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Birth and Death Certificates 

Everyone has a birth certificate ...but do you know how to get a copy?

If you have ever applied for a passport, enrolled a child in school, or obtained a driver license, most likely your efforts involved acquiring a birth certificate. The Bureau of Vital Records is the office you would contact to request a certified copy of the birth or death certificate. Vital Statistics is located in the Salt Lake City Public Health Center at 610 South 200 East, Salt Lake City, Utah 84111, hours 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. We also have a satellite office at the Ellis R. Shipp Health Center, 4535 South 5600 West, West Valley City, Utah 84120, hours 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Once you establish the need for a certified copy of a birth or death certificate, the next step is to determine where the event occurred. The location of a birth or death is important because it establishes where you apply for the certified copy. Birth and death records are filed according to the state where the event occurred. Therefore, births or deaths occurring in Utah are only available through the correct office in Utah. If the event was in another state, then a certified copy of the record can only be obtained by applying directly to that state. (We do not maintain marriage records; they are kept by the county clerks office.)

Please note that we no longer issue the small laminated birth card. These birth cards are no longer considered an official document by many agencies.

The Salt Lake Valley Health Department Bureau of Vital Records maintains records as follows:

		births occurring within the Salt Lake CITY limits: 1890-present.
		births within current Salt Lake COUNTY limits: September 1962-present.
		births for all of the STATE of Utah: 1955 - 1959 and 1975-present.
		deaths occurring within the Salt Lake CITY limits: 1847-present
		deaths within current Salt Lake COUNTY limits: September 1969-present.

 
Requests for birth or death certificates in the Salt Lake Valley Vital Records Office can be made either in person or through the mail. Application forms are available:

• At the front counter.
• By downloading and printing out the Birth or DeathCertificate Application. These require Adobe Acrobat. Based on your connections speed, these large files may take awhile to download. 
• By letter through the mail. When submitting a written mail request, the following information should be included:
  

	name of child at birth		full name of father
	date of birth		birthplace (state) and birth date of father
	place of birth (city, county, hospital)		relationship of requestor to person/record
	full maiden name of mother		YOUR SIGNATURE
	birthplace (state) and birth date of mother

Identification is required when requesting Birth or Death Certificates.

• Acceptable Identification List to Obtain Certified Documents
• Lista de Identificaciones Aceptbles

The application must be signed by the requestor and the appropriate fee included. Certified copies of birth certificates are $15 and death certificates are $13. Additional certified copies of both births and deaths that are ordered for the same record on the same day are $8 each. Most requests require the applicant to be the individual or an immediate family member of the person whose record is being requested. An "immediate family member" is defined as a spouse, parent, sibling, child, grandparent, or grandchild. Any questions or requests for further information concerning vital records are welcome. Please stop by our office or call 801-534-4657 (Office Hours: 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.). The tables provided below show some general statistics for births and deaths in Salt Lake County from 1995 through 1999.

The Utah Department of Health, at www.health.utah.gov has an online birth certificate request application.

There are many other companies on the internet that give information about how to order birth and death certificates. These companies charge additional fees, and when you request your certificates be expedited, there are other fees that are also charged. You may order requests through the mail and pay the regular fees for birth and death certificates.

One company that gives a comprehensive list of vital records offices throughout the United States and information about how to write to those offices to obtain vital records is VitalChek (www.vitalchek.com).
 

Data

Salt Lake County Births and Deaths 1998-2002. Published January 2004 (PDF document)

If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader you may download it here