How this is calculated
- Year-1 total = the one-time state filing fee, plus your first report or franchise-tax obligation if our default assumption is that it falls due in your first 12 months, plus registered-agent cost, plus a publication cost if your state requires it. Annual report/franchise obligations are assumed due in Year 1; biennial ones are assumed to first come due in Year 2 (so they are not added to the Year-1 number, but are counted in the 5-year total). Actual due dates depend on your state and the month you file — verify against your Secretary of State.
- 5-year total = the filing fee (once) + the report/franchise fee times how many times it recurs in a 5-year window (annual → 5 times, biennial → 2 times, none → 0) + registered agent × 5 years if you choose commercial + the one-time publication cost if applicable. Flat mandatory taxes that are billed every year regardless of income — California's $800 minimum franchise tax and Delaware's $300 flat tax — are treated as annual and counted 5 times.
- What's excluded on purpose. Revenue-dependent or conditional taxes are not added to either total because they depend on your business's income, not on the state alone — for example California's graduated LLC fee above $250K in gross receipts, Texas's franchise (margin) tax above the $2.65M revenue threshold, New York's IT-204-LL fee tiered by income, Tennessee's Franchise & Excise tax, and gross-receipts style taxes in DC, NH, OH, OR, and WA. These are flagged in the franchise-tax and other-costs columns of the table below instead of silently added to your total.
Publication cost assumptions: New York uses a $1,450 (NYC/major metro) or $450 (upstate/smaller county) newspaper estimate plus the $50 Certificate of Publication fee. Arizona uses $0 if your statutory agent is in Maricopa or Pima County (exempt), or a $90 typical estimate otherwise. Nebraska uses a flat ~$227 typical estimate. All three are estimates — your actual county's newspaper rates will vary.
Estimates only — verify against your state's Secretary of State before filing. Fees change; this data is current as of July 2026 and was cross-checked across at least two independent sources per state, with primary state-source confirmation for California, New York, Texas, Florida, Delaware, Massachusetts, Nevada, Tennessee, Alabama, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Arizona, and Nebraska. This is not legal or tax advice.
All 50 states + DC — full fee table
Every jurisdiction, sourced from the same dataset the calculator above uses. "Report fee" is the standard annual or biennial filing; "franchise/privilege tax" and "other recurring costs" are separate obligations layered on top, some of which are conditional on revenue (see the note in each cell).
| state | filing fee | report fee | franchise / privilege tax | other recurring costs |
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Learn more
- The Cheapest States to Form an LLC (2026) — filing + 5-year cost ranking.
- LLC Annual Fees Explained — franchise tax, annual reports & registered agent.
- LLC vs S-Corp vs Sole Prop — cost & tax treatment by income level, with a decision table.
LLC cost by state
Dedicated 2026 cost pages with each state's real filing and annual fees:
- Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.
Frequently asked questions
Which state is cheapest to form an LLC in?
Montana has the lowest initial filing fee at $35. But Missouri and New Mexico charge only $50 to file and require no annual or biennial report at all, which makes them arguably the cheapest states to own an LLC in long-term, not just to form one in.
Do I need a registered agent?
Yes — every state requires an LLC to name a registered agent with a physical street address in the formation state. You can be your own registered agent for $0 if you have a qualifying address and are reliably available during business hours, or pay a commercial registered agent service, typically $100 to $300 a year.
What is a publication requirement?
New York, Arizona, and Nebraska require a newly formed LLC to publish a notice of formation in local newspapers, then file proof of publication. Cost depends heavily on the county — as little as $0 in exempt Arizona counties, or around $1,450–$1,500 in some New York City boroughs.
Does this include the cost of a lawyer or formation service?
No. This calculator estimates only mandatory government costs: the state filing fee, recurring report or franchise fees, registered agent cost, and publication cost where required. It does not include an attorney, a paid formation service such as LegalZoom or Incfile, or an operating agreement — an EIN itself is always free directly from the IRS.
This calculator is an educational estimate, not legal or tax advice, and not a substitute for your state's official fee schedule. Fees, thresholds, and requirements change; verify current figures with your Secretary of State (or equivalent agency) before filing. No liability is accepted for decisions made from these results.