Out-of-State Deaths

Death records from the New York State Death Index that reference deaths occurring in other U.S. states and territories

People who died out-of-state...or in a place named like a state...but who are listed in the New York State Death Index anyway

While the New York State Death Index primarily contains an index to deaths that occurred in New York State (hence the name), it seems that some records are (or may be) referencing deaths that took place in other US states and territories. This could indicate that the New York State Department of Health still received and recorded some references to the deaths of New York State residents in other locations. They may have been traveling, serving as military personnel, or perhaps it just indicates data entry variations.

Notes About Ambiguous Location Names: Some states (marked with below) have names that also match villages, towns, or counties in New York State. Records showing these location names -- especially records from before 1957 -- almost certainly refer to the New York location rather than the state or territory. For example, a place of death listed just as "Washington" most likely refers to one of the three different hamlets or towns named Washington in New York (most commonly the Washington located in Dutchess County), not Washington state or Washington, DC. Starting in 1957, this ambiguity was far less likely to have occurred, as the state started recording locations of death and of residence with unique numeric codes and a formal state Gazetteer.

About 20,905 records in the New York State Death Index are (or may be) referencing deaths that took place in 42 US states and territories.

States and Territories with Possible Death Records Listed in the New York State Death Index

Technical Note

These statistics are based on server-side detection using the record_locations_place_of_death_out_of_state field and the place_of_death_text field in the original death index records. State names are matched case-insensitively (combining records with "Connecticut", "CONNECTICUT", etc.).

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