What an LLC really costs, line by line
Most “LLC cost” articles stop at the filing fee. The honest budget has five layers, and only the first one is the headline number:
1. The filing fee (one-time)
The Articles of Organization fee is what the state charges to create the LLC: $35 in Montana, $50 in workhorse states like Arizona, Michigan, and Colorado, $300 in Texas, and $500 in Massachusetts. This is the only cost most people comparison-shop — and it is a one-time charge, so over five years the recurring fees usually matter more.
2. Required first-year filings
Some states bundle extra mandatory filings into day one. Nevada’s $75 Articles are really a $425 first payment once the Initial List ($150) and state Business License ($200) are added. California requires a $20 Statement of Information within 90 days. New York’s publication requirement isn’t a state fee at all — newspapers charge it — but it is unavoidable and can exceed $1,000 in New York City counties.
3. The recurring report fee
Most states require an annual (or, in Alaska, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and New York, biennial) report with a fee from $0 to $500. Florida’s is $138.75; Massachusetts’ is $500. A handful of states — Arizona, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina — require none for a standard LLC. Missing a report is expensive: Florida adds a $400 late fee, and states can administratively dissolve an LLC that stops filing.
4. Franchise and minimum taxes
Separate from reports, some states tax the LLC itself: California’s $800 annual tax, Delaware’s flat $300 (rising to $400 for 2026), Rhode Island’s $400 annual charge, Kentucky’s $175 Limited Liability Entity Tax minimum, and Tennessee’s per-member franchise and excise taxes. Texas’s franchise tax is $0 below a generous revenue threshold ($2.65M for 2026 reports) — but the paperwork is still due.
5. The optional-but-common costs
A hired registered agent runs about $100–$300 a year. Formation services, operating-agreement templates, business licences, and local permits vary by business. And the EIN is always free from the IRS — the single most common unnecessary charge new owners pay.
The five-year view
Run the numbers over five years and the ranking flips: a $50 Arizona LLC costs about $50 total in state charges over five years, while a $70 California LLC costs roughly $4,070 because of the $800 annual tax. That is why the calculator shows a first-year total and an ongoing yearly total — the second number is the one that compounds.
Cheapest states to form an LLC
Montana ($35), Kentucky ($40), Arkansas ($45 online), and a $50 group — Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri (online), and New Mexico — lead on filing fees. But the cheapest state to run an LLC is a different list. See the full ranking: Cheapest states to form an LLC →
Lowest ongoing state cost, per year
| State | Filing fee | Ongoing / year |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $200 | $0 |
| Arizona | $50 | $0 |
| Idaho | $100 | $0 |
| Minnesota | $155 | $0 |
| Mississippi | $50 | $0 |
Ongoing cost counts the recurring report fee (biennial fees averaged per year) plus any franchise-tax minimum. Full methodology and all 50 states are in the state index.
LLC costs by state — the index
Search or scan the full table. It is the same dataset the calculator draws from, including foreign LLC registration fees if you are expanding into another state.
| State | Filing fee | Annual / biennial fee | Due pattern | Franchise / min tax | First-year total* | Foreign LLC fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $200 | $0 (report required) | Business Privilege Tax return due annually, 2.5 months after the tax year starts | Varies (income-based) | $225 | $150 |
| Alaska | $250 | $100 / 2 yrs | Due January 2 every other year | — | $250 | $350 |
| Arizona | $50 | None | No annual report | — | $50 | $150 |
| Arkansas | $45 | None | Franchise tax report due May 1 | $150/yr min | $195 | $270 |
| California | $70 | $20 / 2 yrs | Statement of Information: within 90 days of filing, then every 2 years by the end of the anniversary month | $800/yr min | $890 | $70 |
| Colorado | $50 | $25 / year | Periodic Report due by the end of the anniversary month | — | $75 | $100 |
| Connecticut | $120 | $80 / year | Annual report due March 31 | — | $200 | $120 |
| Delaware | $110 | None | No annual report; the LLC tax is due June 1 | $300/yr min | $410 | $200 |
| Florida | $125 | $138.75 / year | Annual report due May 1 (file January 1 – May 1) | — | $263.75 | $125 |
| Georgia | $100 | $50 / year | Annual registration due April 1 (file January 1 – April 1) | — | $150 | $235 |
| Hawaii | $51 | $15 / year | Annual report due in the quarter of the registration anniversary | — | $66 | $50 |
| Idaho | $100 | $0 (report required) | Annual report due by the end of the anniversary month | — | $100 | $100 |
| Illinois | $150 | $75 / year | Annual report due before the 1st day of the anniversary month | — | $225 | $150 |
| Indiana | $100 | $32 / 2 yrs | Business Entity Report due by the end of the anniversary month, every 2 years | — | $100 | $75 |
| Iowa | $50 | $30 / 2 yrs | Biennial report due April 1 of odd-numbered years | — | $50 | $100 |
| Kansas | $85 | $90 / 2 yrs | Biennial report due April 15 every two years | — | $85 | $115 |
| Kentucky | $40 | $15 / year | Annual report due June 30 | $175/yr min | $230 | $90 |
| Louisiana | $100 | $35 / year | Annual report due by the anniversary date | — | $135 | $125 |
| Maine | $175 | $85 / year | Annual report due June 1 | — | $260 | $250 |
| Maryland | $100 | $300 / year | Annual report / Personal Property Return due April 15 | — | $400 | $100 |
