If you are looking for death certificates, you need to know the timing of each state’s requirements. Each state in the U.S. started requiring death registrations in different years. Usually, some types of records were created prior to the official state laws, either at the county, city, or town levels. But state records weren’t required until a law was passed. Furthermore, even though registrations and certificates were mandated, general compliance was not achieved by all entities for just a few years or even a few decades in some instances.
Here is a table that lists the year that death registrations and certificates were required for each state.
| State | Year |
| Alabama | 1908 |
| Alaska | 1913 |
| Arizona | 1909 |
| Arkansas | 1914 |
| California | 1905 |
| Colorado | 1908 |
| Connecticut | 1897 |
| Delaware | 1913 |
| District of Columbia | 1874 |
| Florida | 1899 |
| Georgia | 1919 |
| Hawaii | 1896 |
| Idaho | 1911 |
| Illinois | 1916 |
| Indiana | 1900 |
| Iowa | 1899 |
| Kansas | 1911 |
| Kentucky | 1911 |
| Louisiana | 1914 |
| Maine | 1892 |
| Maryland | 1898 |
| Massachusetts | 1841 |
| Michigan | 1897 |
| Minnesota | 1908 |
| Mississippi | 1912 |
| Missouri | 1910 |
| Montana | 1907 |
| Nebraska | 1904 |
| Nevada | 1911 |
| New Hampshire | 1905 |
| New Jersey | 1848 |
| New Mexico | 1920 |
| New York | 1880 |
| North Carolina | 1913 |
| North Dakota | 1899 |
| Ohio | 1908 |
| Oklahoma | 1908 |
| Oregon | 1903 |
| Pennsylvania | 1906 |
| Rhode Island | 1853 |
| South Carolina | 1915 |
| South Dakota | 1905 |
| Tennessee | 1914 |
| Texas | 1908 |
| Utah | 1904 |
| Vermont | 1857 |
| Virginia | 1912 |
| Washington | 1907 |
| West Virginia | 1917 |
| Wisconsin | 1907 |
| Wyoming | 1909 |
Generally you can obtain a Death Certificate from the State, or from the county, city, or town clerk or recorder.