Updated August 7, 2026. Quick answer: the number everyone publishes — the formation fee — is close to useless on its own. A state with a $50 filing fee and an $800 annual tax is not a cheap state. This table carries the formation fee, the periodic report, the franchise or minimum tax, and a computed five-year cost of ownership for all 51 jurisdictions, with every cell cited to the state’s own fee schedule or code.
Why a formation-fee table is the wrong table
Five different structures make a state look cheap when it is not, and all five appear below:
- No periodic report, but a flat annual tax — invisible in a report-only column.
- Cost split across several filings — articles, plus an annual list, plus a state business licence.
- No report fee, but a franchise tax with a no-tax-due threshold.
- Per-member fees with a floor and a ceiling — a flat figure is wrong for any multi-member LLC.
- A cost the state never collects — a newspaper publication bill set by county.
One sourcing decision shapes this whole table: formation-service websites were banned as sources and none was used. Beyond the obvious commercial interest, they bundle their own service fees into the quoted state fee — which is the single most common reason published versions of this table are wrong, even when the numbers look precise.
The five-year cost, and the honesty it requires
Formation, plus periodic reports over five years, plus five years of franchise or minimum tax. Publication is excluded and reported separately below.
A total is emitted only when every input it depends on is verified. Where a component is unverified the total is a floor (marked ≥) or is absent, and the row names the missing input. Treating an unverified fee as zero would understate a state, and a computed-looking wrong number is worse than an honest gap.
Biennial states count as three filings over five years, not 2.5. Halving the annual figure is the intuitive move and it is wrong: you file in years 1, 3 and 5.
19 of 51 rows have an exact total. 29 are lower bounds. 3 could not be computed.
The cheapest and dearest — exact totals only
This ranking is built from the 19 exact rows alone, and it has to be. A state showing a low floor may well be more expensive than a state with a higher exact total once its unverified tax is counted. Merging the two lists into one league table is the mistake this dataset was built to prevent, and most published rankings make it.
Cheapest (all components verified)
- Minnesota $135
- Utah $149
- West Virginia $225
- Wisconsin $255
- Texas $300
- Virginia $350
- New York $352
- Wyoming $400
Dearest (all components verified)
- California $4,130
- Rhode Island $2,400
- Tennessee $2,300
- Delaware $2,110
- Nevada $1,825
- Vermont $1,630
The spread across the exact rows runs from $135 to $4,130 — roughly a 30-fold difference for the same legal entity.
All 51 jurisdictions
| Jurisdiction | Formation fee | Periodic report | Franchise / minimum tax | 5-year cost | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $200 | none for LLCs — no periodic report is filed with the Secretary of State | $50 minimum Business Privilege Tax (per Ala. Dept. of Revenue, taxable years beginning after Dec. 31, 2022) | $450 | Ala. Code 10A-1-4.31 (filing fees); Ala. Code 40-14A-21 to -29 (business privilege tax) |
| Alaska | — | — | — | — | AS 10.50 (Alaska Revised Limited Liability Company Act); fees believed to be set by regulation at 3 AAC 16 — neither text was readable |
| Arizona | $50 regular; $85 with expedited processing | none — Arizona LLCs file no annual or periodic report | none identified | ≥$50 (floor) | A.R.S. 29-3213 (fees); A.R.S. 29-3201(G) (publication) |
| Arkansas | $50 | no separate report fee — the annual filing IS the franchise tax report | $150 annual, flat | $800 | Arkansas SOS LLC fee schedule under Act 1041 of 2021; franchise tax administered by the SOS (Ark. Code tit. 26 ch. 54 not fetched) |
