What North Carolina costs today
Forming an LLC in North Carolina costs $125 to file online. Counting that filing fee plus one year of the state's recurring charges, meaning the annualized report and any minimum entity-level tax, a first year comes to $325. After year one North Carolina has $200 a year in recurring state charges, annualized. See what North Carolina actually requires each year, including what the filing is called and when it is first due.
Measured on first-year cost alone, 41 of these 49 states are cheaper than North Carolina, 8 cost more. Cost is only one input. Forming outside the state where you actually operate usually means registering as a foreign LLC at home as well, so you pay both states. Each comparison below works through that trade for one specific pair.
All 49 comparisons, cheapest first
The difference column is that state's first-year minimum minus North Carolina's $325.
Each first-year figure is that state's online filing fee plus one year of its recurring charges: the report annualized over its cycle, any minimum entity-level tax, and any publication cost the state publishes. It is not a prediction of your own first year. Seven states file only every second year, and several do not require a first report until year two, so check the state's own deadline. Registered agent service is excluded throughout, being a commercial charge rather than a state one. A state showing no recurring cost may still owe an entity-level tax above that state's threshold. Arizona, Nebraska and New York additionally require newspaper publication whose full cost no state publishes.
More North Carolina guides
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.