The Birth Certificate Number (USA)
For instance 139 -67-123456
- the 139 is the State Identication code, i.e. 139 is S.C.
- the 67 is the year of birth, i.e. 1967;
- and the 123456, is your unique number.
For instance 123456-67
- the 67 is the year of birth, i.e. 1967;
- and the 123456, is your unique number.
On any given day the numbers are assigned by the local county Health Department. Often the births are sorted in alphabetical order prior to assigning the number. This can be helpful. It would be nice if this number were related to the Social Security Number.
State Birth Certificate Codes AK - 150 AL - 101 AR - 103 AZ - 102 CA - 104 CO - 105 CT - 106 DC - 108 DE - 107 FL - 109 GA - 110? HI - 151 IA - 114 ID - 111 IL - 112 IN - 113 KS - 115 KY - 116 LA - 117 or 157 MA - 120? MD - 119 or 154 ME - 118 MI - 121 MN - 122 MO - 124 MS - 123 MT - 125 NC - 132 ND - 133 NE - 126 NH - 128? NJ - 129 NM - 130 NV - 127 NY - 131? or 156 OH - 134 OK - 135 OR - 136 PA - 137? RI - 138 SC - 139 SD - 140 TN - 141 TX - 142 UT - 144 VA - 145 VT - 143? WA - 146 WI - 148 WV - 147 WY - 149
It appears as though not all states adhere to the federal system, namely NH, PA.
The numbers with a question mark are states that cannot be verified. It appears as though MD and NY issue a completely new number to adoptees. The fourth and fifth digits in the bc number signify the year on all.
The explanation given from an IL hospital is the last six numbers are sequential numbers issued to hospitals in group lots of a given number, ie, Jones Hospital would get 000001 thru 000500, and Smith Hospital would get 000501 thru 001000. When the hospital uses up all its assigned numbers it requests more from the state.