State Lines
LLC filing fees by state: the formation fee is the wrong number
California is cheaper than Wyoming to form and ten times more expensive to keep. Verified formation fees, recurring costs, and five-year totals for all fifty states and the District of Columbia, each from the state's own schedule.
California charges $70 to form an LLC. Wyoming charges $100. Every ranking of cheap states to form an LLC has Wyoming near the top and California near the bottom, and on the number those rankings actually compare, California wins.
For a single state’s full breakdown, see the state directory.
Hold both companies five years and California costs $4,130 against Wyoming’s $400.
The formation fee is the most quoted and least useful number in the LLC industry. It is a one-time cost being used to rank a recurring one.
That gap is the whole point of this page. Formation fees cluster between $50 and $300 and get compared endlessly. Recurring costs range from nothing at all to $800 a year and get mentioned in passing, if at all. The number that decides what an entity actually costs is the second one, multiplied by how long you keep it, and almost nobody publishes it.
Every figure below comes from the state’s own fee schedule or its statutes, verified state by state, and each row links to that state’s full filing page where the sources are named and the mechanics explained. All fifty states and the District of Columbia are verified. Where a figure has not been read from an official source, the cell says so rather than guessing, which is why two states in the table below have no formation fee printed at all.
Five years, end to end
Formation plus five years of recurring state costs. Registered agent fees are excluded because they are private, not state, charges, and they run roughly $35 to $300 a year everywhere.
| State | Form | Recurring | 5-year total |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Mexico | $50 | None | $50 |
| Arizona | $50 | None | $50 |
| Missouri | $50 online, $105 by mail | None | $50 |
| Mississippi | $53 | None, the report is free | $53 |
| Montana | $35 | $0 through 2027, then a reported $20 | ~$95 |
| Ohio | $99 | None | $99 |
| Idaho | $100 | None, the report is free | $100 |
| South Carolina | $110 | None | $110 |
| Iowa | $50 | $30 every two years | $110 |
| Kentucky | $40 | $15 a year | $115 |
| Hawaii | $50 | $15 a year | $125 |
| Utah | $59 | $18 a year | $149 |
| Nebraska | $100 | $25 every two years | $150 |
| Minnesota | $155 online, $135 by mail | None, renewal is free | $155 |
| Indiana | $95 online, $100 by mail | $32 every two years | $159 |
| Pennsylvania | $125 | $7 a year | $160 |
| Colorado | $50 | $25 a year | $175 |
| Michigan | $50 | $25 a year | $175 |
| Kansas | $85 online, $90 by mail | $50 every two years | $185 |
| Alabama | $200 | None | $200 |
| Oklahoma | $100 | $25 a year | $225 |
| West Virginia | $100 | $25 a year | $225 |
| Wisconsin | $130 online, $170 by mail | $25 a year | $255 |
| Louisiana | $125 | $35 a year | $300 |
| Texas | $300 | $0 for most, but a May 15 filing is mandatory | $300 |
| Vermont | $155 | $45 a year | $380 |
| New York | $200 | $9 every two years, plus publication | ~$227 plus publication |
| Virginia | $100 | $50 a year | $350 |
| North Dakota | $135 | $50 a year | $385 |
| Wyoming | $100 | $60 a year minimum | $400 |
| Georgia | $110 | $60 a year | $410 |
| South Dakota | $150 | $55 a year | $425 |
| New Jersey | $100 | $75 a year | $475 |
| Connecticut | $120 | $80 a year | $520 |
| Illinois | $150 | $75 a year | $525 |
| Washington | $200 online, $180 by mail | $70 a year | $550 |
| Oregon | $100 | $100 a year | $600 |
| New Hampshire | $100 | $100 a year | $600 |
| Maine | $175 | $85 a year | $600 |
| District of Columbia | $99 | $300 every two years | $699 |
| Alaska | $250 | ~$100 a year (biennial report plus business license) | ~$750 |
| Arkansas | $45 online, $50 by mail | $150 a year | $795 |
| Florida | $125 | $138.75 a year | $818.75 |
| North Carolina | $125 | $200 a year, starting the year after formation | ~$925 |
| Maryland | $100 | $300 a year | $1,600 |
| Delaware | $110 | $400 a year | $2,110 |
| Nevada | $425 | $350 a year | $2,175 |
| Tennessee | $300 | $400 a year | $2,300 |
| Rhode Island | $150 | $450 a year | $2,400 |
| Massachusetts | $500 | $500 a year | $3,000 |
| California | $70 | $800 a year, plus $20 every two years | $4,130 |
Two states are deliberately incomplete. Ohio and Georgia both publish their fees on schedules this site has not read directly, and it does not print figures it has not read. Ohio’s recurring cost is verified, and it is nothing at all: no annual report, no annual fee. Georgia’s registration is verified as an annual obligation filed in a January-to-April window, at an amount its own state page declines to guess.
Two rows on this table are missing numbers on purpose. A verified gap is worth more than a confident guess, and the guess is what every aggregator offers.
What the totals actually say
Four states cost essentially nothing to hold. New Mexico and Ohio have no recurring state filing whatsoever, Montana has waived its fee through 2027, and Texas charges nothing for the report most LLCs file. The catch in three of those four is that free is not the same as nothing to do: Texas requires a franchise tax report by May 15 every year, and missing it triggers forfeiture that exposes members and managers to company debts personally, which makes it the most expensive $0 filing in the country. Montana’s waiver applies only to on-time filings, and filing late costs $35, more than the fee the waiver removed. Ohio alone has genuinely nothing to miss at the Secretary of State.
