How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Genealogist?
The cost of hiring a professional genealogist depends on the type of research you need, the complexity of the question, and the amount of time required to investigate it. Some genealogists charge by the hour, while others offer research packages with a defined scope and price.
Understanding how professional genealogy research is priced can help you decide what type of service makes the most sense for your family history question.
How Do Professional Genealogists Charge?
Professional genealogists commonly charge either an hourly research rate or a fixed price for a specific research project.
Hourly research may be appropriate when the amount of work is difficult to predict or when a research question does not fit neatly into a predefined service. A genealogist may establish an initial research budget and then discuss additional research with the client if more work is needed.
Fixed-price research packages provide a defined research scope for a set price. This can make it easier to know the initial cost before the project begins.
At KB Family History, both options are available. Most common research needs are offered as fixed-price packages, while custom genealogy research is available at an hourly rate for projects requiring a different scope.
What Affects the Cost of Genealogy Research?
Several factors can affect the amount of research required.
A project involving a well-documented family in the United States may require less time than one involving multiple people with similar names, missing records, international research, or conflicting evidence.
The cost can also depend on the types of records needed. Research may involve census records, birth and death records, marriage records, newspapers, military records, land and probate records, immigration records, church records, and specialized archival collections.
The goal is not simply to find names and dates, but to determine whether the records actually belong to the correct people and whether the evidence supports the conclusions.
What Do You Receive From Professional Genealogy Research?
Professional research should provide more than a list of search results.
Depending on the project, the completed research may include documented findings, source citations, copies of important records, an explanation of the evidence, and recommendations for additional research.
Even when a particular question cannot be completely answered, documenting what was searched and what the evidence shows can prevent the same unsuccessful searches from being repeated later and provide a foundation for future research.
Why Can Genealogy Research Take Several Hours?
Finding a record can sometimes take only a few minutes. Determining what that record means can take considerably longer.
A genealogist may need to compare names, dates, locations, relatives, occupations, property, military service, and other details across numerous records before determining whether they refer to the same person.
Research also includes documenting sources, analyzing conflicting information, organizing findings, and preparing the results for the client.
That work is an important part of producing reliable family-history research.
How Much Do KB Family History Services Cost?
KB Family History offers several fixed-price research services for common family-history questions, as well as hourly research for projects that do not fit neatly into one of these packages.
Build My Family Tree — $295
Research designed to begin or expand a documented family tree.
Solve a Family Mystery — $349
Focused research into a specific unanswered family-history question.
Research a Veteran’s Story — $325
Military and genealogical research designed to reconstruct an ancestor's military service and place it within the broader family story.
Understand My DNA — $249
DNA research and analysis to help understand genetic matches and family relationships.
Find a Biological Parent or Relative — $499
DNA and genealogical research focused on identifying an unknown biological parent or relative.
Historical Record Deep Search — $249
Focused research using historical records to investigate a person, family, event, or research question.
Custom Genealogy Research — $50 per hour
Not every family-history question fits into a predefined package. Custom genealogy research is available at $50 per hour, billed in 15-minute increments, for projects requiring a different scope or combination of research services.
Before hourly research begins, we will discuss your research question and establish an initial research scope or time budget. Additional research beyond the agreed amount will not be undertaken without your approval.
If you are unsure whether a fixed-price service or hourly research is the better fit, submit your research request and I can determine the most appropriate way to structure the project.
Is Hiring a Genealogist Worth It?
That depends on what you want to accomplish.
Professional research can be particularly useful when you have reached a difficult research problem, do not have time to conduct the research yourself, need help interpreting complicated records, or want your family history researched and documented from the beginning.
It can also help when the research involves specialized records such as military files, land records, DNA evidence, or records from multiple locations.
Before hiring a genealogist, you should understand what question will be researched, what the initial project includes, what it costs, and what you will receive when the research is finished.
Ready to Start Your Research?
If you would like professional help researching your family history, explore the KB Family History Services to choose the research option that best fits your question.
If your research needs do not fit one of the listed services, custom genealogy research is also available at $50 per hour.
You can submit a research request with whatever information you currently have. You do not need to have a completed family tree or know exactly which records need to be searched.