National Sex Offender Registry — Official State & Federal Search

California's Megan's Law website, run by the Department of Justice, lets anyone search registered sex offenders by name, ZIP code, city, county, or a map-based radius around an address, and the lookup itself never costs a cent. State law is explicit that this information may not be used to harass, discriminate against, deny housing or insurance to, or refuse employment to a listed person, and violating that restriction can carry criminal penalties, so treat results as awareness information rather than a screening tool. A notable quirk is that a portion of offenders on the California list appear only with a ZIP code rather than a full home address, depending on their offense tier, so absence of a pinpointed address does not mean someone is not nearby. Because California does not feed its data into the national NSOPW aggregator the way every state does, you have to search the state site directly rather than relying solely on a nationwide search. For a first search, run both your home address and your workplace or your kids' school through the map tool to see the full radius at once.

In short: Free name and address search run by CA DOJ.

The Texas Department of Public Safety hosts the state's public sex offender registry, and searching by name, city, county, or ZIP code costs nothing regardless of how many records you pull. The database reflects whatever address an offender most recently reported to local law enforcement, so a listing can lag behind an actual move by weeks or months, and Texas statute limits how the information can be used, explicitly prohibiting it as grounds for denying someone housing, employment, or insurance outside what other law already allows. Some low-risk offenders are classified for a shorter registration period and drop off the list once that period ends, so a clean search today doesn't guarantee a clean history. Texas participates in the national NSOPW portal, which is useful if you're trying to check someone who has lived in multiple states, but the DPS site tends to have more current local detail. A practical first step is to search by county rather than just city, since Texas counties are large and municipal boundaries don't always match where someone actually lives.

In short: Free name, ZIP, and proximity search.

Florida's registry, maintained by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, is a fully free public search covering both sex offenders and the separate, more serious classification of sexual predators, searchable by name, address radius, county, or even school zone. FDLE distinguishes the two tiers clearly on the site, and predators generally face stricter, lifetime registration and reporting requirements, so it's worth noting which category a result falls into rather than treating all listings as equivalent risk. Florida law prohibits using this data to threaten, intimidate, or harass a registrant, and misusing the registry that way is itself a criminal offense under state statute. Because Florida has a large seasonal and transient population, addresses can go stale faster than in other states, so a listing showing an address from over a year ago deserves a second check against current whereabouts. FDLE's site links out to NSOPW for cross-state searches, which is worth using if the person you're checking has recently moved to or from Florida.

In short: Free name and neighborhood search with mapping.

New York's Sex Offender Registry, maintained by the Division of Criminal Justice Services, offers a free public search but is structured differently from most states because it only publishes full details for Level 2 and Level 3 offenders, the moderate- and high-risk tiers; Level 1, low-risk offenders are registered with law enforcement but are not searchable by the general public online. That distinction matters because a name search coming back empty does not necessarily mean someone isn't registered, only that they may fall into the non-public tier. State law bars using registry information to harass or commit a crime against a listed individual, and using it for housing or employment discrimination beyond what's legally permitted can expose the searcher to liability. The site allows search by name, county, or ZIP code, and DCJS also maintains a separate subscription email alert service for verified requesters like schools and licensed agencies, which is not the same as the public lookup. First-time users should search neighboring counties as well, since the tool defaults to fairly narrow geographic results unless you broaden the radius manually.

In short: Free Level 2/3 search; subdirectory lookup by name.

Pennsylvania's Megan's Law website, operated under the State Police, provides a no-cost public search by name, county, municipality, or school district, and it also flags whether an offender is currently compliant with registration requirements or has an active warrant for noncompliance. That compliance flag is a distinctive feature worth paying attention to, since a "noncompliant" tag means the state itself has lost track of that person's current address. Pennsylvania law makes clear the registry exists for public safety notification, not for employment or tenant screening purposes, and misusing it to harass a registrant can carry criminal consequences. Because the commonwealth has thousands of small municipalities, searching by county rather than town produces more complete results, since a person's registered township might not match the mailing address you're expecting. The site also allows searching by school or park proximity, a feature aimed at parents. As a first step, run a radius search around your home address in addition to a name search, since many users only think to check people they already know.

In short: Free name and address radius search.

