A public record is information that has been made or received by a public agency during the course of its daily transactions and which the agency is required to keep.

Public records may created by federal and local government agencies or by individuals. Most essential public records are maintained by the government, and many are available to the public for free or for a nominal fee. Availability is determined by federal, state, and local regulations.

Public records contain a wealth of information about the people around us. Links on this site are primarily to government databases, some made available by information providers for a fee. Annotations indicate when fees are charged for searching.