What shows up on a background check is the set of records a screening company can legally retrieve and report: criminal history, identity and address data, and the verifications the employer ordered. What does not show up matters just as much — and the seven-year reporting rule under the FCRA removes a large category of items that candidates most often worry about.
What shows up
Identity and address history. Name, aliases, date of birth, and prior addresses.
Criminal records. County courthouse cases where you have lived, plus state and federal results when ordered. Each entry includes the court, charge, date, and disposition.
Sex offender registry matches.
Employment and education verification results, with a matched / not-matched flag against what you submitted.
Professional licence status.
Driving records for driving roles.
Credit summary for permitted, fiduciary roles.
What does not show up
- Arrests that did not lead to conviction — excluded after seven years.
- Sealed, expunged, or juvenile records.
- Medical information.
- Race, religion, national origin, or disability status.
- Bankruptcies older than ten years.
- Social media opinions — a standard check does not include them, and some states restrict them outright.
The seven-year rule, and its exceptions
Most adverse items are reportable for seven years. Bankruptcies get ten. Convictions can be reported indefinitely in some states and only seven years in others. State laws such as California's and Massachusetts' are stricter than the federal floor, so identical histories can produce different reports depending on where you live.
The single biggest misconception
Many candidates assume a background check pulls a complete life history from one database. It does not. It runs scoped searches — specific counties, specific components — and the results depend entirely on that scope. That is also why a mismatch in your address history can cause both delays and missing records.
If something wrong appears
You are entitled to a copy of the report before an adverse decision. Dispute errors in writing with the screening company, attaching evidence. They must reinvestigate and correct or confirm the item. Fixing a name or date mismatch is routine.
For employers
Order the minimum that the role justifies, document the reason, and keep the scope consistent. The seven-year and state-overlay rules are a floor, not a target — and a tighter scope is both cheaper and more defensible.
Where this fits in a hiring process
If you are the one running these checks at volume, the hard part is applying the same standard to every candidate rather than the search itself — AI candidate evaluation covers how to structure that step.