Get a Birth Certificate in Franklin County, PA
This service isn't handled by the Clerk of Orphans' Court. Here's where to go instead.
Certified birth certificates are issued by Pennsylvania Vital Records (Department of Health), not the county office. Note: some county Registers of Wills hold pre-1906 birth and death records for genealogical research.
🌐 Go to the official portalhealth.pa.gov ↗Franklin County's Clerk of Orphans' Court holds birth and death records from before 1906, held by Franklin County Archives & Records Management. Its own page says: “If you are looking for birth or death records prior to 1906, please visit Franklin County Archives & Records Management” (as of 26 September 2026) ↗
If you need a certified copy of a current birth certificate, that is not this office. It comes from Pennsylvania Vital Records (Department of Health, Division of Vital Records, New Castle) — the route above.
Each certificate is $20.00. Posting this form is the cheapest route — ordering online adds a $10.00 service fee on top. Mail it to the Division of Vital Records in New Castle, or take it to one of the six walk-in offices (Erie, Harrisburg, New Castle, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Scranton), where a request handed in before 2.30pm can be issued the same day; Philadelphia is by appointment, the other five take walk-ins. Pennsylvania vital records are state-held, so this office cannot issue one. The $20.00 is waived for serving and honourably discharged members of the US Armed Forces and their spouses or widows, up to ten copies a year, and separate waiver forms exist for people experiencing homelessness, foster and juvenile-justice-involved individuals, people affected by opioid use disorder, and victims of a declared natural disaster — ask before paying if any of those fit.
⚠️ This office does not process birth certificates. Use the agency linked above. The office below is your county's Clerk of Orphans' Court — useful for other services.