Census Bureau Updates Fees for Age Search Service

You might care about this because the U.S. Census Bureau is changing the fees for its Age Search service. This service helps people get official copies of their confidential census records from 1910 to 2020. These records are important for proving age or citizenship. For example, people use them to apply for Social Security or retirement benefits, get a passport, or establish family relationships for inheritance purposes. This is especially true for those born before the early 1930s when birth registration was not consistent everywhere. The main fee for a single search and one record copy will increase from $65.00 to $155.00. If you need your results very quickly, an extra charge for expedited service will go from $20.00 to $50.00. The Census Bureau says these updates are needed to cover the actual costs of running the service, as the fees were last adjusted way back in 2004. This final rule will take effect on August 7, 2026. What is particularly interesting about this legal document is how the Age Search service is structured to be self-supporting. A law passed in 1954 requires that the fees collected from people using the service pay for all its operating costs. This means the service does not rely on federal appropriations or taxpayer money to operate. Over time, the expenses involved in processing these requests have gone up. Things like employee salaries for the staff who conduct the searches and prepare the transcripts have increased since the last fee change in 2004. Therefore, the Census Bureau is adjusting the fees to make sure the service can continue to cover its own expenses. This ensures that people who need these historical records can still access them without the service becoming a financial burden on the government. This legal document would be most interesting to several specific groups of people. Individuals who need to prove their age, citizenship, or family relationships will find these changes highly relevant. This includes people applying for retirement benefits, passports, or dealing with inheritance matters, especially if they do not have a birth certificate. Genealogists and family history researchers who rely on historical census records might also be interested in the new fee structure if they plan to use the Age Search service. Legal professionals who assist clients with identity documentation or family law cases involving historical records should also be aware of these updated costs. In short, anyone who might need to obtain an official record from an old census will want to understand these new fees.