. Public bodies must reply within five working days.
The state portal screenshot below shows the main entry points. Open the Virginia state portal to start.
From this page you can jump to DMV services, 2-1-1 helpline tools, and the Office of State Inspector General. Each link gives access to a different slice of public data tied to Virginia residents.
State Agencies in the Residents Directory
Virginia spreads its public records across many agencies. No single office holds it all. To run a full lookup of a Virginia resident you may need to check more than one source. Vital records, court files, driver records, and licensee data all live in different places. The list below covers the main ones.
The Virginia Department of Health Office of Vital Records keeps birth, death, marriage, and divorce records. The office is at 8701 Park Central Drive, Suite 100, Richmond, VA 23227. Call (804) 662-6200. Each copy costs $12. Birth records go public 100 years after the event. Death, marriage, and divorce records open up after 25 years. Until then, only family members can ask for a copy.
For a closer look at the Vital Records office, see the VDH Vital Records page.
VDH lets you apply online, by mail, or in person. The drop-off option works well if you live in Richmond. Mail requests take two to four weeks to process.
The Virginia State Police run the Central Criminal Records Exchange. They process Form SP-167 for criminal history checks. The fee is $15 per name. The Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry, set up under Va. Code § 9.1-900, is free to search at sex-offender.vsp.virginia.gov. State Police HQ is at 7700 Midlothian Turnpike, North Chesterfield, VA 23235.
Visit the Virginia State Police site for forms and fees.
From this page you can grab the SP-167 form, find IdentoGO fingerprint sites, and read about Virginia's 2026 Clean Slate law that seals certain old records.
The Virginia DMV keeps driver and vehicle records. These records show license status, traffic stops, and crashes tied to a Virginia resident. You need a signed release from the person to get most DMV records. The DMV also issues state ID cards used for many other agency lookups.
See the DMV homepage for record request forms.
Most license, ID, and CDL renewals can be done online here. The site also has a list of branch offices for in-person help.
Court Records in the Residents Directory
The Virginia Judicial System at vacourts.gov is the main entry point for court records. It covers Circuit Courts, General District Courts, and Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Courts. You can search by name, case number, or hearing date. Most case data is open to the public. Sealed cases and most juvenile files stay closed.
To pull up a court file on a Virginia resident, the vacourts.gov case status portal is the fastest tool. Each court has its own clerk. Detailed files with exhibits and transcripts must be reviewed in person. Plain copies cost about $0.50 a page. Certified copies run $2 to $5 each.
Open the Virginia Judicial System site to start a case search.
The site lists every clerk's office in the state and links to local case search portals. Use the court directory to find the right court for the city or county you need.
For bulk data, the Virginia Court Data Portal offers free downloads of Circuit Criminal, District Criminal, Circuit Civil, and District Civil cases. All cases through the end of 2024 are in the database. Names and dates of birth are stripped from the public set, but full sets go to journalists, non-profits, and researchers on request. The portal has helped uncover housing eviction trends, plea deal patterns, and gun law outcomes.
Browse the Virginia Court Data Portal for the latest CSV files.
One thing to know: Alexandria and Fairfax circuit data is incomplete. The portal team flags this on the site so users can plan around it.
Public Records Access Under VFOIA
The Virginia Freedom of Information Act covers nearly all state and local agencies. Under Va. Code § 2.2-3700, all public records are presumed open. Agencies can withhold a record only if a clear statute lets them. The law must be read in favor of access. This is the legal backbone of the Virginia Residents Directory.
You do not need to give a reason when you ask for a record. Public bodies must reply in five working days. If they need more time, they have to say why in writing and tell you when the records will be ready. Fees can be charged for the actual cost of finding and copying the records, but not for general overhead. You can ask for a cost estimate first.
The Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council helps with FOIA questions. Email foiacouncil@dls.virginia.gov or call (804) 225-3056. The toll-free line is 1-866-448-4100. The Council is at 910 Capitol St., 2nd Floor, Richmond, VA 23219. If your request is denied, you can appeal to circuit court or ask the Council for guidance.
