Costs
How Much Does a Pennsylvania Birth Certificate Cost for Heritage Research?
Pennsylvania birth certificate cost ranges from $20 for a standard copy to more with online processing. Heritage researchers should compare methods before ordering.
What to take away
- A certified Pennsylvania birth certificate costs $20 per copy from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
- Online orders through VitalChek add a vendor charge that typically brings one certificate to $30 to $45.
- The $20 is charged per copy. Ten ancestors mean $200 in state fees before postage.
- Mail is cheapest and takes four to six weeks. Online is faster, and you pay for speed only.
- Statewide registration starts in 1906. For earlier births, county registers and the state archives are the sources.
What the $20 state fee covers
The Pennsylvania Department of Health charges $20 for each certified copy of a birth certificate. That is a flat fee. The department's vital records page lists the fee and the ordering routes.
There is no separate long-form price list. The $20 applies to the certified copy the department issues for that birth. Whether the copy shows a parent's name depends on the record itself.
If the person was born in another state, how to request a famous person's birth certificate in any US state compares the equivalent fees and forms.
Ordering routes, fees and turnaround
The state fee is the same whichever route you use. What changes is the added cost and the wait.
State fee
- $20
- Online through VitalChek
- $20
- Walk-in at the state office
- $20
Added cost
- Postage and a self-addressed envelope
- Online through VitalChek
- Vendor charge, typically $10 to $25
- Walk-in at the state office
- Travel and parking
Typical total, one copy
- $20 to $25
- Online through VitalChek
- $30 to $45
- Walk-in at the state office
- $20 plus travel
Time
- Four to six weeks
- Online through VitalChek
- Two to three weeks
- Walk-in at the state office
- Often same day
Pennsylvania Birth Certificate Ordering Costs
Walk-in
- Base fee
- $20
- Extra charge
- $0
- Total range
- $20
- Base fee
- $20
- Extra charge
- $0
- Total range
- $20
Online VitalChek
- Base fee
- $20
- Extra charge
- $10-$15
- Total range
- $30-$35
Online Rush
- Base fee
- $20
- Extra charge
- $15-$20
- Total range
- $35-$40
What online ordering adds
VitalChek is the vendor the department names for online orders. The state keeps the $20. VitalChek adds a processing charge on top.
The state fee schedule covers the $20 copy fee. The department's birth certificate page lists a required $10 service fee on online orders. The vendor's checkout screen is where the full amount appears, and it can change without state approval. Treat $10 to $25 as a typical range.
Every dollar above $20 is an added fee, starting with the required $10 online service fee. Compare checkout totals, not the advertised "state fee".
Ordering a certificate in five steps
- Confirm the birth was registered in Pennsylvania in 1906 or later.
- Decide how many certified copies you need. Each one costs $20.
- Gather the detailsname at birth, date and county of birth, and parents' names.
- Choose the route. Mail and walk-in avoid the vendor charge, while online is fastest.
- Pay by check or money order by mail, or by card online.
A certificate proves a birth date and place. It will not show where the family lived five years later. Record sets for tracing famous figures in Boston and Philadelphia shows which local collections name a household and where it moved.
How to Order a PA Birth Certificate
- Confirm birth in Pennsylvania after 1905
- Choose ordering methodmail, walk-in, or online
- Gather full name, birth date, county, parents
- Submit payment by check, money order, or card
- Request long-form certificate for genealogy
Example: one record or ten
Suppose you need proof that a noted Pennsylvania-born athlete arrived in Allegheny County in 1920. One certified copy by mail costs $20 plus postage, about $22. Online, the same copy lands at $30 to $45.
Price ten ancestors instead. By mail, ten copies cost $200 plus postage. Online, the same ten cost about $300 to $450. The gap exceeds $100 and buys speed, not information.
When the state file has nothing
Statewide registration began in 1906. Earlier births sit in county and city registers, church records, and archive collections. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission explains how to search them and what copies cost.
Expect gaps. A 19th-century birth may appear in a church baptism and nowhere else. Where a state will not release a record at all, why New York birth records are sealed for famous New Yorkers explains the access rules that apply in some states.
Before you pay a vendor
Check these points before entering card details.
- Does the price include the state's $20 fee, or only the service charge?
- Is the copy certified, or an informational copy that agencies may refuse?
- Is the vendor named by the Pennsylvania Department of Health?
- What happens if no record is found?
- Would a census page or archive record answer the question instead?
Fee schedules differ by state. The CDC list of state vital records offices is the quickest way to confirm what another state charges.
