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Florida Buyer & Renter Alert

Sex Offenders, Predators & Career Offenders: How to Search Florida's Registries

FDLE maintains separate public registries for three very different designations. Here's what each one actually means, and how to search by map, list, and radius before you buy, rent, or move.

Egret Property Intelligence  ·  Public Records Research

3
Distinct FDLE designations — offender, predator, and career offender
¼–5 mi
Adjustable radius on the neighborhood search tools
2
Separate FDLE websites — one for sex offenders/predators, one for career offenders

Source: Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).

The Basics

These Registries Are Public — But Not Well Understood

Florida keeps two separate public registry systems run by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement: one covering sexual offenders and sexual predators, and a newer, distinct one covering career offenders — people designated by a court as habitual or repeat violent felons, regardless of whether their underlying crimes were sexual in nature. Both are free to search and open to anyone.

The confusion most people run into isn't finding the registries — it's understanding what the labels actually mean once they get a result. "Sexual offender" and "sexual predator" sound interchangeable, but Florida law treats them very differently, with different registration frequency, different residency restrictions, and different long-term consequences. "Career offender" is a separate category altogether, and it has nothing to do with sex crimes at all.

Know the Difference

Three Designations, Three Different Meanings

Classification happens at sentencing, based on the specific offense and the person's criminal history. Here's how Florida law and FDLE distinguish the three categories you'll encounter in a search result.

Sexual Offender

Someone convicted of a qualifying sex offense under Florida law, typically without the aggravating factors or repeat-offense history that would trigger a predator designation. This is the broader, more common classification of the two sex-crime categories.

Reports 2×/year (30 days if transient) Registration is generally lifelong Narrow removal path after 25 yrs, case-specific
Sexual Predator

Reserved for more serious or repeat sex offenses. The sentencing court must make a written finding to apply this designation. It carries stricter reporting and, where the victim was under 16, residency restrictions that limit living near schools, parks, daycares, and playgrounds.

Reports 4×/year Additional residency restrictions may apply Essentially no removal path
Career Offender

Not a sex-crime category at all. This covers people a court has designated a habitual violent felony offender, violent career criminal, three-time violent felony offender, or prison releasee reoffender under Florida Statutes §775.084 and §775.082(9). It's tracked on a separate FDLE registry from the sex offender/predator system, expanded with map and neighborhood-search tools in recent years and now covering close to 20,000 Florida registrants.

Separate registry from sex offenders/predators Based on violent felony history, not sex offenses Failure to register is a felony

Using the Site

How to Search: Name, List, Map, and Radius

Both FDLE registries work the same way, even though they live on separate websites. You can search a specific person by name, or search a location several different ways depending on what you're trying to learn.

1
Pick the Right Registry

FDLE's Sexual Offenders and Predators Search covers those two designations. The Career Offender Registry (branded COAST) is a separate site and only covers habitual/violent felony designations — check both if you want the full picture.

offender.fdle.state.fl.us — sex offenders & predators coffender.fdle.state.fl.us — career offenders
2
Search by Name, City, County, or Zip

If you already know a specific person's name, this is the fastest path. It also works for a broad area — pull every registrant in a city, county, or zip code rather than a single address.

3
Use "Neighborhood Search" for an Address-Based Radius

Enter any address — a home you're considering, a school, a rental listing — and choose a radius anywhere from a quarter-mile up to five miles. This is the tool most people mean when they say they "checked the map."

4
Toggle Between Map and List View

Map view drops pins at registered addresses within your radius — good for a quick visual sense of proximity. List view gives you the same results as rows, which is easier to scan carefully, sort, or cross-reference against a street name. Each registrant's detail page includes a photo and a summary of the offense that led to registration.

5
Sign Up for Ongoing Alerts (Optional)

FDLE's Florida Offender Alert system will email you if a new sexual offender, predator, or career offender registers near an address you choose — useful if you want ongoing monitoring rather than a one-time check.

Important Limitation

A Clean Radius Search Isn't the Same as "Nobody Nearby"

This is the part most people miss. A map or radius search only plots registrants who currently have a verified, on-file address. Not everyone on the registry fits that description, and the ones who don't won't necessarily show up pinned inside your search radius — even if they're realistically in the area.

Two categories in particular fall outside a typical address-based search:

Transient registrants don't have a fixed residence. Florida law still requires them to check in regularly — as often as every 30 days — and they report a general area rather than a street address. Homelessness among registrants is a documented, ongoing challenge for local sheriffs' offices, and a transient person's listing may not land precisely inside a neighborhood radius the way a fixed address does.

Absconded registrants are no longer at the last address they reported to FDLE, and their current whereabouts are unknown to law enforcement. They remain on the registry and are searchable by name or in a full city/county list, but because their address information is stale or missing, a location-based radius search is not a reliable way to find them.

⚠ What This Means for Your Search

Zero results in a neighborhood radius search means zero currently address-verified registrants in that radius — it does not mean zero registered individuals with ties to the area. For a fuller picture, pull the full list for the city or county (not just a tight radius) and search by name if you have specific people in mind, rather than relying on the map alone.

Registry status can also change at any time as people are convicted, released, relocate, or fall out of compliance. Treat any search as a snapshot of that moment, not a permanent record.

Full Picture

Getting the Most Out of Both Registries

A quick radius check takes two minutes and is worth doing for any address you're seriously considering. If you want to be thorough, layer in these additional steps.

A
Check Both Registries, Not Just One

The sex offender/predator site and the career offender site (COAST) are separate tools with separate databases. A clean result on one says nothing about the other.

B
Pull the Full List, Not Just the Tight Radius

Widen to city or county level at least once, especially if your target radius search comes back empty. This is the only way to catch transient and absconded registrants who won't reliably show up pinned to a specific address.

C
Set Up an Ongoing Alert

If you're moving somewhere long-term, the free Florida Offender Alert email notification does the recurring work for you instead of requiring a manual re-check every few months.

D
Put It in Context With the Rest of the Public Record

Registry results are one data point. Permit history, code enforcement activity, flood zone, and prior public-safety incidents at a specific address round out a much fuller picture of a property and its surroundings. See our article on reading a deed chain for how ownership history fits into the same due-diligence process.

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Legal Disclaimer: This article is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. It is not a substitute for the official FDLE registries, which are the authoritative and most current source of registration information. Registry status, addresses, and classifications can change at any time. Egret Property Intelligence is not a law firm, does not provide legal counsel, and does not independently verify FDLE registry data.

Information published on the FDLE registries is intended for public safety and awareness purposes. Using registry information to threaten, harass, or discriminate against a registered individual, or to deny them housing or employment in violation of applicable law, is illegal. If you have questions about your rights or obligations under Florida's registration laws, consult a licensed Florida attorney.

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