| California | $70 | $20 Statement of Information | $800 annual minimum | $4,130 | Cal. Gov. Code 12190(b), (k); Cal. Corp. Code 17702.09; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code 17941, 17942, 23153(d) |
| Colorado | $50 | $25 Periodic Report | none identified | ≥$175 (floor) | C.R.S. 7-90-501 (periodic report); fees set by the Secretary of State under C.R.S. 24-21-104(3) |
| Connecticut | $120 | $80 | — | ≥$520 (floor) | C.G.S. 34-243u (fees); C.G.S. 34-247k (annual report) |
| Delaware | $110 (agency schedule); $70 (fee statute) | none — Delaware LLCs file no annual report | $400 annual LLC tax | $2,110 | 6 Del. C. 18-1105 (fees); 6 Del. C. 18-1107 (annual tax) |
| District of Columbia | — | biennial report required — fee not verified | — | — | D.C. Code 29-102.11 (biennial report); D.C. Code 29-102.12 (fees — delegated to the Mayor by rule, no statutory amounts) |
| Florida | $125 required ($100 filing fee + $25 registered agent designation) | $138.75 | — | ≥$818 (floor) | Fla. Stat. 605.0213 (fees) and 605.0212 (annual report) — cited from the Division of Corporations schedule; statutory text not separately fetched |
| Georgia | — | $50 online / $60 paper annual registration | — | — | O.C.G.A. 14-11-1101 (LLC fees) — NOT READ; figures above are from the Secretary of State’s published pages |
| Hawaii | $50 filing fee + $1 State Archives fee ($51 out of pocket) | $15 (paper/fee-schedule rate); $12.50 filed online | none found in the sources searched | ≥$126 (floor) | HRS ch. 428 (Uniform Limited Liability Company Act); DCCA BREG Form Fee Schedule Rev. 12/2022 |
| Idaho | $100 online; $120 by paper ($100 + $20 manual-processing surcharge) | $0 — no fee | none found in the sources searched | ≥$100 (floor) | Idaho Code §§ 30-21-213, 30-21-214 |
| Illinois | $150 standard; $400 for a series LLC | $75 (+$50 per series) | none found for LLCs in the sources searched | ≥$525 (floor) | 805 ILCS 180/50-10 (fees); 805 ILCS 180/50-1 (annual report); 805 ILCS 180/50-15 (penalty) |
| Indiana | $100 by paper; online fee via INBiz not verified | $50 by paper, filed BIENNIALLY (online fee not verified) | none found in the sources searched | ≥$250 (floor) | IC 23-18-2-4 and IC 23-0.5-9-19 (articles of organization); IC 23-0.5-9-34 (business entity report) — cited on the official forms; statutory text not retrievable |
| Iowa | $50 | $30 online / $45 by paper, filed BIENNIALLY in odd-numbered years | none found for LLCs in the sources searched | ≥$140 (floor) | Iowa Code § 489.201 (certificate of organization); Iowa SOS Business Entity Forms and Fees |
| Kansas | $85 online / $90 by paper | $90 online / $110 by paper, filed BIENNIALLY (Kansas now calls it an ’information report’) | none found in the sources searched | ≥$355 (floor) | K.S.A. 17-7673 (articles of organization), 17-76,136 (fees), 17-76,139 (business entity information report) |
| Kentucky | $40 | $15 | $175 minimum Limited Liability Entity Tax (LLET) per year | $990 | KRS 275 (LLC act) via the SOS fee schedule; KRS 141.0401 (LLET) via the Department of Revenue |
| Louisiana | $100 through 2026-09-30; $125 effective 2026-10-01 | $30 through 2026-09-30; $35 effective 2026-10-01 | not verified | ≥$250 (floor) | La. SOS Commercial Division fee schedule; Act 921 of the 2026 Regular Session (fee increase effective 2026-10-01) |
| Maine | $175 | $85 (domestic LLC); $150 for a foreign LLC | none found in the sources searched | ≥$600 (floor) | 31 M.R.S. § 1680 (filing and copying fees; penalties); 31 M.R.S. § 1665 (annual report) |
| Maryland | $100 standard (6-8 weeks); $150 expedited; $425 same-day online / $525 same-day paper | $300 | none found in the sources searched; the $300 annual report is the de facto equivalent | ≥$1,600 (floor) | Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 1-203 (fees), § 1-203.2 (expedited processing) |
| Massachusetts | $500 (certificate of organization); $520 if filed electronically or by fax | $500 annually ($520 if filed electronically or by fax) | not verified | ≥$3,000 (floor) | Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 156C, s. 12(c)-(d); Secretary of the Commonwealth Corporations Division fee schedule |