Illinois State Police run the state sex offender registry website, which is free to search by name, city, county, or ZIP code and also includes a separate murderer and violent offender against youth registry that many users don't realize exists alongside it. Illinois law restricts registry data from being used for purposes like housing discrimination or employer retaliation beyond what's otherwise legally permitted, and using the site to threaten or intimidate a registrant is itself prosecutable. One quirk specific to Illinois is that registration duration varies significantly by offense, with some offenders registering for ten years and others for life, and the public site does not always make that distinction obvious, so absence from a later search doesn't necessarily mean good behavior, only that a registration term expired. Addresses listed reflect self-reported updates to local police, which can lag after a move. Because Chicago and its collar counties have dense, overlapping ZIP codes, a first-time searcher should use the county filter alongside ZIP to avoid missing nearby results in a bordering municipality.

In short: Free name, city, and ZIP search.

Ohio's registry runs through the Attorney General's eSORN (Electronic Sex Offender Registration and Notification) system, which is free for the public to search by name, county, or address, and it separates offenders into three tiers under Ohio's version of the Adam Walsh Act, with Tier III requiring in-person address verification every 90 days. That frequent verification cycle means Ohio's data tends to be more current than states with annual reporting, but it also means a Tier I or II offender's information updates far less often, so treat older entries with some caution. State law prohibits using the registry to harass, intimidate, or discriminate against a listed person in ways not otherwise permitted, and eSORN itself logs that the information is for public safety, not vigilante use. A distinctive feature of the Ohio system is its inclusion of arson and some violent offenders on a related registry, which can confuse searchers expecting only sex offenses. For a first search, use the address-radius map view rather than a plain name search, since it surfaces nearby registrants you might not think to search for by name.

In short: Free statewide registry search with mapping.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation maintains the state's sex offender registry, a free public database searchable by name, county, or address, and it's one of the more granular state systems in that it also publishes an offender's specific risk assessment classification level, ranging from lower to sexually dangerous predator status, set by a state review board rather than left solely to the original court's sentence. That classification affects how long someone must register and what restrictions apply, such as proximity limits to schools, so it's worth reading the classification rather than just the name and address. Georgia law makes it a separate criminal offense to use registry information to threaten or harass a registered individual, and using it for employment or housing decisions beyond what's legally allowed can expose you to liability. Because Georgia is one of the larger states geographically with many rural counties, addresses in unincorporated areas can be less precise on the map view than in cities. A useful first step is cross-referencing a name search with an address-radius search, since the two tools sometimes surface slightly different result sets.

In short: Free county and name search.

North Carolina's Sex Offender and Public Protection Registry, run through the State Bureau of Investigation, offers a free search by name, county, or address radius, and it also lets you search separately for offenders against minors as a distinct filter, which is useful if you're specifically screening for someone likely to be around children. State law restricts use of the registry for harassment, and separately prohibits registrants from being present at certain locations like schools or childcare centers, information the site itself doesn't always spell out in the search results, so it helps to know those statutory restrictions exist independently of what you see listed. Addresses come from self-reporting to the sheriff's office in the county of residence, and verification frequency depends on offender tier, meaning higher-risk individuals get checked more often than lower-risk ones. North Carolina participates in the national NSOPW system, which is helpful for checking someone who may have moved across state lines from a neighboring state like Virginia or Tennessee. When starting a search, try both a maiden or prior surname and current name if you know someone has legally changed their name, since older aliases sometimes still surface in the record.

In short: Free name and address-based search.

Michigan's Public Sex Offender Registry, jointly maintained by the Michigan State Police and the Department of Corrections, is free to search by name, city, ZIP code, or school proximity, and it flags whether someone is classified as compliant or has an outstanding registration violation. Michigan is somewhat unusual in that a narrow set of lower-tier juvenile and non-public offenses are excluded from the public-facing site even though the person is still technically registered with law enforcement, so a clear search result doesn't guarantee an exhaustive record. State law forbids using the registry to harass a listed person or to deny them housing or employment in ways that exceed what's separately permitted by other statutes, and misuse can bring criminal charges. Because Michigan's system pulls address data from local law enforcement updates, rural county listings can lag behind city updates where compliance checks happen more frequently. A practical tip for a first search is to use the map-based radius tool around a specific address rather than relying only on city name, since city boundaries in the Detroit metro area in particular don't align neatly with ZIP codes.

In short: Free name, ZIP, and proximity search.

