LLC Cost Comparison Calculator

LLC filing fees and annual costs by state: why it matters

Where you form your LLC affects your startup cost, annual compliance fees, and sometimes your tax obligations. Most small businesses should simply form in the state where they operate. Forming in a different state means you'll likely need to register as a foreign LLC in your home state anyway, paying fees in both states. However, if you're choosing between states where you genuinely operate, or managing a multi-state business, the cost differences can be significant.

• Formation fees range from $35 (Montana) to $520 (Massachusetts) for a standard LLC filing. New York adds a mandatory newspaper publication on top of its $200 filing fee, the defensible floor is about $250 including the $50 Certificate of Publication, and no county-clerk-designated New York City newspaper publishes a rate card, so the widely repeated four-figure NYC estimates cannot be sourced
• 11 states cost nothing per year to keep an LLC in good standing (Alabama, Arizona, Idaho, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas), though several still require the filing itself
• States like Delaware and Wyoming are popular for their legal protections, but require foreign registration in your home state. Adding cost. Delaware also owes a flat $400 annual tax despite filing no annual report
• Biennial states (Alaska, California, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, New York) charge every two years, not annually

The stakes are real: per U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Business Employment Dynamics data, 77.9% of new private-sector establishments survive their first year, but only 51.4% are still operating after five years. Which is exactly why this calculator shows 5-year totals, not just the upfront filing fee (source, retrieved 2026-07-16).

See the full state-by-state breakdown in our Business Survival Rates by State report.

LLC filing fees by state: all 50 states

The calculator above answers "these two states". This is the whole board. Every fee was verified against the state's own fee schedule, statute, or revenue authority on 2026-07-29. Sort by any column, and follow a state name through to its full cost breakdown.

What is the cheapest state to form an LLC?

On the filing fee alone it is Montana at $35, against $520 in Massachusetts. The filing fee is the wrong number to decide on, though, because it is paid once and the report fee and any entity-level tax are paid every year the LLC exists. Ranked on five years of ownership instead, the ten cheapest states are:

1. Montana, $35 over five years ($35 in year one)
2. Arizona, $50 over five years ($50 in year one) plus newspaper publication. Arizona requires it by statute and publishes no rate, so no dollar figure for it is included above. Budget for it before treating this total as the cost.
3. Missouri, $50 over five years ($50 in year one)
4. Mississippi, $50 over five years ($50 in year one)
5. New Mexico, $50 over five years ($50 in year one)
6. Ohio, $99 over five years ($99 in year one)
7. Idaho, $100 over five years ($100 in year one)
8. South Carolina, $110 over five years ($110 in year one)
9. Hawaii, $112.50 over five years ($62.50 in year one)
10. Iowa, $125 over five years ($65 in year one)

One caveat decides this question for most readers: the cheapest state is only cheapest if you actually operate there. Form in one state and trade in another and the second state expects a foreign LLC registration, on top of its own annual report. That registration is not a wash. In 17 states it costs exactly the domestic filing fee, but in 25 it costs more, sometimes several times more: Arkansas charges $270 to register a foreign LLC against $45 to form one and Mississippi charges $250 to register a foreign LLC against $50 to form one. Only 3 charge less, and 5 are left out of that count entirely: the published foreign fee does not say whether it is the online or the paper price, and in those states the two answers disagree. See should you form your LLC out of state for when the exception is real.

LLC annual fees by state

The recurring number is the report fee plus any entity-level tax that reaches a single-member LLC taxed by default, with biennial states annualised so the figures compare. A multi-member LLC can owe more, and the two states that do it do it differently: Vermont charges $250 to any LLC treated as a partnership, while New Jersey charges $150 per owner but only above two owners and only where there is New Jersey source income. Neither reaches a single-member LLC, so neither is in the figures below. 11 states charge nothing per year at all: Alabama, Arizona, Idaho, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas. 6 of those ask for no annual report either (Alabama, Arizona, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina). The rest require the filing and charge nothing for it, which still leaves a deadline you can miss. South Carolina's exemption is narrower than the others: it holds at the Secretary of State and only for a pass-through LLC. One that elects corporate treatment files a CL-1 and an annual licence fee.

"No annual report" is not the same claim as "no annual cost", and one state sits in the gap: Delaware files no report and still owes $400 a year. Any list of "states with no annual report" that reads as a list of free states has that backwards.

At the other end, each of the 5 priciest states costs more every year than 49 of the 50 cost to form in the first place:

• California, $810 a year, of which $800 is the Annual LLC Tax (minimum franchise tax)
• Massachusetts, $520 a year
• Rhode Island, $450 a year, of which $400 is the Annual charge (minimum corporate tax)
• Delaware, $400 a year, of which $400 is the Annual LLC Tax (alternative entity tax)
• Tennessee, $400 a year, of which $100 is the Franchise and Excise Tax

Annual report deadlines and late penalties vary just as widely as the fees. See annual report deadlines and fees for all 50 states for the dates.

How to compare LLC costs between two states