# Age Search Service The **Age Search Service** is the only route by which a living person can obtain their own entry in a census still closed under the 72-year rule. The [[Census Bureau]] will produce a transcript of an individual's own record — name, age, place of birth — but **only to the named person, an heir, or a legal representative**. Historically used to establish age and citizenship for benefits, passports and employment where no birth certificate existed. It is funded entirely by its own fees. **13 U.S.C. § 8(a)** requires the service to be self-supporting rather than appropriated, and, unlike the [[Freedom of Information Act]], the statute **does not authorize a waiver** — the Bureau cannot excuse the fee for an indigent requester. A Federal Register notice published **July 8, 2026** raised the fee from **$65 to $155**, effective **August 7, 2026**, and the expedited surcharge from **$20 to $50** per case. The prior fee had stood since 2004. That makes the rung for a person's **own** record the only priced rung on the [[Census Data Access Crosswalk]] whose cost moved in 2026 — while [[Public Use Microdata Sample]] hands strangers individual records of other people for nothing. ⚠ **Open question as of 2026-09-24:** census.gov search results surface the page title "Age Search Service on Pause" across numerous unrelated URLs, consistent with a site-wide alert banner, but no pause text appears in the page bodies and no Federal Register notice announces a suspension. Unresolved; treat the service's current availability as unverified. See [[Census]] · [[Title 13]] · [[National Archives]]