| Massachusetts | $500 | $500 / year | Annual report due by the anniversary date | — | $1,000 | $500 |
| Michigan | $50 | $25 / year | Annual statement due February 15 | — | $75 | $50 |
| Minnesota | $155 | $0 (report required) | Annual renewal due December 31 | — | $155 | $205 |
| Mississippi | $50 | $0 (report required) | Annual report due April 15 | — | $50 | $250 |
| Missouri | $50 | None | No annual report | — | $50 | $105 |
| Montana | $35 | $0 (report required) | Annual report due April 15 | — | $35 | $70 |
| Nebraska | $100 | $10 / 2 yrs | Biennial report due April 1 of odd-numbered years | — | $100 | $100 |
| Nevada | $75 | $350 / year | Annual List + state Business License due the last day of the anniversary month | — | $425 | $75 |
| New Hampshire | $100 | $100 / year | Annual report due April 1 | — | $200 | $100 |
| New Jersey | $125 | $75 / year | Annual report due by the end of the anniversary month | — | $200 | $100 |
| New Mexico | $50 | None | No annual report | — | $50 | $100 |
| New York | $200 | $9 / 2 yrs | Biennial statement due in the original filing month, every 2 years | — | $200 | $250 |
| North Carolina | $125 | $200 / year | Annual report due April 15 | — | $325 | $250 |
| North Dakota | $135 | $50 / year | Annual report due November 15 | — | $185 | $135 |
| Ohio | $99 | None | No annual report | — | $99 | $99 |
| Oklahoma | $100 | $25 / year | Annual certificate due on the anniversary date | — | $125 | $300 |
| Oregon | $100 | $100 / year | Annual report due on the anniversary date | — | $200 | $275 |
| Pennsylvania | $125 | $7 / year | Annual report due September 30 | — | $132 | $250 |
| Rhode Island | $150 | $50 / year | Annual report due May 1 | $400/yr min | $600 | $150 |
| South Carolina | $110 | None | No annual report for a default-tax-status LLC | — | $110 | $110 |
| South Dakota | $150 | $55 / year | Annual report due the 1st day of the anniversary month | — | $205 | $750 |
| Tennessee | $300 | $300 / year | Annual report due the 1st day of the 4th month after fiscal year end (April 1 for calendar-year filers) | $100/yr min | $700 | $300 |
| Texas | $300 | $0 (report required) | No Secretary of State annual report; Public Information Report due with the franchise tax filing, May 15 | — | $300 | $750 |
| Utah | $59 | $18 / year | Annual renewal due by the anniversary date | — | $77 | $59 |
| Vermont | $155 | $45 / year | Annual report due within 3 months after fiscal year end (March 31 for calendar-year filers) | $250/yr min | $450 | $155 |
| Virginia | $100 | $50 / year | Annual registration fee due by the end of the anniversary month | — | $150 | $100 |
| Washington | $200 | $70 / year | Annual report due by the end of the anniversary month | — | $270 | $200 |
| West Virginia | $100 | $25 / year | Annual report due July 1 | — | $125 | $150 |
| Wisconsin | $130 | $25 / year | Annual report due by the end of the formation quarter | — | $155 | $100 |
| Wyoming | $100 | $60 / year | Annual report due the 1st day of the anniversary month | — | $160 | $150 |
*First-year total = filing fee + any mandatory first-year charge (Alabama’s name reservation; California’s initial Statement of Information; Nevada’s Initial List + Business License — Nevada’s $350/yr renewal starts in year two, so Nevada’s first-year total is the full $425 day-one payment, not $425 plus a renewal) + the recurring report fee when it is annual + any franchise-tax minimum. It excludes optional costs such as a hired registered agent, publication (New York, Arizona, Nebraska), and expedited processing. Alabama’s income-based Business Privilege Tax varies and is excluded.
LLC vs S-corp: the cost difference
An LLC and an S-corporation start with the same state filing, then diverge: payroll taxes, an extra federal return, and different state fees. Our comparison totals both, line by line: Compare LLC vs S-corp costs →
Start with the guides that match your question
State cost guides
Deep dives for Texas, Florida, California, New York, Wyoming, Delaware, Nevada, Arizona, and Colorado — fees, due dates, processing times, and step-by-step formation.
Annual costs & franchise taxes
What you owe every year after formation, which states tax LLCs directly, and the deadlines that trigger late fees and dissolution. Read the explainer →
Foreign LLC registration
Formed in one state but operating in another? Foreign registration has its own fee in every state — from $50 in Michigan to $750 in South Dakota and Texas. See foreign LLC costs →
How this site works — and its limits
Every figure on this site is traced to a named source: a Secretary of State fee schedule or an established roundup (Northwest Registered Agent, Shopify, BusinessAnywhere), researched in October 2026 and cross-checked where roundups maintain competing tables. Where sources disagreed — Delaware’s tax step-up, New Jersey’s formation fee, Nebraska’s biennial fee — the page says so and tells you which figure was used. Fees change, sometimes mid-year (Colorado’s report fee doubled in July 2024; Pennsylvania replaced its decennial filing in 2025), so confirm the current number with your state before you file. This site sells nothing and files nothing; it exists so you can walk into the filing — your own, an agent’s, or a service’s — knowing what the state itself charges.
Educational information only. LLC Cost Guide is not a law firm, accounting firm, or filing service, and nothing on this page is legal or tax advice. Fees and deadlines change; confirm the current figures with your Secretary of State (or Division of Corporations) before filing, and consult a licensed attorney or CPA for advice about your specific situation.