Top Choice
Instant Checkmate
Criminal-record and social-profile search option.
View RecordsBackground Checks
Average Background Check Cost
Estimate a background check’s cost by the record product, fingerprints and copy requirements; one advertised search price may not cover the whole task.
Direct answer
What to use for average background check cost
There is no supported market-wide average established by the sources here. Estimate the cost of the specific check you need: a personal criminal-history request, a court-record lookup and a screening package are different products.
Route
Official sources that can answer different questions
| Need | Official source | What it can establish |
|---|---|---|
| Federal/state route. | FBI - Identity History Summary Checks FAQs. | The FBI direct Identity History Summary fee is currently $18. |
| Rights or scope check. | FBI Identity History Summary Checks. | FBI Identity History Summary requests are fingerprint based. |
| Navigation layer. | USAGov - State and local governments. | USA.gov provides a directory for locating state and local government websites; the directory itself does not establish record-specific access rules. |
Important
A background check is not one universal record
Check the published fee. Read the current fee for the exact official product being requested. Do not generalize one agency fee to unrelated court, fingerprint, copy, or delivery services.
Check
What to verify before treating the result as complete
- Define the purpose. Define the decision the records need to support. Use that list to choose the official systems that can actually answer the questions.
- Separate additional steps. List fingerprinting, certification, copy, and delivery steps separately when they apply. That keeps the cost estimate tied to the actual workflow.
Build a total for the required product
For your own FBI Identity History Summary, the direct request fee is $18; fingerprint collection can cost extra. That price is not an employment-screening package or a civil-record search. For an employment or licensing request, first obtain the requesting organization’s required route and written charges rather than assuming a personal request will be accepted.
For federal court records, PACER electronic access is $0.10 per page, with a $3 cap on an ordinary document. The cap does not cover search reports or transcripts; a search can cost money even without a match. Fees totaling $30 or less in a quarter are waived. These are federal access charges, not a nationwide background-report average.
Write an estimate with separate lines for the required product, identity or fingerprint collection, documents/certification, delivery and any recurring plan charge. Mark unquoted items unknown; ask whether extra jurisdictions or updated reports cost more. Compare totals only when the purpose and coverage match.
Official guidance: FBI Identity History Summary FAQs; PACER pricing.
Related Record Guides
Sources
Authoritative next stops
Official federal criminal-history source; United States
FBI - Identity History Summary Checks FAQs
FBI own Identity History Summary process; fingerprint requirement; current $18 FBI request fee; waiver instructions.
United States
Official federal source; United States
FBI Identity History Summary Checks
FBI Identity History Summary personal review process and fingerprint-based identity history.
United States
Official federal directory; United States
USAGov - State and local governments
Directory only: identifies and links state and local government websites; does not establish record-specific rules.
United States