It might seem a little daunting to search for a single person in the United States, considering the country is home to over 300 million people. But if you've lost touch with a friend or are trying to locate a family member, you can do it successfully. Time and dedication are the keys in locating people within the United States, as well as trying a range of different methods in your search.
Make a list of what you already know about the person. Past addresses and work locations can be useful when searching for people. If the person served in the military, make a note of this also. Birth dates and places, names of schools and universities the person attended should all be written down.
Perform searches online by using keywords to locate people. If you know a person graduated from a particular university, add this after their name when searching to see if you receive any further information. If you know the person you're looking for enjoys a certain hobby, include this when you're searching because they may be involved with organizations or blogs associated with their hobbies.
Try people search tools and social media networks. Use the White Pages for looking up people by last name and state; their website contains over 200 million adults' information. Wink.com also allows people to conduct searches by name, email address and phone number. Trying Facebook or Twitter is another option, with millions of people using social media networks everyday. You'll have a better chance of results when you conduct a variety of searches; try using full names, maiden names and even nicknames.
Look at online family trees, such as Ancestry.com, to see if you can find people through their family ties. Even if the person you're searching for isn't a member of a family tree website, you can search their close and distant relatives to see if there's someone else you can contact.
Place an ad. Use an online classifieds website to locate a person in the United States, or contact your local newspaper to place an advertisement. Word of mouth is effective and even if the person you're locating doesn't see your ad, there's a chance that someone who knows that person will.
