New York LLC vs New Mexico LLC (2026)
Written for owners based in New York.
Verdict: for most owners, form where the business is based
New Mexico files for $50 and never asks for a report of any kind, so recurring cost is $0 against at least $29.50 in New York, and members stay off the public record. The missing report is also the risk: nothing prompts you each year, and an LLC that quietly loses its registered agent can be revoked with no missed filing to warn you. New York prompts constantly by comparison, with a $9 Biennial Statement and a first-year duty to publish for six weeks in two county-designated newspapers, plus a $50 Certificate of Publication. Registering here costs $250.
Based in New Mexico? Read New Mexico LLC vs New York LLC →
Compare New York LLC vs New Mexico 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 23, 2026
Using a formation service? We compare the 4 formation services that pay us a commission, on three-year service cost, BBB rating and Trustpilot score.
Compare LLC formation services →Or by state: Best LLC services in New York, Best LLC services in New Mexico
Ready to file? Our affiliate partner ZenBusiness files your LLC formation paperwork, from $0 + state fee.
Start your LLC with ZenBusiness →Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no cost to you. MyStateLLC is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.
| Factor | New York | New Mexico |
|---|---|---|
| Filing Fee | $200 | $50 |
| Processing Time | Not published by the state | Not published by the state |
| Annual Report Fee | $9 (biennial) | None |
| Annual Report Due | Anniversary month (biennial) | None required |
| State Income Tax | Yes | Yes |
| Anonymous LLC | No | Yes |
| Publication Requirement | Yes | No |
| Foreign LLC Cost (if forming out-of-state) | N/A, you're in your home state | $250 + registered agent ~$150/yr |
Full fee breakdown for either state: New York LLC cost and New Mexico LLC cost. Owner privacy options for either state: New York anonymous LLC guide and New Mexico anonymous LLC guide.
Business Climate: New York vs New Mexico
| Factor | New York | New Mexico |
|---|---|---|
| 5-year business survival rate | 51.9% (#23 of 51) | 46.3% (#46 of 51) |
| Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months)) | +10.9% YoY (#4 of 51 by volume) | +12.6% YoY (#37 of 51 by volume) |
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics · U.S. Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics (BFS)
Compare LLC Costs: New York vs New Mexico
New York
New Mexico
A figure shown as "from" is the least the state can charge, not a price. Tennessee's report is $300 for up to six members and $50 for each member above six, its franchise tax is the greater of $100 or 0.25% of Tennessee net worth, Wyoming's report is the greater of $60 or $.0002 per dollar of in-state assets, Kentucky's entity tax is $175 up to $3 million of gross receipts and graduated above it, and New York's annual filing fee is graduated on New York source gross income. A total that contains one of those is shown as "from" for the same reason. 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. 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
New York charges $200 to form an LLC, while New Mexico charges $50. New Mexico is $150 cheaper upfront. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in New Mexico but operate in New York, you must also register as a foreign LLC in New York (a $250 filing) and maintain a registered agent in New Mexico (typically around $150 per year). That puts the realistic first-year cost of the New Mexico route at roughly $450, versus $200 for simply forming in New York. Speed isn't a basis for choosing between them: neither New York nor New Mexico publishes a standard processing time, so any figure comparing the two is guesswork. Note that New York also requires newly formed LLCs to publish a newspaper notice (New York requires publication of the LLC's formation once a week for six successive weeks in two newspapers designated by the county clerk, within 120 days of formation, followed by a $50 Certificate of Publication. Newspaper rates are set by the newspapers and vary sharply by county), which adds to the true formation cost.
Taxes: New York vs New Mexico
Both New York and New Mexico levy a personal income tax on pass-through business income, and your LLC's profits will be taxed where you live and operate. Forming in New Mexico doesn't change what a New York-based owner pays. New York LLCs with any income, gain, loss or deduction from New York sources owe an annual filing fee of $25 to $4,500, unless they have elected to be taxed as a corporation. An LLC taxed as a partnership pays by its NY-source gross income for the preceding tax year ($25 where that is $100,000 or less), and a disregarded single-member LLC pays a flat $25.
