business and corporation records

A city often will require any person or company doing business in the city to get a business license and pay a fee such as a business license tax.

Indexes

The city will keep on a computer terminal an alphabetical index of the names of people or companies licensed to do business in a city.

The index will list the address of the person or company.

In the case of listings for companies, the index usually will also include the name of the owner or owners of each company.

These indexes are usually kept by a business licensing agency at a city, which often is a part of the city clerk's office or city treasurer's office.

What's Available Online

A few cities have put their business license records online.

See for example:

Richmond (CA) License Search