Cross-jurisdiction analysis
What it actually costs to keep an LLC alive, by state
Across the 51 US filing jurisdictions for which a canonical fee is held, the first-year state filing cost of a limited-liability company runs from $35.00 (Montana) to $1,040.00 (Massachusetts) - a spread of 30x - with a median of $175.00. Recurring annual cost, where the record resolves the entity-tax minimum for an LLC (43 of 51 jurisdictions), runs from $0 in 10 jurisdictions to $820 (California), median $35.
What is in the number, and what is not
First year = LLC formation filing + any mandatory first-year state filing the record holds separately (initial report, initial state business licence) + the first annual report. Ongoing year = annual report + any annual state business licence + the recurring entity-tax minimum that reaches an LLC.
Each component is a separate record with its own citation and retrieval date. Nothing is a package price. This is the state cost only: it excludes registered-agent service, legal fees, local business licences, income tax, and anything a filing company charges. It also excludes expedite fees, which are optional, and publication costs, which apply in five states and are covered on the publication page.
Where the amount actually remitted differs from the amount the statute names - because of an e-payment surcharge or a component the agency bundles into the same transaction - the remitted figure is used, because that is the money that leaves the bank. 51 of 51 formation figures are on that basis.
One exception to "expedite fees are excluded", stated rather than smoothed over
2 of the 212 fee cells in the record carry a bundled component the record itself marks elective - a service-level choice made by whoever files, not a charge the agency imposes. The remitted figure for Maryland therefore sits above the mandatory minimum, and so does its rank in the table below. The ranking is not quietly adjusted, because the recorded remittance is the recorded remittance; the arithmetic is published instead.
| Jurisdiction | Filing | Elective component | Elective | Remitted (ranked) | Mandatory only |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MD Maryland | Formation - Corporation | SDAT expedite (elective - the filer's service-level choice) | $50.00 | $175.10 | $123.60 |
| MD Maryland | Formation - LLC | SDAT expedite (elective - the filer's service-level choice) | $50.00 | $154.50 | $103.00 |
Mandatory only = remitted − elective x (1 + e-payment surcharge). The surcharge applies to the elective component too, so removing the component removes the surcharge charged on it.
Show all 51 jurisdictions
Show all 51 jurisdictions
The full ranking
Ranked by first-year total, cheapest first. Column headers sort. Three jurisdictions hold no canonical fee record at all and are listed below the ranked set as gaps rather than being given a zero, which would be a different and false claim.
- Formation
- What is remitted to file the LLC formation document.
- First-year extras
- Mandatory first-year state filings held as separate records. Only three jurisdictions have any.
- Annual report
- The recurring report or list filed with the filing agency. no annual report is a positive finding recorded in the data, not a missing value.
- Entity tax minimum
- The floor of the recurring entity-level tax that reaches an LLC. not resolved for LLCs means the structured record carries a single minimum that does not distinguish corporations from LLCs, so no LLC figure is asserted. That applies to 8 jurisdictions and is a research gap, not a zero.