| Michigan | $50 (articles of organization) | $25 annual statement through September 30, 2027; $15 thereafter | not verified | ≥$175 (floor) | MCL 450.5101(1)(b), (1)(g), (2); MCL 450.4207(3) |
| Minnesota | $135 statutory; $155 with the $20 expedited-service surcharge | $0 – annual renewal is free for domestic LLCs | $0 minimum fee below the threshold; $210-$10,210 in tiers above it | $135 | Minn. Stat. ss. 322C.0201 subd. 4(a), 322C.0208(b), 322C.0706(a), 5.14, 5.60, 290.0922 |
| Mississippi | $50 (certificate of formation) | $0 for domestic LLCs (foreign LLCs pay $250) | not verified | ≥$50 (floor) | Miss. Code Ann. ss. 79-29-1203, 79-29-215 |
| Missouri | $50 online; $105 by paper | none – Missouri requires no periodic report from LLCs | not verified | ≥$50 (floor) | RSMo 347.179.1(1)-(2), 347.179.2, 347.740; absence of any periodic-report section in RSMo ch. 347 |
| Montana | $35 (articles of organization); series LLCs add $50 for each series member named | $0 if filed on or before April 15 (fee shown as WAIVED); $35 if filed after April 15 | not verified | ≥$35 (floor) | MCA 35-8-208(3) (annual report window), 35-8-211 (fees delegated to Secretary of State); Montana Secretary of State fee schedule |
| Nebraska | $100 filed electronically; $110 filed in writing; plus $10 for a certificate | $25 filed electronically / $30 in writing, BIENNIAL (odd-numbered years only) | not verified | ≥$175 (floor) | Neb. Rev. Stat. ss. 21-192(1)(a) and (1), 21-125(a),(c), 21-193(1),(3) |
| Nevada | $75 for the articles of organization, but $425 to actually open: $75 articles + $150 initial list + $200 state business license, all due at the same time | $150 annual list, due on or before the last day of the anniversary month – and the $200 business license renews with it, so the real recurring cost is $350/year | $200/year state business license (the LLC-equivalent of a franchise tax); $500/year for corporations | $1,825 | NRS 86.561(1)(a), 86.263(1),(2),(4), 86.272(3), 76.100(1),(2)(c),(7), 76.110(1)(a), 225.140(2)(d) |
| New Hampshire | $100 (certificate of formation) | $100 annually, due between January 1 and April 1; $50 additional late fee after April 1 | not verified | ≥$600 (floor) | RSA 304-C:191, II(c),(f),(h); RSA 304-C:194, I-III |
| New Jersey | $100 (certificate of formation) – reduced from $125 by 2026 legislation | $75 annually | not verified | ≥$475 (floor) | N.J.S.A. 42:2C-93(a)(4), (a)(6), (b) (as amended 2026); N.J.S.A. 42:2C-26; New Jersey Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services fee schedule |
| New Mexico | $50 | none — New Mexico requires no periodic report from LLCs | — | ≥$50 (floor) | NMSA 1978 § 53-19-63 (filing, service and copying fees); Limited Liability Company Act, NMSA 1978 §§ 53-19-1 to 53-19-74 |
| New York | $200 | $9 biennial statement | $25–$4,500 annual NYS filing fee (Form IT-204-LL), based on prior-year New York source gross income | $352 | N.Y. Ltd. Liab. Co. Law § 206 (publication); § 301(e) (biennial statement); § 1101(c), (f), (s) (fees); N.Y. Tax Law § 658 as implemented by Form IT-204-LL |
| North Carolina | $125 | $200 | — | ≥$1,125 (floor) | N.C.G.S. § 57D-1-22 (fees); § 57D-2-24 (annual report); § 55D-11 (expedited filings) |
| North Dakota | $135 | $50 | — | ≥$385 (floor) | N.D.C.C. § 10-32.1-92 (fees and charges); § 10-32.1-89 (annual report); § 10-32.1-90 (involuntary termination) |
| Ohio | $99 | none — Ohio requires no annual or biennial report from LLCs | — | ≥$99 (floor) | Ohio Rev. Code § 111.16(F) (SOS fee schedule); § 111.23 (expedited filing); ch. 1706 (Ohio Revised LLC Act) |
| Oklahoma | $100 | $25 annual certificate | — | ≥$225 (floor) | 18 O.S. § 2055 (fees) and § 2055.2 (annual certificate), as cited on the Oklahoma SOS fee schedule; statute text unreadable this pass |
