The registry identity gap
22 of 56 US sex offender registries do not publish a full date of birth in their search results. Date of birth is the primary way to tell two people with the same name apart — so in those jurisdictions, a member of the public who finds a name match cannot confirm whether it is the person they were checking.
What each sex offender registry publishes as a date of birth
A name alone rarely settles the question. What separates a useful answer from an ambiguous one is whether the registry also publishes an identifier precise enough to distinguish two people who share that name.
| What is published | Jurisdictions | Registry records (approx.) | What it means for a search |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full date of birth | 34 | ≈ 546,000 | A name match can be confirmed or excluded outright. |
| On the record page, not in results | 5 | ≈ 104,000 | Confirmable, but only after opening each candidate individually. |
| Partial | 2 | ≈ 8,210 | Confirmable for some registrants and not others. |
| Varies within the state | 1 | ≈ 11,500 | Depends which part of the state the record came from. |
| Birth year only | 7 | ≈ 89,000 | Narrows a common name to a cohort, not a person. |
| Age only | 7 | ≈ 114,000 | Shifts every birthday; two people a year apart can read as one. |
How many registry records sit behind the identity gap
Counting jurisdictions understates the problem, because the gap includes some large registries. Of the roughly 872,000 records on the 56 jurisdiction registries in our index (August 2026), about 326,000 — 37% — sit in a jurisdiction that does not publish a full date of birth in its search results. The largest of them by record count are California, Georgia, Virginia.
The sharpest form of the gap — a birth year or an age, and nothing more precise anywhere on the record — covers 14 jurisdictions and about 203,000 records. In those registries, the public has no way to tell two people with the same name and birth year apart from the identifiers alone.
The registry identity gap by Census region
| Region | Without a full DOB in results | Jurisdictions |
|---|---|---|
| Northeast | 4 of 9 | Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania |
| Midwest | 5 of 12 | Indiana, Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota |
| South | 4 of 17 | Georgia, Maryland, Virginia, Alabama |
| West | 9 of 13 | Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming, California, Hawaii, Washington |
| Territories | 0 of 5 | — |
No region is free of the gap, and neighbors often disagree. That pattern is the clearest sign that what a registry publishes is a choice each jurisdiction makes, not something set by geography.
Why a missing date of birth matters: ambiguity cuts both ways
A registry that publishes a name and an age, and nothing more precise, produces two errors rather than one. Someone checking a common name may conclude a stranger is a registrant because the age is close enough — and someone checking the registrant themselves may dismiss a true match because the age looks a year off. Neither error is visible to the person making it.
This is a policy choice, not a technical limit. Each state decides what its registry publishes, and neighboring states with comparable statutes routinely land on different answers. The table below is that variation, jurisdiction by jurisdiction.
Same-name sex offender search, one name, three registries: a worked example. A hypothetical search, to show what each kind of publication can and cannot settle.
| Registry publishes | You search | What you can conclude |
|---|---|---|
| Full date of birth | James Smith, born 14 March 1979 | A listed James Smith born 2 July 1979 is a different person. Excluded. |
| Birth year only | Same | Every listed James Smith born in 1979 is a candidate. Not settled. |
| Age only | Same | A listed age of 46 or 47 fits, depending on the date the age was computed. Wider still. |
How to confirm a sex offender registry match without a full date of birth
- Compare the photograph. It is the strongest identifier most registries publish.
- Check the physical description — height, weight, eye colour, marks — against what you know.
- Use the middle name or initial, which many registries list beside the name.
- Compare address history with where you know the person has lived.
- Search all 58 registries, not one. A person listed in two jurisdictions may have a full date of birth on one of them.
Our results label each match with the precision it reached — dob_match, year_match or age_match — so a weaker basis is visible rather than hidden. How that works is in the registry check guide.
Sex offender registry date of birth by state: every jurisdiction
| Jurisdiction | Date of birth published as |
|---|---|
| Alaska | Full date of birth |
| American Samoa | Full date of birth |
| Arkansas | Full date of birth |
| Colorado | Full date of birth |
| Connecticut | Full date of birth |
| Delaware | Full date of birth |
| District of Columbia | Full date of birth |
| Florida | Full date of birth |
| Guam | Full date of birth |
| Illinois | Full date of birth |
| Iowa | Full date of birth |
| Kentucky | Full date of birth |
| Louisiana | Full date of birth |
| Maine | Full date of birth |
| Michigan | Full date of birth |
| Mississippi | Full date of birth |
| Missouri | Full date of birth |
| Nebraska | Full date of birth |
| New Hampshire | Full date of birth |
| North Carolina | Full date of birth |
| Northern Mariana Islands | Full date of birth |
| Ohio | Full date of birth |
| Oklahoma | Full date of birth |
| Oregon | Full date of birth |
| Puerto Rico | Full date of birth |
| Rhode Island | Full date of birth |
| South Carolina | Full date of birth |
| South Dakota | Full date of birth |
| Tennessee | Full date of birth |
| Texas | Full date of birth |
| US Virgin Islands | Full date of birth |
| Utah | Full date of birth |
| Vermont | Full date of birth |
| West Virginia | Full date of birth |
| California | On the record page, not in results |
| Idaho | On the record page, not in results |
| New Jersey | On the record page, not in results |
| New York | On the record page, not in results |
| Wyoming | On the record page, not in results |
| Minnesota | Partial |
| Montana | Partial |
| Kansas | Varies within the state |
| Georgia | Birth year only |
| Hawaii | Birth year only |
| Massachusetts | Birth year only |
| Nevada | Birth year only |
| New Mexico | Birth year only |
| North Dakota | Birth year only |
| Pennsylvania | Birth year only |
| Alabama | Age only |
| Arizona | Age only |
| Indiana | Age only |
| Maryland | Age only |
| Virginia | Age only |
| Washington | Age only |
| Wisconsin | Age only |
How the identity gap was measured, and its limits
- The 56 US jurisdiction registries in our roster were each reviewed for the date-of-birth precision they publish in search output
- “On the record page, not in results” means the identifier exists but only after opening an individual record — confirmable, but not while scanning a result set
- Registries change what they publish without notice; this reflects the state of the review, not a permanent property of any jurisdiction
- This study covers what registries publish. It draws no conclusion about any individual, and makes no claim about the completeness of any registry’s underlying records
Free to cite with attribution to OffenderSearch and a link to this page. More on how we treat published figures: our methodology · coverage · open data.
Sex offender search by name and date of birth. Every result says whether it matched on a full date of birth, a birth year or an age, across all 58 US registries at once. A Background Check is $9.99, paid once.
The registry identity gap: common questions
Which sex offender registries publish a full date of birth?
The full table on this page lists every jurisdiction. Most publish a full date in search results; the rest publish it only on the record page, for part of the roster, as a birth year, or as an age.
Why would a registry publish an age instead of a date of birth?
Each jurisdiction decides what its public registry shows, usually balancing identification against the privacy of registrants and others who share their details. This study records what is published; it does not assess the reasons.
Can I still confirm a match in a state that shows only an age?
Often, yes, but not from the age alone. Compare the photograph, physical description, middle name and address history, and check whether another registry that lists the same person publishes a full date of birth.
Does the identity gap mean the registries are wrong?
No. It concerns how precisely a record can be tied to a person, not whether the record is accurate. A correct record can still be hard to confirm when the only identifier beside the name is an age.
Can journalists and researchers cite this study?
Yes. Cite OffenderSearch, “The registry identity gap,” with the date you accessed it and a link to this page. The per-jurisdiction table is the citable unit.