| # | Jurisdiction | Formation | First-year extras | Annual report | Entity tax minimum | First year total | Ongoing year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MT Montana | $35.00 | none | $0.00 | none | $35.00 | $0.00 |
| 2 | MO Missouri | $51.25 | none | no annual report | none | $51.25 | $0.00 |
| 3 | NM New Mexico | $51.95 | none | no annual report | none | $51.95 | $0.00 |
| 4 | MS Mississippi | $53.14 | none | $0.00 | none | $53.14 | $0.00 |
| 5 | KY Kentucky | $40.00 | none | $15.00 | not resolved for LLCs | $55.00 | cannot be computed |
| 6 | HI Hawaii | $53.50 | none | $13.50 | $0 | $67.00 | $13.50 |
| 7 | CO Colorado | $50.00 | none | $25.00 | none | $75.00 | $25.00 |
| 8 | MI Michigan | $50.00 | none | $25.00 | none | $75.00 | $25.00 |
| 9 | UT Utah | $59.00 | none | $18.00 | none | $77.00 | $18.00 |
| 10 | IA Iowa | $50.00 | none | $30.00 | none | $80.00 | $30.00 |
| 11 | AZ Arizona | $87.00 | none | no annual report | none | $87.00 | $0.00 |
| 12 | OH Ohio | $99.00 | none | no annual report | none | $99.00 | $0.00 |
| 13 | ID Idaho | $104.00 | none | $0.00 | none | $104.00 | $0.00 |
| 14 | CA California | $70.00 | Initial report $20 | $20.00 | $800 | $110.00 | $820.00 |
| 15 | SC South Carolina | $125.00 | none | no annual report | not resolved for LLCs | $125.00 | cannot be computed |
| 16 | IN Indiana | $97.14 | none | $32.00 | none | $129.14 | $32.00 |
| 17 | OK Oklahoma | $104.00 | none | $26.00 | none | $130.00 | $26.00 |
| 18 | NE Nebraska | $103.15 | none | $28.00 | not resolved for LLCs | $131.15 | cannot be computed |
| 19 | PA Pennsylvania | $125.00 | none | $7.00 | none | $132.00 | $7.00 |
| 20 | LA Louisiana | $105.00 | none | $35.00 | none | $140.00 | $35.00 |
| 21 | VA Virginia | $100.00 | none | $50.00 | none | $150.00 | $50.00 |
| 22 | MN Minnesota | $155.00 | none | $0.00 | $0 | $155.00 | $0.00 |
| 23 | WV West Virginia | $130.68 | none | $26.00 | none | $156.68 | $26.00 |
| 24 | WY Wyoming | $102.40 | none | $61.44 | not resolved for LLCs | $163.84 | cannot be computed |
| 25 | GA Georgia | $110.00 | none | $60.00 | none | $170.00 | $60.00 |
| 26 | KS Kansas | $85.00 | none | $90.00 | none | $175.00 | $90.00 |
| 27 | NJ New Jersey | $103.50 | none | $78.00 | $0 | $181.50 | $78.00 |
| 28 | ND North Dakota | $135.00 | none | $50.00 | none | $185.00 | $50.00 |
| 29 | WI Wisconsin | $170.00 | none | $26.00 | none | $196.00 | $26.00 |
| 30 | AR Arkansas | $45.00 | none | $155.00 | not resolved for LLCs | $200.00 | cannot be computed |
| 31 | CT Connecticut | $120.00 | none | $80.00 | not resolved for LLCs | $200.00 | cannot be computed |
| 32 | OR Oregon | $100.00 | none | $100.00 | $150 | $200.00 | $250.00 |
| 33 | VT Vermont | $155.00 | none | $45.00 | $250 | $200.00 | $295.00 |
| 34 | NH New Hampshire | $102.00 | none | $102.00 | $0 | $204.00 | $102.00 |
| 35 | RI Rhode Island | $156.00 | none | $52.50 | $400 | $208.50 | $452.50 |
| 36 | SD South Dakota | $153.68 | none | $56.35 | none | $210.03 | $56.35 |
| 37 | NY New York | $210.00 | none | $9.00 | $25 | $219.00 | $34.00 |
| 38 | IL Illinois | $153.53 | none | $76.69 | $0 | $230.22 | $76.69 |
| 39 | AL Alabama | $236.00 | none | no annual report | $0 | $236.00 | $0.00 |
| 40 | ME Maine | $175.00 | none | $85.00 | none | $260.00 | $85.00 |
| 41 | WA Washington | $200.00 | Initial report $10 | $70.00 | $0 | $280.00 | $70.00 |
| 42 | FL Florida | $155.00 | none | $138.75 | none | $293.75 | $138.75 |
| 43 | TX Texas | $308.10 | none | no annual report | $0 | $308.10 | $0.00 |
| 44 | NC North Carolina | $128.00 | none | $203.00 | none | $331.00 | $203.00 |
| 45 | AK Alaska | $250.00 | none | $100.00 | not resolved for LLCs | $350.00 | cannot be computed |
| 46 | DC District of Columbia | $99.00 | none | $300.00 | $250 | $399.00 | $550.00 |
| 47 | DE Delaware | $110.00 | none | $300.00 | not resolved for LLCs | $410.00 | cannot be computed |
| 48 | MD Maryland | $154.50 | none | $309.00 | none | $463.50 | $309.00 |
| 49 | NV Nevada | $75.00 | Initial report $150 State business license $200 | $150.00 | none | $575.00 | $350.00 |
| 50 | TN Tennessee | $307.05 | none | $307.05 | $100 | $614.10 | $407.05 |
| 51 | MA Massachusetts | $520.00 | none | $520.00 | none | $1,040.00 | $520.00 |
| GU Guam | not yet published | not yet published | not yet published | not yet published | not yet published | not yet published | |
| PR Puerto Rico | not yet published | not yet published | not yet published | not yet published | not yet published | not yet published | |
| VI US Virgin Islands | not yet published | not yet published | not yet published | not yet published | not yet published | not yet published |
Citations withheld across the whole model: no fee record in the canonical spine yet carries both a final review and an official agency source URL, and the structured entity-tax minimums come from a research substrate still marked CANDIDATES by its own author. Every jurisdiction page links that agency's own published fee schedule so the figure can be checked at source.