New Jersey's registry, publicly known as the Sex Offender Internet Registry and run by the State Police, is free to search by name or county, but it only publishes information on Tier 2 (moderate risk) and Tier 3 (high risk) offenders; Tier 1, the lowest-risk category, is notified only to local law enforcement and victims, not posted publicly. That means a search coming back clean does not rule out a Tier 1 registrant living nearby, which is a common point of confusion for first-time users. State law, stemming from the original Megan's Law enacted after a New Jersey case, restricts using the registry to harass, threaten, or discriminate against a listed person beyond what other law separately allows for housing or employment screening. The site's addresses reflect the offender's most recently verified residence, and verification frequency depends on tier, with Tier 3 offenders checked most often. New Jersey participates in NSOPW for cross-state searches, useful given how many residents commute between New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. A good first move is searching by county and then narrowing by municipality, since the statewide list can be long in densely populated counties.

In short: Free Tier 2/3 search by name and county.

Virginia State Police operate the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry, a free public search by name, county, city, or address that also allows an email notification signup for a specific address, alerting you automatically if a new registrant moves nearby, a feature not every state offers. Virginia law restricts using registry data to harass, threaten, or intimidate a registrant, and separately makes it a crime for certain registered offenders to be present in specific locations like school grounds, restrictions the search tool doesn't always display directly in results. Addresses are based on self-reported updates, with re-verification frequency tied to whether someone is classified as a violent sexual offender, which requires more frequent in-person check-ins than a standard registrant. Virginia's registry has historically been broader than some neighboring states in terms of which offenses require registration, so out-of-state visitors sometimes appear on the list for convictions that wouldn't require registration elsewhere. For first-time users, setting up the free address-based email alert is worth doing immediately rather than relying on periodic manual searches, since it will flag new arrivals automatically.

In short: Free name and proximity search with alerts.

Washington State's registry is decentralized compared to most states: the Washington State Patrol hosts a statewide search tool, but much of the day-to-day registrant data and community notification actually comes from individual county sheriff's offices, which is worth knowing because coverage and update frequency can vary by county even though the search itself is free everywhere. Washington uses a three-level risk classification set by an end-of-sentence review committee, and only Level 2 and Level 3 offenders are typically the subject of active community notification, while Level 1 offenders are registered but not proactively publicized, similar to the practice in a few other states. State law prohibits using the registry to harass or threaten a registered person, and using it to deny housing or employment beyond what's separately legally permitted can create liability for the person misusing it. Because rural counties east of the Cascades update less frequently than counties like King or Pierce, a first-time searcher should check directly with the relevant county sheriff's page in addition to the statewide tool, especially if you're researching a specific rural address rather than a major city.

In short: Free statewide and county registry search.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety maintains the state sex offender registry, a free search by name, address, ZIP code, or map radius, and it separates offenders into three risk levels, with Level 3, the highest, subject to the most active community notification through flyers and local law enforcement outreach in addition to the online listing. Arizona law makes clear the registry is meant for public safety awareness and specifically prohibits using it to threaten, harass, or coerce a registrant, with violations treated as a criminal offense. A notable feature is that Arizona allows searching not just by current registered address but by former addresses in some cases, which can help when trying to confirm whether someone has a history in a particular neighborhood. Because Arizona has large unincorporated desert areas and rapidly growing suburbs, address data in newer developments can occasionally lag behind actual occupancy. Arizona participates in NSOPW, useful for cross-checking anyone who may have relocated from California or Nevada. A good first step is running the map radius tool at a fairly wide setting, since low-density areas mean a "nearby" registrant might still be several miles away.

In short: Free Level 2/3 search by name and location.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation runs the state's Sex Offender Registry website, free to search by name, county, city, or ZIP code, and it distinguishes between the standard sex offender registry and a separate, harsher classification for violent sexual offenders and violent juvenile sexual offenders, each with different reporting frequencies and public disclosure rules. Tennessee law restricts use of the registry for harassment or intimidation of a listed person, and separately imposes residency and proximity restrictions on registrants near schools and daycare centers, details that inform why an address might change suddenly if someone is forced to relocate. The TBI site updates from information verified by local sheriffs, and violent offenders must verify in person more frequently than standard registrants, so those listings tend to be more current. Tennessee participates in the national NSOPW database, useful if you're checking someone who may have moved from a neighboring state like Georgia, North Carolina, or Virginia. For a first search, try the county-level browse feature in addition to a name search, since it's a fast way to see everyone registered in a specific area without needing to know a name in advance.

In short: Free name, ZIP, and proximity search.