Note: Virginia agencies must respond to a FOIA request within five working days. You do not have to state a reason or use a special form.
Types of Records in the Virginia Residents Directory
The Virginia Residents Directory pulls from many record types. Each one tells you something different about a person. Use them together for a full picture.
- Vital records: birth, death, marriage, and divorce from VDH
- Court records: civil, criminal, traffic, and family from vacourts.gov
- Criminal history: from Virginia State Police via SP-167
- Sex offender registry: free name search from VSP
- Property and land records: from each circuit court clerk
- Licensee data: from the Department of Health Professions and other boards
- Business filings: from the State Corporation Commission
The Virginia Department of Health Professions runs a free license lookup for doctors, nurses, dentists, and other health workers. The Board of Medicine profile shows name, license number, dates, education, hospital ties, board actions, and felony convictions. Some fields are self-reported, so the Board does not vouch for every detail. Random audits keep the data clean.
For business and entity data, the Virginia Business Entity Search lets you look up companies, agents, and officers tied to a Virginia resident. Open the Clerk's Information System to run a search.
The CIS system shows entity status, formation date, and the names of officers and registered agents. It's free and open to anyone.
Library of Virginia and VPAP
The Library of Virginia at 800 E. Broad Street in Richmond is a key part of the residents directory. It holds free access to Ancestry.com, HeritageQuest, LexisNexis, and Westlaw inside the library. Over 100 digital collections are online too. These cover photos, maps, the Virginia Chronicle newspaper archive, Chancery Records court cases, and the Virginia Untold African American resources. For genealogy and old records, this is where you start.
Visit the Library of Virginia site for collections and research tools.
The library also runs Records Management for state and local agencies. Records before 1912 may live here when they're not at a circuit court clerk's office.
The Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP) is a free, nonpartisan source for political and government data. VPAP tracks candidates from the U.S. Congress down to local school boards. It shows campaign donors, lobby spending, and voting records for state lawmakers. If you want to find a Virginia resident who is in office or running for office, this is the tool. VaNews bundles morning headlines from around the state.
See VPAP for legislator profiles and donor lookups.
VPAP also lets you find your polling place and view a sample ballot by typing in a street address. Civics Navigator gives free teaching tools.
Crime Data and Clean Slate
The Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services runs the Statistical Analysis Center. Reports at dcjs.virginia.gov cover violent crime, property crime, and arrests. In 2022 the state's violent crime rate was about 200 per 100,000 residents, well below the national rate. Local data is also pushed up from city and county police.
Virginia's 2026 Clean Slate law starts to seal old misdemeanor convictions. Once a record is sealed, most private background checks won't show it. The sealed person can answer "no" to most questions about past convictions. Police, courts, and a few other groups can still see the sealed file. Find the rules at Clean Slate Virginia.
Open the Clean Slate Virginia site for the full list of what gets sealed.
Beginning July 1, 2026, the Virginia State Police will roll out a new online portal for criminal background check requests that follows the Clean Slate rules.
Note: Always cross-check a name across more than one source. A single record can miss a key piece of the resident's history.
Independent Cities and the Directory
Virginia has 39 independent cities. They are not part of any county. Richmond, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, and Alexandria are all independent cities. When you search for a Virginia resident in one of these cities, the records live with the city itself, not a county clerk. This trips up a lot of people new to Virginia public records. The 95 county system covers the rest of the state.
Each independent city has its own circuit court clerk, sheriff, treasurer, and commissioner of the revenue. Land records, marriage licenses, and probate files are kept at the city level. The Virginia Court Data Portal includes both city and county courts in its dataset.
Browse the Residents Directory by Location
Pick a county or city below to find local offices, court clerks, and resources for the Virginia Residents Directory in that area.
Cities in the Virginia Residents Directory
The directory covers Virginia's largest cities and many smaller ones. Pick a city below to find its circuit court clerk and local public record offices.