Privacy & Asset Protection
New Mexico allows anonymous LLC formation. Member and manager names don't appear on routine public filings. New Mexico's Articles of Organization require only the organizer and registered agent, and LLCs file no annual report, so members and managers stay off public filings. New York doesn't offer that same privacy. The NY LLC Transparency Act (effective 2026) requires beneficial-ownership reporting to the state, and formation requires newspaper publication of the LLC's existence. 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. One important caveat: if you register your New Mexico LLC as a foreign LLC in New York, that New York registration is itself a public record, which can undercut much of the privacy benefit for a business that operates in New York.
Annual Maintenance Costs
New York LLCs file a biennial report ($9, due in the anniversary month, every two years), and New Mexico LLCs file no annual report at all. If you form in New Mexico while operating in New York, you maintain filings in both states, New Mexico asks for no report, but New York still wants its equivalent for your foreign registration, and pay a New Mexico registered agent roughly $150 per year. Counting report fees, the agent and any entity-level tax, that brings the New Mexico route to roughly $159 a year, versus at least $34 to keep a domestic New York LLC in good standing. The tax inside those totals: New York LLCs with any income, gain, loss or deduction from New York sources owe an annual filing fee of $25 to $4,500, unless they have elected to be taxed as a corporation. An LLC taxed as a partnership pays by its NY-source gross income for the preceding tax year ($25 where that is $100,000 or less), and a disregarded single-member LLC pays a flat $25.
When New Mexico Actually Makes Sense
Forming in New Mexico makes sense in a few specific situations: you need anonymous ownership. New York puts owner or manager information on public filings and New Mexico doesn't (usually via a holding company, since operating in New York still requires a public foreign registration there), your business genuinely operates in New Mexico, with a real office, employees, or property there, or you're relocating to New Mexico in the near future. For a typical small business based in New York, none of these usually apply. Registering a New Mexico LLC to do business back home means $250 in New York foreign-registration fees, on top of New Mexico's $50 formation fee, while New York's own biennial report runs $9 and is due in the anniversary month, every two years. When in doubt, form where you actually do business.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to form your LLC?
Using a formation service? We compare the 4 formation services that pay us a commission, on three-year service cost, BBB rating and Trustpilot score.
Compare LLC formation services →Or by state: Best LLC services in New York, Best LLC services in New Mexico
Our affiliate partner ZenBusiness files your LLC formation paperwork, from $0 + state fee.
Start your LLC with ZenBusiness →Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no cost to you. MyStateLLC is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.
More State Comparisons
Embed this comparison, free
Add the New York vs New Mexico cost calculator to any page. Works in WordPress, Squarespace, Webflow, and any HTML site.
<iframe src="https://www.mystatellc.com/tools/compare-states?embed=1&stateA=NY&stateB=NM" width="100%" height="720" frameborder="0" style="border:0;max-width:900px;display:block;margin:0 auto;" title="New York vs New Mexico LLC Cost Comparison" loading="lazy"></iframe> <p style="text-align:center;font-size:.8125rem;color:#6b7280">Source: <a href="https://www.mystatellc.com/llc/compare/new-york-llc-vs-new-mexico-llc">MyStateLLC, New York vs New Mexico LLC Comparison</a></p>
Sources
Each entry below is a document recorded in our verified sources, and each entry says what the document is. Some statutory text is read from an accurate mirror rather than from the state's own host, and those say so.
- dos.ny.gov/forming-limited-liability-company-new-yorkNew York Department of State, Division of Corporations: business entity filings
- dos.ny.gov/fee-schedulesNew York LLC filing fees
- sos.nm.gov/business-services/New Mexico Secretary of State: business entity filings
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.