Is it cheaper to form an LLC in Wyoming than Delaware?

Wyoming's filing fee is lower ($100 vs $110), but that's not the full picture: operating in Delaware means also registering as a foreign LLC there ($200) and paying a Wyoming registered agent. Realistic first-year cost is roughly $450 for the Wyoming route versus $110 for forming in Delaware.

Can I form my Delaware business in Wyoming?

Yes. Any Delaware business can form its LLC in Wyoming. But if the business operates in Delaware, it must also register there as a foreign LLC ($200 filing fee) and maintain a registered agent in Wyoming, so you take on two states' fees and filings instead of one.

Does Wyoming have better asset protection than Delaware?

Not meaningfully. Both states provide charging-order protection for LLC members, and neither offers a decisive asset-protection edge for a typical small business; Wyoming’s charging-order statute is widely regarded as the strongest in the country. Sound insurance and clean separation of business and personal finances matter more in practice.

State Comparison

Delaware LLC vs Wyoming LLC (2026)

Written for owners based in Delaware.

Based in Wyoming? Read Wyoming LLC vs Delaware LLC →

Compare Delaware LLC vs Wyoming LLC on filing fees, taxes, privacy laws, and annual costs. Find out which state is actually better for your business.

By Edmond Hui · Last updated: September 13, 2026

If your business is based in Delaware, a Delaware LLC needs no foreign registration there; a Wyoming LLC run from Delaware generally must also register in Delaware as a foreign LLC (Delaware's $200 filing fee). If your business is based in Wyoming, a Wyoming LLC needs no foreign registration there; a Delaware LLC run from Wyoming generally must also register in Wyoming as a foreign LLC (Wyoming's $150 filing fee). An LLC formed in one of these states and run from the other owes whatever filings, fees and taxes each state requires. A Delaware LLC runs $510 in year one and $400/yr after; a Wyoming LLC runs $160 and $60/yr. See the full breakdown below.

Verdict: for most owners, form where the business is based

Wyoming's annual report is a license tax, not a flat fee. The minimum is $60, but it becomes two-tenths of one mill on assets located and employed in Wyoming once those pass $300,000, so $1,000,000 of in-state assets produces $200 and $10,000,000 produces $2,000. Formation is $100, and Wyoming taxes no personal income where Delaware does. Both states keep members off the formation record. Delaware's $400 does not scale with assets at all, and a Wyoming LLC operated from Delaware still costs $200 to register here.

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Factor	Delaware	Wyoming
Filing Fee	$110	$100
Processing Time	Not published by the state	Instant online; up to 15 business days paper
Annual Report Fee	None ($400/yr entity tax instead)	$60
Annual Report Due	None required	First day of anniversary month
State Income Tax	Yes	No
Anonymous LLC	Yes	Yes
Publication Requirement	No	No
Foreign LLC Cost (if forming out-of-state)	N/A, you're in your home state	$200 + registered agent ~$150/yr

Full fee breakdown for either state: Delaware LLC cost and Wyoming LLC cost.

Business Climate: Delaware vs Wyoming

Factor	Delaware	Wyoming
5-year business survival rate	48.1% (#37 of 51)	47.5% (#42 of 51)
Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months))	+2.5% YoY (#33 of 51 by volume)	+13.3% YoY (#22 of 51 by volume)

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics · U.S. Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics (BFS)

See the full 50-state survival ranking.

Compare LLC Costs: Delaware vs Wyoming

State A

State B

Delaware

Formation fee$110

Annual report feeNo report required

State entity tax$400/yr, Annual LLC Tax (alternative entity tax)

Report dueNone required

Processing timeNot published by the state

Late penaltyNo report to file late. The annual tax carries its own penalty

Wyoming

✓ Cheaper Upfront✓ Cheaper Long-Term

Formation fee$100

Annual report fee$60

State entity taxNone

Report dueFirst day of anniversary month

Processing timeInstant online; up to 15 business days paper

Late penalty$0

Total Cost

Delaware

Wyoming

1 Year

$510

$160

3 Years

$1,310

$280

5 Years

$2,110

$400

Will you operate outside your home state?

Costs include every mandatory state charge: the filing fee, the report fee (annualised where a state files biennially), any state entity-level tax shown in its own row above, a one-time publication cost where the state publishes a rate for it, and any one-time registration charge a state requires before the LLC may trade. Two exclusions follow from that wording. Arizona and Nebraska require publication and publish no rate, so no newspaper cost is carried for either and their totals are not the whole cost. Alaska's $50 annual state business licence is a separate charge from the Secretary of State fees and is not carried here either. Annualising makes the 1, 3 and 5 year rows a cost of ownership rather than a payment schedule: a biennial state charges its whole report fee in the years it falls due and nothing in between. Entity-level taxes that only apply after a corporate election, or above an owner or income threshold, are excluded and flagged on the state's own cost page. New York's publication cost is carried at a $250 floor, roughly $200 of newspaper cost in a low-cost county plus the $50 Certificate of Publication fee. No county-clerk-designated New York City newspaper publishes a rate card, so the four-figure NYC estimates in wide circulation cannot be traced to a primary source and are not asserted here; budget for materially more than the floor if you file in a NYC county. Montana's annual report is free when filed by April 15 and $35 after, a waiver that applies to reports filed between January 1 and April 15. Every fee was verified against the state's own fee schedule, statute, or revenue authority on 29 July 2026. Excludes registered agent and legal fees. For informational purposes only, not legal or tax advice.

