What Shows Up on a Background Check?
The rules around background check reporting can vary according to the state you are hiring in, the reporting policy of the CRA, and city specific requirements.
Employers assume a background check pulls everything while candidates guess everything from their past will show up. Neither is quite right.
Background check reporting is controlled by federal law and layered with state-specific rules that change what can and cannot be included. Understanding those rules helps employers build a compliant hiring process and helps candidates know what to expect before they apply for a job.
One thing worth knowing upfront: every background check company, also called a consumer reporting agency or CRA, can have a different reporting policy. Federal law sets the floor, but CRAs make their own decisions about what they include within those boundaries. Some companies filter out records they believe are not relevant to the job. Others report everything that is legally permissible and let the employer decide. Before you assume your background check is showing you the full picture, it is worth asking your screening company directly how they handle that decision.
And if you are a candidate who wants to know what an employer would see on you specifically, we offer personal background checks for that exact reason. More on that at the end.
What never shows up on a background check
Certain records are legally off limits regardless of how recent or serious they are. SureCheck does not report any of the following:
- Expunged, sealed, or pardoned records.
- If a court cleared the record, it does not appear.
- Dismissed or dropped charges, even if other charges from the same case ended in a conviction. Acquittals.
- Minor ordinance violations and infractions.
- Juvenile records.
- Non-criminal traffic violations found during a criminal search.
- Civil cases where the candidate is the one who filed the lawsuit. SureCheck only reports civil cases where the candidate is the defendant.
Candidates sometimes worry that an old dismissed charge or a minor infraction will follow them into a job application. In most cases it will not. The law is specific about what screening companies are allowed to report.
What does show up
Criminal convictions are reported. Felonies and misdemeanors both appear on a background check. How far back depends on your state, which we cover below.
Pending criminal charges show up in most states. Kentucky is the one exception where pending charges cannot be reported.
Deferred adjudication and pre-trial diversion can be reported if the case was filed within the last 7 years and did not end in dismissal or expungement. In California, Colorado, Kentucky, New York, and New Mexico these are never reported.
Probation violations, contempt charges, failure to appear, and parole violations are reported if they fall within the last 7 years.
Active warrants are always reported. If the warrant is more than 7 years old, the report shows that a warrant exists but does not include the underlying charges or when it was issued.
Sex offender registry hits are always reported. The underlying conviction is only included if it has been separately verified.
Civil records show up if the case is still open or was decided against the candidate within the last 7 years.
Motor vehicle records include accidents and violations from the last 7 years. Basic non-criminal traffic infractions found during a criminal search are not included, but a separate MVR search will pull driving violations relevant to roles that involve driving.
The 7-year versus 10-year question.
Under federal law, criminal convictions can be reported with no time limit. But 11 states have passed laws that cap conviction reporting at 7 years. Those states are California, Colorado, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Texas, and Washington. In those states, a conviction only shows up if it falls within 7 years of the conviction date or the date the person was released from incarceration, whichever is later.
Every other state is sometimes called a 10-year state. That label is a bit misleading though. Most of those states have no time limit on conviction reporting at all. Convictions can show up indefinitely. The 10-year label mostly refers to how long other types of records like bankruptcies stay on a report, not criminal convictions.
In plain terms: if you are hiring in a 7-year state, older convictions stay off the report. If you are hiring anywhere else, a conviction from many years ago can still legally show up.
It’s important to note that the rules that applies to your report is based on where the job will take place, not where the candidate lives. If your business is in California and you are hiring someone who lives in Nevada, California’s 7-year limit still applies to that report.
Does salary affect what gets reported?
Yes, and this surprises many employers.
Under federal law, certain older records cannot be included on a report for jobs paying under $75,000 a year. For jobs paying $75,000 or more, those federal restrictions are lifted, though your state rules still apply on top of that. If you are hiring for higher salary roles, or working in industries like healthcare, education, financial services, or senior care, your screening program may need to go deeper than a standard search to meet your legal and industry requirements.
Not every CRA reports the same way
This point deserves its own section because it affects employers more than they realize.
Federal law sets the minimum standards for what can and cannot be reported. But within those boundaries, CRAs make their own choices. Some screening companies apply their own filters and leave out records they have decided are not relevant to the job being filled. That might sound reasonable, but it means you could be missing information that you would want to know about, and you may not even realize it.
Before you sign on with any screening company, ask them directly: do you report all legally permissible records, or do you filter based on your own relevance criteria? The answer tells you a lot about what you are actually getting.
At SureCheck we report everything that is legally permissible based on federal law and your state’s rules. What you do with that information is your call as the employer. Our job is to make sure you have the complete and compliant picture.
Want to see what would show up on you?
If you are a job seeker, a contractor, or just someone who wants to know what an employer would find before you start applying, SureCheck offers personal background checks. You get the same report an employer would see, so there are no surprises. It is a practical way to understand your own record and get ahead of any questions before they come up in a hiring process.