County property records come from the county itself: the assessor keeps every parcel and its value, the recorder keeps the deeds and mortgages, and the tax office keeps the bill. You can search those offices free one property at a time, or take a ready file that joins all three into one row per property. Here any one of 3,142 counties is $19/mo.
Where do county property records come from?
Every property in the United States sits in a county or county equivalent, and three offices there each keep part of its story. None of them keeps all of it, which is why a complete record means visiting several.
| Office | What it keeps | What you learn from it |
|---|---|---|
| Assessor (or appraiser) | The parcel number, land use, building size, year built and assessed value | What is on the lot and what the county says it is worth |
| Recorder, clerk or register of deeds | Deeds, mortgages, releases and foreclosure notices | Who owns it, when they bought, and what is borrowed against it |
| Treasurer or tax collector | The annual tax bill and payment status | What the owner pays each year and whether it is past due |
The names change from state to state and some counties fold two offices into one, but the split between valuation, title and tax is nearly universal.
What is in a county property record?
A county file brings those sources together. Each row is one property, with these columns:
| Section | Columns |
|---|---|
| The parcel Where it is and what stands on it. | Situs address and ZIP; Assessor parcel number (APN); County FIPS code; Land use and property type; Bedrooms, bathrooms, units; Building and lot square feet; Year built |
| The owner Who holds title and where they get mail. | Owner name and second owner; Mailing street, city, state, ZIP; Owner-occupied or absentee; Corporate owner flag; Years owned and purchase date |
| The money Value, debt and what the county bills. | Estimated value and equity; Equity percent and loan-to-value; Open liens and balance; First lender and loan amount; Assessed and market totals; Tax amount and tax year; Last sale date and price |
| The signals Yes/no columns for building target lists. | High equity; Free and clear; Pre-foreclosure; Tax delinquent; Vacant |
Can you get county property records for free?
For a single property, usually. Most counties put a parcel search on the assessor’s site and a document search on the recorder’s, and many publish a parcel map. They are the right tool for checking one house. They are slow for a whole county, because each search returns one parcel and each office uses its own layout.
| Free county searches | A ready county file | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | One parcel or document per search | Every property in the county |
| Where | Separate sites for the assessor, recorder and tax office | One CSV, one row per property |
| Owner mailing address | On the assessor or tax record, if the county shows it | In every row |
| Loans and equity | Read from recorded mortgages, document by document | Open liens, balance and estimated equity as columns |
| Bulk download | Priced, formatted and licensed by each county | Included |
| Updates | Whenever each office posts changes | A new edition each month |
How do you get one county’s records, step by step?
- Find the county, not just the city. A city can straddle two counties, and some places, such as Virginia’s independent cities, are county equivalents in their own right. The county index searches by county, city or ZIP.
- Check the size. Each county page shows how many property records the county holds and how it ranks in its state.
- Look up one address first. The basic facts for any address are free; a free account shows that property’s owner, value, loan and tax columns, so you can see the data before you pay for a county.
- Subscribe to the county. The file holds every record in it, with no row caps, as a CSV.
- Use each new edition. The file is rebuilt monthly, so download the new one rather than editing last month’s.
What does a county file cost here?
One flat price per county, whatever its size: $19/mo for one county, or $49/mo for any 5, mixed across states. Because the price does not change with the record count, the cost per record does. Figures from the October 2026 edition:
- Counties to choose from
- 3,142
- Median county file
- 13,414 records
- Median, per 1,000 records
- $1.42
- Any 5 counties
- $49/mo
| County | Records | Per 1,000 records |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles County, CA (largest) | 2,275,994 | under $0.01 |
| Schuyler County, MO (smallest) | 3 | $6,333.33 |
For the full ranking, see the largest county files and the smallest. Working more than 5 counties, or a whole state? Acquired Data handles larger orders.
Questions
- Where do county property records come from?
- From county offices. The assessor keeps the parcel, its characteristics and its assessed value; the recorder or register of deeds keeps deeds and mortgages; the treasurer or tax collector keeps the tax bill and whether it is paid.
- Can I get a county's property records for free?
- One parcel at a time, usually yes: most counties offer a free parcel or deed search online. A whole county in one file is a bulk extract, which counties price, format and license in their own ways.
- What is in a county property file?
- One row per property: the address and parcel number, the building and lot, the owner and their mailing address, estimated value and equity, open loans, the tax bill, the last sale, and yes/no columns such as free and clear and tax delinquent.
- How much does one county's property data cost here?
- $19 a month for one county's full file, or $49 a month for any 5 counties. The price is the same for every county, whatever its size.
- How often are county records updated?
- The file is rebuilt from a new edition of the data each month. While you are subscribed, each new edition of your county comes with it.
County files are on sale now. Find a county and subscribe from its page: $19 a month for one county, or $49 for any 5.