- Inputs
- 435 fee datums across 51 jurisdictions; 51 structured entity-tax records; 29 unstructured franchise-tax research files
- Retrieved
- 2026-08-04 (fees), 2026-07-11 (entity-tax structure)
- Computed
- first-year and ongoing totals are arithmetic performed at build time on the records in the row; they are not stored values
- Coverage
- 51 of 54 jurisdictions ranked; 3 withheld for want of any fee record; 43 ongoing totals computable
- Sum of all
- $10,772.85 across the 51 ranked jurisdictions
- Method
- Datum conventions and the review gate
The spread between the cheapest and the most expensive jurisdiction for the same filing is the single most consequential fact on this page, and it is the one a table of formation fees alone will always understate.
Year one against every year after
Formation is a one-off. The recurring cost is what compounds, and the two rankings are not the same ranking. $0 a year is the floor in 10 jurisdictions; California is 23x the median.
Show all 43 jurisdictions
Where first year and every year diverge most
The jurisdictions where a low formation fee hides a high recurring cost, and the reverse. Computed as ongoing year minus formation.
| Jurisdiction | Formation | Ongoing year | Difference | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CA California | $70.00 | $820 | +$750 | cheap to start, dear to keep |
| DC District of Columbia | $99.00 | $550 | +$451 | cheap to start, dear to keep |
| TX Texas | $308.10 | $0 | -$308.10 | dear to start, cheap to keep |
| RI Rhode Island | $156.00 | $452.50 | +$296.50 | cheap to start, dear to keep |
| NV Nevada | $75.00 | $350 | +$275 | cheap to start, dear to keep |
| AL Alabama | $236.00 | $0 | -$236 | dear to start, cheap to keep |
| NY New York | $210.00 | $34 | -$176 | dear to start, cheap to keep |
| MN Minnesota | $155.00 | $0 | -$155 | dear to start, cheap to keep |
| MD Maryland | $154.50 | $309 | +$154.50 | cheap to start, dear to keep |
| OR Oregon | $100.00 | $250 | +$150 | cheap to start, dear to keep |
| WI Wisconsin | $170.00 | $26 | -$144 | dear to start, cheap to keep |
| VT Vermont | $155.00 | $295 | +$140 | cheap to start, dear to keep |
Gaps this page does not paper over
- Guam, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands hold no canonical fee record. They are listed in the table with every cell marked as a gap. They are not given a zero and they are not omitted from the jurisdiction count.
- 8 jurisdictions carry a recurring entity-tax minimum that the structured record does not resolve between corporations and LLCs (AK, AR, CT, DE, KY, NE, SC, WY). Delaware is the instructive case: the recorded minimum is the corporate authorised-shares figure, while the alternative-entity flat tax is a different number that the record itself flags as conflicting between the current code text and the agency's own published pages. Asserting one of them here would be a guess.
- The entity-tax structure comes from a v0.2 research pass its own author graded CANDIDATES, alongside 29 unstructured per-state franchise-tax research documents that have not been converted to records. See the franchise-tax page.
- Local and county-level business licences are outside this model entirely.