Get a Birth Certificate in Philadelphia County, PA
This service isn't handled by the Register of Wills. 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 ↗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 Register of Wills — useful for other services.