An employment background check is a consumer report obtained about a job applicant, and the phrase covers a wide range of actual searches. What almost every employer is buying is a criminal history search plus identity and address history, with verifications and driving or drug screening added depending on the role. This page sets out what is in a standard package, what the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires you to do around it, and what the providers that publish a price actually charge.
What a standard package searches
The usual core is a Social Security number trace to establish identity and previous addresses, a national criminal database sweep, a sex offender registry search, and one or more county criminal court searches in the places the trace turned up. The trace is what tells the provider where to look, which is why an applicant with a settled address history costs less to screen than one who has moved across several states. Federal criminal records sit in a separate court system and are searched separately again, so a package that says criminal search does not automatically include them.
The national database is a pointer, not an answer
The national criminal database that almost every package includes is a commercially assembled aggregation of records from many sources, and it is neither complete nor uniformly current. A responsible provider treats a hit in it as a lead and confirms the record at the originating court before reporting it, because the FCRA requires reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy. That confirmation step is the main reason a report with a hit takes longer than a clear one, and a provider that reports database hits without confirming them is selling you speed at the cost of the accuracy standard you are on the hook for.
What the FCRA makes you do
Three things, in order. Before you order the report you must give the applicant a clear and conspicuous written disclosure, in a document consisting solely of that disclosure, saying that a consumer report may be obtained for employment purposes, and you must get their written authorisation. If you are then thinking of not hiring them because of something in the report, you must send a pre-adverse action notice with a copy of the report and the Summary of Your Rights, wait a reasonable period so they can dispute it, and then send a final adverse action notice. Burying the disclosure inside an application form is the single most litigated mistake in this area.
What it costs and how long it takes
Of the twenty-five providers on this site, five publish a price at all. Their advertised entry packages run from $29.00 to $39.99 a report with a median of $29.99, and each of those pages uses the word starting, so the figure is a floor for the smallest configuration. The other twenty publish nothing and quote against volume and search mix. On timing, a clear check on a candidate with a simple address history is often back in one to three business days; verifications and county courts that require a manual search are what stretch it.
Questions people ask about background check for employment
How much does an employment background check cost?
Among the providers on this site that publish a rate, advertised entry packages run $29.00 to $39.99 with a median of $29.99. That is a floor: extra county searches, employment verifications and any drug or driving screening are priced on top, and most of the market quotes rather than publishes.
How far back does an employment background check go?
Under the FCRA there is no time limit on reporting criminal convictions, although most non-conviction adverse information is capped at seven years. Several states impose their own seven-year cap on convictions, California among them, so the answer genuinely depends on where you are hiring.
Can I run a check before making an offer?
It depends on the state and the city. A growing number require a conditional offer before you may ask about or look into criminal history, and some prohibit the question on an application form. Your provider will not police that timing for you.
Does the applicant have to agree?
Yes. Written authorisation is required before the report is obtained, and the disclosure that precedes it must stand alone rather than being folded into an application or a bundle of onboarding paperwork.