Setting up a business in the US? Answer four quick questions to see what your state charges to set up an LLC, and every year after. Free, and every figure comes from the state’s own website.
Choose a state in question 1 to see what you'll pay: to set up, every year after, your deadlines, and what a company would charge to help.
"Your first year" is the set-up fee plus anything the state charges for the year you set up (like California's $800 tax). Yearly fees and reports are under "every year after". Taxes on your profit or sales aren't included. Not legal or tax advice.
Downloads a calendar file with a reminder two weeks before each date.
| Company | Their price | First year, all in | Each year after | Five years |
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New to LLCs?
An LLC (limited liability company) is the simplest way to set up a business in the US that keeps your personal money and home separate from the business’s debts. You create one by filing a short form with a state and paying it a fee. These are the costs that come with it:
A one-off fee you pay the state to create the LLC. It ranges from $35 in Montana to $500 in Massachusetts.
Most states charge a yearly fee, or ask for a yearly report, to keep your LLC active. Some charge nothing; California charges $800. Miss it and you can be fined, or the LLC can be closed down.
Someone with an address in the state who receives official letters and legal papers for the LLC. Free if you do it yourself; a service costs about $125 a year.
Optional. Companies will fill in and file the forms for you. You don’t need one, but if you use one, check what it charges every year after the first.
Which state should you choose? Usually the one you live and work in. Setting up in another state, like Wyoming or Delaware, normally means paying two states, because you still have to register where you run the business. The calculator works this out for you.
What the calculator does
Most websites give you one number: the fee to set up. The calculator also counts what you pay every year after, and what changes if you set up in another state or pay a company to help.
Most answers stop at the fee to set the LLC up. But many states also charge every year to keep it running, and that is where the real cost is. California charges $800 a year, even if you earn nothing.
Tell the calculator when you plan to set up and it lists every yearly report and payment date, ready to add to your calendar.
Set up in Wyoming but run the business from Texas, and you have to register in Texas too, paying both states every year.
Companies like ZenBusiness and LegalZoom will file the paperwork for you. They advertise a low first price, then charge every year after. We rank them by what you really pay: see the best LLC service for what you really pay.
Where the figures come from
Each fee links to the state page it came from: its fee schedule, its forms or its laws. Nothing is copied from other guides.
Five years of state fees, if you are your own registered agent. Wyoming, the usual answer to “cheapest state”, comes to $340 before you register back home. See LLC fees in every state, or read about starting a Wyoming LLC.
The business tax number is free from the IRS and takes minutes: apply on irs.gov. Services charge $50 to $99 for the same form.
Keep business and personal money apart from day one. That separation is a big part of what the LLC protects.
Use your own domain, then check the records that get your email into inboxes. LeadLamp checks SPF, DKIM and DMARC for free.
Tell the calculator when you set up and its Your deadlines tab adds every yearly date to your calendar, with a reminder two weeks before each.
It depends on the state. Setting one up costs from $35 to $500, and keeping it running costs from nothing to $810 a year. Over five years, state fees alone run from $35 to $4,130. Answer the four questions in the calculator to see the figures for your state.
Every LLC has to name one: a person or company with a street address in the state, there in office hours, who receives legal papers and official letters for the LLC. You can do it yourself for free if you live in the state. If you set up somewhere you don’t live, you pay a service, from about $125 a year.
Usually not. If you run the business from your home state, you still have to register there and pay its yearly fees, plus a registered agent in Wyoming or Delaware. The calculator’s Other states tab shows the difference for you.
The fee to set the LLC up, plus anything the state charges for the year you set up, such as California’s $800 tax. Yearly fees and reports are counted under every year after, even if the first one falls inside your first 12 months. The Your deadlines tab shows exactly when each one is due.
No. You can file on the state’s own website in under an hour. A company helps if you want them to be your registered agent or to handle the forms. If you use one, compare what it costs over five years, not just on day one.
Every fee links to the state page it came from, with the date we checked it. We look at each of those pages once a week, and when one changes we check our figures again.
What your state charges now and every year after, your deadlines, and what each company really costs.