Free Online California Death Records and Indexes

The Ancestor Hunt regularly adds and updates new collection links, as well as searches for and fixes broken links.
(This page's most recent update is February 2025)

Over the past few decades, thanks to volunteers, librarians, and archivists (as well as the largest of them all – FamilySearch), many indexes to death collections have been provided for free online. These searchable indexes provide specific death information and sometimes scanned images of the actual death certificates themselves. These free online collections have hundreds of millions of records in total.
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There are a great number of online and offline collections that may include death information that is not included in the lists below. For example, newspapers and obituaries have death info, but most times obituary indexes include the obituary date but not the date of death. To find out which types of other records may include death information, please see: 

The lists below are specific death indexes and record collections that are available for free online for the state of California.

Note: Some links listed take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. Near the bottom of the page, under Film/Digital Notes, is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon to the right of the name (in the Format column), then the collection’s images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital. To take full advantage make sure that you are logged in to FamilySearch. The results may be different if you are signed in, rather than not.

Note: I have included links to Free Ancestry records and indexes. You do not need a subscription, but you do need an Ancestry account. Without a subscription, you can view indexes. If there is an image associated with a record, in most cases, you will need a subscription, but the index does include very usable information.

California Death Records

For all Free California Collection Links in 24 Genealogy Categories, go to the By Location Page, click on California, and then click on the category of interest.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

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