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New York State · Free lookup

Verify any New York notary.
227,405 commissions, searchable.

Search the State’s own live register by name. Commission number, county, traditional or electronic, issue and expiry dates. Free, no signup, no account.

Free lookup · no signup

Search the New York notary register

Type the notary’s name — or your own. This searches New York State’s public register of commissioned notaries, live, each time you press the button.

Tip: the State stores names as they appear on the application, usually First Middle Last. If nothing comes back, try your surname on its own.

New York’s notaries, by the numbers

Counted directly from the State register on 29 August 2026. Nobody else publishes this breakdown, so here it is.

227,405
commissions on file
14,737
registered for electronic notarization — just 6.5%
81,325
expire within twelve months
4 yrs
term length, Exec. Law §130

Active commissions by county

County Active commissions Of which electronic
Nassau27,7861,659
Suffolk24,3901,309
New York (Manhattan)23,0992,244
Queens20,9771,904
Kings (Brooklyn)19,8192,194
Westchester15,8151,035
Erie10,674
Monroe7,954
Bronx7,408902
Richmond (Staten Island)5,511429
Onondaga5,353
Orange4,576

Source: New York State open data, notary public appointments register, counted 29 August 2026. Electronic column shown for the eight counties with the highest electronic counts.

What the register tells you, and what it does not

It tells you that a commission exists, who holds it, which county holds the record, whether it is traditional or electronic, and when it runs out. That is enough to check a notarised document you have been handed, or to find your own commission number without digging out the certificate.

It does not carry addresses, phone numbers or signature specimens, so it is not a way to find a notary near you and it cannot confirm that a particular signature is genuine. For that there is the county clerk’s authentication certificate, $3 under Executive Law §133, which is the document that actually proves an official signature.

One number on this page is worth pausing on if you are a notary yourself. 14,737 of New York’s notaries are registered for electronic notarization — 6.5%. An electronic notarial act may be charged at up to $25; a traditional one is capped at $2. Whatever else that gap means, it means 93.5% of the register is on the lower number. The fee rules are here.

Questions people actually ask

How do I verify that a New York notary is real?

Search the State's own public register by the notary's name. Every commissioned New York notary appears there with a commission number, the county that holds the record, whether the commission is traditional or electronic, and the issue and expiry dates. If a name returns nothing, the commission either does not exist or has been expired long enough to drop off the register. The lookup on this page queries that register live.

How many notaries are there in New York?

227,405 commissions are on file in the State register, of which 227,311 are unexpired as of 29 August 2026. Nassau leads with 27,786 active commissions, then Suffolk with 24,390, New York County with 23,099, Queens with 20,977 and Kings with 19,819.

How many New York notaries are registered for electronic notarization?

14,737 — about 6.5% of all active commissions. New York County has the most at 2,244, followed by Kings at 2,194 and Queens at 1,904. Given that an electronic notarial act may be charged at up to $25 against $2 for a traditional one, that leaves 93.5% of New York notaries on the lower fee.

What information does the lookup show?

The commission holder's name as the State records it, the commission number, the commissioned county, whether the commission is traditional or electronic, the term issue date and the term expiry date. It does not show addresses, phone numbers or signatures — the register is a record of commissions, not a directory of contact details.

I cannot find my own name. What is wrong?

Usually the name format. New York stores names as they were written on the application, most often First Middle Last rather than surname first. Try your surname on its own. If nothing comes back at all, either your commission expired more than four years ago and has dropped off the register, or you have not been commissioned yet.

How long does a New York notary commission last?

Four years, under Executive Law §130. 81,325 commissions in the register expire within the next twelve months. Renewal costs $60 and you can file from 90 days before your term ends.

Is this the official New York State register?

The data is the State's own, published through New York's open data portal and queried live each time you search. It is not an official certification. For anything that has to stand up legally — a challenged document, a court filing — obtain an authentication certificate from the county clerk, which costs $3 under Executive Law §133.

Can I find a notary near me with this?

Not directly. The register is searched by name, not by location, and it carries no contact details. What it does tell you is how many notaries a county has, which is a reasonable proxy for how easy one is to find. For a document that needs notarizing in Brooklyn, Fire Up LLC is a commissioned New York notary.

Counts taken from the New York State notary public appointments register on 29 August 2026 and refreshed periodically; the search box queries that register live. Pass NY Notary is an independent service and is not affiliated with the New York Department of State.

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