| Oregon | $100 | $100 | — | ≥$600 (floor) | ORS 56.140 (filing, service, copying and certification fees); ORS 63.007 (fees, cross-referencing 56.140); ORS 63.787 (annual report) |
| Pennsylvania | $125 | $7 | — | ≥$160 (floor) | 15 Pa.C.S. § 146 (annual report, added by Act 122 of 2022, eff. Jan. 3, 2024); 15 Pa.C.S. § 153 (fee schedule) |
| Rhode Island | $150 | $50 | $400 annual charge | $2,400 | R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-16-65 (filing, service and copying fees); § 7-16-66 (annual report); § 7-16-67 (annual charge); § 44-11-2(e) (minimum tax) |
| South Carolina | $110 | none — no Secretary of State annual report for LLCs | — | ≥$110 (floor) | S.C. Code Ann. § 33-44-1204 (fees); S.C. Code Ann. tit. 33, ch. 44 (Uniform Limited Liability Company Act); § 33-44-809 (administrative dissolution) |
| South Dakota | $150 online; $165 paper | $55 online; $70 paper | none | $425 | SDCL 47-34A-211; SDCL 59-11-24 to 59-11-26 (SDCL 59-11-25 amended by SL 2026, ch. 203, sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 2027); SD SOS filing-fee schedule |
| Tennessee | $50 per member; minimum $300, maximum $3,000 | $50 per member; minimum $300, maximum $3,000 | $100 minimum annual franchise tax (franchise & excise tax) | $2,300 | T.C.A. sec. 48-249-1002 (filing fees); T.C.A. sec. 48-249-1017(c) (annual report due date); T.C.A. sec. 67-4-2119 (franchise tax minimum, per Dept. of Revenue) |
| Texas | $300 | $0 — no Secretary of State periodic report; an annual Public Information Report or Ownership Report is filed with the Comptroller at no fee | Franchise tax; no tax due at or below $2,650,000 total revenue (2026 and 2027 report years). Rates 0.375% retail/wholesale, 0.75% other. | $300 | Tex. Bus. Orgs. Code sec. 4.152, sec. 4.154 (filing fees); Tex. Tax Code ch. 171 (franchise tax); Tex. Gov’t Code sec. 405.032 (expedited handling) |
| Utah | $59 | $18 | $0 for an LLC taxed as a partnership; $100 minimum if the LLC is taxed as a C corporation | $149 | Utah Code sec. 48-3a-212 (annual report; repealed eff. 10/1/2026 by 2026 Gen. Sess. ch. 93); Utah Code sec. 59-7-104 (corporate minimum tax); Utah Div. of Corporations FY2026 Fee Schedule |
| Vermont | $155 | $45 (domestic); $170 (foreign) | $250 minimum annual business entity income tax | $1,630 | 11 V.S.A. sec. 4012 (fees); 11 V.S.A. sec. 4023 (articles of organization); 11 V.S.A. sec. 4033 (annual report); 32 V.S.A. business entity income tax (minimum $250) |
| Virginia | $100 | $50 annual registration fee (no informational report for LLCs) | none | $350 | Va. Code sec. 13.1-1005 (filing fees); Va. Code sec. 13.1-1062 (annual registration fee); Va. Code sec. 13.1-1064 ($25 penalty) |
| Washington | $180 | $70 | No franchise or minimum entity tax; B&O gross-receipts tax applies instead, plus a state business licence | $530 | RCW 25.15 (LLC Act); WAC 434-112-080 and WAC 434-112-085 (fees; annual report fee at WAC 434-112-085(7)); WA SOS fee schedule |
| West Virginia | $100 | $25 | none — repealed | $225 | W. Va. Code sec. 59-1-2 (formation fees); W. Va. Code sec. 59-1-2a (annual report fee and $50 late fee); W. Va. Code sec. 11-12-3(b) ($30 business registration tax); W. Va. Code sec. 11-23-6 (business franchise tax, no tax due after 1/1/2015) |
| Wisconsin | $130 online; $170 paper | $25 online; $40 paper | none for an LLC taxed as a partnership | $255 | Wis. Stat. ch. 183 (LLC Act); Wis. Stat. secs. 77.93-77.96 (economic development surcharge); WDFI corporation fee schedule |
| Wyoming | $100 | $60 minimum, or $0.0002 per dollar of assets located and employed in Wyoming, whichever is greater | none separate from the annual report license tax | $400 | W.S. 17-29-108 (LLC name); W.S. 17-16-1630 (annual report license tax computation, applied to LLCs); WY SOS Annual Report License Tax Rules |
≥ marks a floor: at least this much, plus any franchise or minimum tax that was not verified. Verifying that a state has no such tax means reading its tax code rather than its LLC act, and rows where that was not done say so rather than assert the negative.
