Two different questions hide behind this phrase, and they have different answers. How far back a check reports is governed by the FCRA and, more strictly in several states, by state law. How long a completed check remains useful is not governed by anything, and the honest answer is that it started going out of date the day it was run. This page separates them.
The federal seven year rule, and what it does not cover
The FCRA restricts a consumer reporting agency from reporting most adverse items older than seven years: civil suits and judgments, paid tax liens, accounts placed for collection, arrests that did not lead to conviction, and other adverse information. Criminal convictions are the significant exception and may be reported without any time limit. Furthermore, the seven-year restriction lifts entirely for positions with an annual salary that meets or exceeds a federal threshold set in the statute. So the widely repeated rule that background checks go back seven years is wrong about the item employers care about most.
Where states are stricter
Several states impose their own caps that do apply to convictions. California's Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act bars reporting convictions older than seven years with no salary exception at all, which is the clearest example and applies to a very large share of hiring. Other states have their own variations on lookback periods and on what may be reported at all. A national provider running default settings can therefore return more than a California employer may lawfully receive, which is a question to put to any provider explicitly rather than assuming it is handled.
How far back the search actually looks
Separately from what may be reported, there is what was searched. County criminal searches are usually run across the addresses the identity trace returns for a defined period, commonly seven years, so a conviction from a county the applicant left nine years ago may simply never be looked for. That is a scope decision you are buying, not a legal limit, and it is worth being explicit about with a provider: a seven-year address scope and a lifetime conviction reporting rule are not the same constraint.
How long a completed check stays good
There is no expiry date in law. A report is accurate as at the day it was run and progressively less so afterwards, and nobody notifies you of a conviction, a licence suspension or an exclusion that happens next month. Employers commonly re-run checks annually for some roles, and regulated sectors have their own required cadences: annual MVR review for commercial drivers, monthly exclusion screening in healthcare. Continuous monitoring products exist precisely because the point-in-time check has this weakness, and for driving and healthcare roles they are usually the better answer than a longer lookback.
Questions people ask about how far back does a background check go
Do background checks only go back seven years?
Not for convictions. The FCRA caps most other adverse information at seven years but places no time limit on reporting criminal convictions, and the cap lifts entirely above a federal salary threshold.
Which states limit conviction reporting?
California is the clearest, barring reporting of convictions older than seven years with no salary exception. Several other states have their own restrictions, so a national default configuration is not safe everywhere.
How long is a background check valid for?
There is no legal expiry. It is accurate on the day it was run and less so afterwards. Regulated sectors set their own cadences, and continuous monitoring exists because a point-in-time check goes stale.
Why did an old conviction not appear?
Often because the county was outside the searched address history rather than because of a reporting limit. Search scope and reporting rules are two different constraints and they are easy to confuse.