Filing Fees & Formation Costs

Delaware charges $110 to form an LLC, while Wyoming charges $100. Wyoming is $10 cheaper upfront. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in Wyoming but operate in Delaware, you must also register as a foreign LLC in Delaware (a $200 filing) and maintain a registered agent in Wyoming (typically around $150 per year). That puts the realistic first-year cost of the Wyoming route at roughly $450, versus $110 for simply forming in Delaware. Only one side of this comparison is knowable: Wyoming publishes instant online; up to 15 business days paper, while Delaware publishes no standard processing time, so the two can't be ranked against each other on speed.

Taxes: Delaware vs Wyoming

Wyoming has no personal income tax while Delaware does, but forming your LLC in Wyoming won't change that. LLC profits pass through to you and are taxed where you live and operate (in Delaware), not where the LLC is registered, so a Wyoming LLC offers no income-tax savings for a Delaware-based business. Delaware LLCs owe a flat $400 annual LLC tax (no report required). Wyoming charges an annual report license tax of $60 minimum ($62 filed online), based on in-state assets; no franchise or privilege tax otherwise.

Privacy & Asset Protection

Both Delaware and Wyoming allow anonymous LLC formation. Neither state requires member or manager names on routine public filings. Both states provide charging-order protection for LLC members, and for most small businesses the practical difference in asset protection between the two is minimal. Wyoming's charging-order statute (W.S. 17-29-503) makes the charging order a creditor's exclusive remedy (including for single-member LLCs) and is widely regarded as the strongest in the country.

Annual Maintenance Costs

Delaware LLCs file no annual report at all, and Wyoming LLCs file an annual report ($60, due in the anniversary month). If you form in Wyoming while operating in Delaware, you maintain filings in both states, Wyoming's report, though Delaware asks for nothing on the foreign-registration side, and pay a Wyoming registered agent roughly $150 per year. Counting report fees, the agent and any entity-level tax, that brings the Wyoming route to roughly $210 a year, versus about $400 to keep a domestic Delaware LLC in good standing. The taxes inside those totals: Delaware LLCs owe a flat $400 annual LLC tax (no report required). Wyoming charges an annual report license tax of $60 minimum ($62 filed online), based on in-state assets; no franchise or privilege tax otherwise.

When Wyoming Actually Makes Sense

Forming in Wyoming makes sense in a few specific situations: your business genuinely operates in Wyoming, with a real office, employees, or property there, or you're relocating to Wyoming in the near future, which would also move you out of Delaware's personal income tax. For a typical small business based in Delaware, none of these usually apply. Registering a Wyoming LLC to do business back home means $200 in Delaware foreign-registration fees, on top of Wyoming's $100 formation fee, while Delaware itself never asks for an annual report at all. Delaware already allows anonymous formation, so the privacy argument for Wyoming doesn't apply to a Delaware-based owner. Trading Delaware's no-annual-report status for Wyoming's filing calendar is a step backwards for most owners. When in doubt, form where you actually do business.

Frequently Asked Questions

: Wyoming's filing fee is lower ($100 vs $110), but that's not the full picture: operating in Delaware means also registering as a foreign LLC there ($200) and paying a Wyoming registered agent. Realistic first-year cost is roughly $450 for the Wyoming route versus $110 for forming in Delaware.
: Yes. Any Delaware business can form its LLC in Wyoming. But if the business operates in Delaware, it must also register there as a foreign LLC ($200 filing fee) and maintain a registered agent in Wyoming, so you take on two states' fees and filings instead of one.
: Not meaningfully. Both states provide charging-order protection for LLC members, and neither offers a decisive asset-protection edge for a typical small business; Wyoming’s charging-order statute is widely regarded as the strongest in the country. Sound insurance and clean separation of business and personal finances matter more in practice.
: It depends on where the business is based. For a Delaware-based business, Delaware: forming where the business is based keeps costs and compliance simple, and Wyoming is worth considering only if you actually do business there. For a Wyoming-based business, the same reasoning points to Wyoming.
: Only one side of this comparison is knowable: Wyoming publishes instant online; up to 15 business days paper, while Delaware publishes no standard processing time, so the two can't be ranked against each other on speed. Only 19 of the 50 states publish anything about non-expedited turnaround at all. Whichever you pick, remember that forming in Wyoming while operating in Delaware means you're not fully set up until the Delaware foreign registration is also processed, so the out-of-state route is rarely the faster path end to end. If your timing is genuinely fixed, buy the state's expedite tier rather than relying on a standard turnaround.

Comparison chart of forming an LLC in Delaware versus Wyoming, contrasting filing fees, annual report cost and ongoing obligations across 8 factors. — Delaware and Wyoming side by side on the factors that decide where to form. Source: MyStateLLC 50-state cost dataset, verified against each Secretary of State's published fee schedule, July 2026.

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Delaware LLC Guide →Wyoming LLC Guide →

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Edmond Hui · Founder, MyStateLLC

Edmond Hui is a software engineer and serial entrepreneur based in New York who has founded multiple online businesses across e-commerce, media, and information publishing. Before transitioning into tech, he spent years as a commercial real estate professional closing deals totaling over 100,000 square feet, giving him firsthand experience with business formation and entity structuring. He built MyStateLLC to provide the free, state-specific LLC guidance he wished existed when forming his own companies.