Whether you’ve fallen out of touch with an old friend, want to vet a potential business acquaintance or possible catfish, or have even more serious matters to attend to, you don’t have to go full Columbo to track down a person, no matter what sort of info you’ve got on hand. Here in the roaring ‘20s (yes, the 2020s), you’ve got the perfect combo of old-school analog and new-school online methods to help you on your quest.
Wondering how to find someone in the most effective way possible? Oftentimes, a multi-pronged approach with a handful of different methods is key – and Spokeo’s got a secret weapon that combines all those sources into one easy search tool, too.
Effective Old-School Methods
Nowadays, when you’re asking yourself how to find people, heading to the post office and rifling through court documents may not be the first things that spring to mind, but that doesn’t mean they’re not effective. Whether you’re heading to a local government building in person or digging through digital docs, don’t sleep on these foundational people-finding methods.
The Absolute Basics
Want to know how to find someone the old-fashioned way? Start by asking. If the person of interest happens to be even a few steps removed from your family or social circle, it doesn’t hurt to ask friends, family, or co-workers for any leads they might have.
Speaking of old-school, those ancient phone directories still exist. While physical phone books are uncommon these days, free online phone directories are still around, and can often be searched by name, address, or phone number.
In some limited cases – namely, if the searcher needs the address for serving litigation – the United States Postal Service may provide someone’s address information. In this case, you’ll need the person’s name and will have to fill out a free Address Information Request form, which can be accessed online but will need to be turned in at your local Post Office.
Going Deeper: County Records
While each city and official department varies, for the most part, counties will make certain records available and searchable online. Usually, a quick Google search for something like “voter registration records Dallas” or “property tax records Akron,” for instance, will get you pointed in the right direction. Here’s how to find people using these sources:
- Your county’s registrar of voters is a matter of public record and is typically searchable online. If you have the legal name of someone and they’re registered to vote, the registrar should provide you with their address at the time of their registration.
- The office of the county clerk-recorder maintains records regarding property and business ownership as well as birth, marriage, and death certificates. Oftentimes, these are searchable online using keywords, such as names, addresses, or phone numbers, or you can inquire in person at the county clerk’s office.
- Likewise, the county assessor’s office keeps a tax roll containing the names and addresses of property owners. While that obviously won’t include everyone, if you’ve got a name, it can be worth a shot.
- Similarly, most county courts offer online portals with searchable databases of documents, including criminal, civil, and probate court records, marriage licenses, and information on current inmates in jail or prison. If you’d rather search in person or get a little help with a human touch, you can always visit your local courthouse, as well. Even if you’re not necessarily digging for legal records, searching for a specific name can give you valuable clues to a person’s past and current whereabouts, or help paint a picture of the paths they’ve taken in life.
Searching Online
Curious about how to find someone’s address? How to find someone’s phone number? How to find pics of their high school reunion and their dog’s Instagram account? The wonders of the internet have you covered.
Search Engines
Search engines like Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo are powerful tools for locating a person, using their name, alias, address, phone number, or email address (or really, any other context clues you may have). But there’s a bit of nuance to using these to track down someone you’re trying to get in touch with. Here are our top tips:
- Use quotes around the phrase you’re searching for, especially if it’s a name or phone number like “Dan Ketchum” or “867-5309.” Using quotes ensures that you’ll get results for the exact phrase, in that exact order, rather than, for example, pages that have the words “Dan” and “Ketchum” floating around disparately.
- If you happen to have a digital photo of the person you’re searching for, tools like Google’s Reverse Image Search or Bing Visual Search let you search by image. Here, you’ll upload the pic and the search engine will find pages that contain the exact image or similar images, which might just lead you to your person’s online presence.
Social Media
While typing a person’s government name with quotes around it on Google may turn up their social media profiles, you’ll have better luck scouring socials by searching the specific apps and sites themselves. On platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, Bluesky, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, and more, you can often narrow down your search with parameters like age range, alma mater, gender identity, workplace, or proximity to a location, which can be super helpful if you have a little more info.
While you can always search socials with a legal name, don’t forget about online aliases. If you remember someone’s old MySpace handle, their Xbox Gamertag, or even a nickname they used to go by, try searching that or variations of it on social media sites where aliases, usernames, and quirky handles are the norm, such as Instagram, Twitch, or TikTok.
Find Someone Using Spokeo’s People Search
What if the answer for how to find someone, how to find someone’s address, and how to find someone’s phone number happened to all be in the same place? The dream is real, and it’s called Spokeo People Search.
If you’ve got a name, email address, phone number, or physical address in hand, Spokeo instantly searches billions (yes, billions with a “b”) of public records across social networks, courts, consumer records, historical documents, property paperwork, business information, and more to come up with hyper-specific hits.
How to Find Someone on Spokeo
Here’s how it works:
- Head to Spokeo.com on the desktop or mobile browser of your choice.
- In the search bar, type in the name, email address, phone number, or physical address of the person you’re looking for, then hit that big “Search Now” button.
- When prompted, choose the city and state the person lives in. If you’re not sure, just select “Not Sure.”
- Now choose which data types you’d be interested in seeing. You can tap or click on as many or as few categories as you’d like – from location history to marital status and more – or just choose “Select All” to search everything. Then hit “Continue,” or “Skip This” if you’d rather let Spokeo figure it out for you.
- Some questions may appear to help us find the right person. Choose “Yes,” “No,” or “Not Sure” in response to queries about your subject’s marital status or arrest history, for instance.
- From the provided list, select the social media platforms you think your person might be on, then hit “Continue” (or “Not Sure” to skip this entirely; don’t worry, we’ll still search socials).
- Enter your first name, last name, and email address when prompted, then select “Continue.” Your data won’t be added to our search results – this is just so we can send you your report.
- Now hit “Build My Report,” wait for all that juicy info to fill in, then click “Take Me to My Report.”
From here, you’ll see the most exciting part: what types and categories of info Spokeo may have turned up. By tapping the “Continue” button, you’ll be taken to a portal where you can purchase a full name report for as low as $0.95 when you agree to take a trial of the Spokeo membership.
With a few little keywords on Spokeo People Search, you could end up with your mystery person’s contact info, criminal records (additional fees may apply), social media profiles, location history, and even family and associates. All the fun of detective work with a whole lot less risk, danger, time, and hassle.
As a freelance writer, small business owner, and consultant with more than a decade of experience, Dan has been fortunate enough to collaborate with leading brands including Microsoft, Fortune, Verizon, Discover, Office Depot, The Motley Fool, and more. He currently resides in Dallas, TX.
Sources
California Courts – Self-Help Guide – Basic Ways to Find Someone
ITPro. – How to Find a Person Online for Free: Seven Proven Methods
USPS – Address Information Request Forms
Yahoo! Life – Secrets to Finding People Online Without Paying a Dime