The cost the state never collects
Three jurisdictions require a newspaper publication step whose price is set by the newspaper, not the state — which is why it is excluded from the five-year figure rather than estimated:
- Arizona: required — 3 consecutive publications within 60 days, unless the statutory agent’s county exceeds 800,000 population
- Nebraska: REQUIRED – notice of organization published three successive weeks in a legal newspaper of general circulation near the designated office, with proof of publication filed with the Secretary of State
- New York: REQUIRED — 6 consecutive weeks in 2 county-designated newspapers, then a $50 Certificate of Publication. The $50 is the ONLY verifiable figure; the newspaper cost is county-driven and no official source publishes a range.
In the worst counties this single requirement can exceed every state fee combined, and it appears in no formation-fee table anywhere.
What we could not compute
- Alaska — not computed — unverified input(s) a reader cannot do without: formation_fee, annual_report.amount_usd. Treating an unverified fee as zero would understate this state.
- District of Columbia — not computed — unverified input(s) a reader cannot do without: formation_fee, annual_report.amount_usd. Treating an unverified fee as zero would understate this state.
- Georgia — not computed — unverified input(s) a reader cannot do without: formation_fee. Treating an unverified fee as zero would understate this state.
These are honest gaps rather than zeros. A three-row hole in a 51-row table is worth more than three invented numbers.
Cite this
Clear Money Guide, LLC Cost by State: Five-Year Cost of Ownership, 2026. https://clearmoneyguide.com/llc-cost-by-state/. Compiled from Secretary-of-State fee schedules and state codes; no formation-service sources were used. Reusable under CC BY 4.0.
Honest gap. Fees change by legislation and by administrative schedule; every row carries its retrieval date and its citation so a stale cell is visible rather than silent. This table is the state cost of an LLC — it does not cover registered-agent services, licences specific to your trade or city, or the tax consequences of the entity choice, and it is not advice on whether to form one at all.
See methodology and corrections. General information, not legal or tax advice. No advertising appears on this page and we earn nothing from it.
Two decisions come before the cost: whether to form one at all — often the answer is no — and, if yes, which state, where these same figures kill the Delaware story.
And an entity you stop using keeps generating these costs until it is formally dissolved — why walking away is the expensive option.
The rest of the formation wing
This table answers how much. The pages around it answer the questions that come before and after, and none of them carries an ask: we do not form LLCs, sell formation services, or take a commission from anyone who does.
Before you form. Do you need an LLC at all (often no) · where to form it (not Delaware) · file it yourself, use a service, or hire an attorney · whether to pay for a registered agent.
Particular situations. Rental property, and the mortgage question · starting a business in retirement.
Ending it, or leaving it behind. Closing an LLC properly · what happens to it when you die.
The filing and report fees on this page are not the whole cost of being allowed to operate: licences and permits are a separate three-layer question, and the local layer is the one this table cannot show you.
The recurring half of that cost has its own table now: which states require an annual report at all — seven require none, eight file biennially, and Delaware files nothing while still costing $400 a year.