The expensive states are expensive in different ways. California’s $800 minimum franchise tax is owed whether the company earns a dollar or not, starting in year one now that the first-year exemption has expired for LLCs formed from 2024. Nevada’s $350 a year is a bundle, the annual list plus a state business license, and the same bundle applies to foreign LLCs, so registering an out-of-state company in Nevada costs about what forming one does. Delaware’s $400 is a flat tax with no report attached. North Carolina’s $200 is the priciest ordinary annual report in the verified set, and it passes the formation fee before the company is two years old.
Nevada’s real formation cost is $425, not the $75 its articles fee suggests, because the initial list and the business license are due in the same envelope.
Nevada is the clearest example of a bundling problem that shows up in several states. The number most sites publish for Nevada is $75, the Articles of Organization fee. The actual cost of forming is $425, because the initial list and the business license are mandatory and simultaneous. Florida bundles too, at $125 rather than $100, because the registered agent designation carries its own $25. Delaware’s $110 splits $70 to the state and $40 to the courthouse municipalities. Alaska adds a separate $50 annual business license on top of its biennial report. A fee schedule read one row at a time produces the wrong number in all four states.
Deadlines and what missing them costs
Penalty structures vary more than fees do, and the pattern is counterintuitive: the states with the friendliest penalties are not always the safest places to be late.
| State | Deadline | Penalty for missing it |
|---|---|---|
| Florida | May 1 | $400, automatic and non-waivable, the day after |
| Arkansas | May 1 | Penalties and interest, then loss of good standing |
| Rhode Island | May 1 | Late fees, and the $400 tax accrues regardless |
| Texas | May 15 | $50, plus forfeiture and personal liability exposure |
| Nevada | Last day of anniversary month | $75 on the list, $100 on the business license |
| Delaware | June 1 | $200 plus 1.5% monthly interest, and loss of good standing |
| Maine | June 1 | Late fee, then administrative dissolution |
| Michigan | February 15 | Loss of good standing; dissolution after two consecutive missed statements |
| Tennessee | April 1 | Loss of good standing; administrative dissolution for continued non-filing |
| Iowa | April 1 of odd years | Administrative dissolution for a missed biennial report |
| Nebraska | April 1 of odd years | Administrative dissolution after a missed biennial report |
| District of Columbia | April 1, every other year | $100 late, then administrative dissolution |
| New Hampshire | April 1 | $50 late fee, then administrative dissolution |
| Montana | April 15 | $35, and the fee waiver is lost |
| North Carolina | April 15 | No late fee at all |
| Maryland | April 15 | Penalty then forfeiture; missed years stack at $300 each on reinstatement |
| Mississippi | April 15 | Administrative dissolution if the free report is missed |
| Kansas | April 15, every other year | Three-month delinquency, then forfeiture |
| Kentucky | June 30 | Administrative dissolution after the June 30 deadline |
| West Virginia | July 1 | Administrative dissolution |
| Minnesota | December 31 | No late fee; miss it and the LLC is administratively dissolved |
| Pennsylvania | September 30 | No late fee yet; dissolution for non-filers begins with 2027 reports |
| North Dakota | November 15, or April 15 for farming LLCs | Administrative dissolution |
| Wyoming | First day of anniversary month | No flat penalty; recovery is by reinstatement at $100 to $350 |
| Illinois | Anniversary-based | A penalty applies; the amount is not verified here |
| Virginia | Last day of the anniversary month | $25 late, then cancellation after about three months unpaid |
| Colorado | Anniversary-month periodic report, five-month window | $50 late within 60 days, then delinquent |
| Washington | Last day of the anniversary month | $25 delinquency, then administrative dissolution |
| Massachusetts | Anniversary of the original filing | $25 late; administrative dissolution after about two missed years |
| Wisconsin | Last day of the formation quarter | Administrative dissolution once about a year overdue |
| Indiana | Anniversary month, every other year | Administrative dissolution; the shield lapses until reinstatement |
| Vermont | Within three months of fiscal year-end | Administrative termination |
| Utah | Anniversary month | Administrative dissolution after a missed renewal |
| Idaho | Anniversary month | Administrative dissolution and a 60-day protection gap |
| Louisiana | Anniversary of formation | Three consecutive missed reports means administrative dissolution |
| Oregon | Anniversary date | Administrative dissolution for a late annual report |
| Hawaii | End of the anniversary quarter | Administrative dissolution |
| Oklahoma | Anniversary of formation | 60-day grace, then loss of good standing |
| Connecticut | Anniversary month | Administrative dissolution on lapse |
| New Mexico, Ohio, Arizona, Missouri, South Carolina, Alabama | No recurring deadline | Nothing to miss |
Florida’s $400 is the harshest single penalty in the set and it is worth understanding precisely: it is automatic, non-waivable, and larger than the report itself, turning a $138.75 obligation into $538.75 for being one day late. Texas charges only $50, and Texas is the far more dangerous deadline, because forfeiture of the right to transact business under the franchise tax rules exposes the people behind the company to its debts. A clerical lapse becomes a liability event. North Carolina charges nothing for lateness, which sounds forgiving until you need to reinstate: that costs $300 minimum, plus $200 for every additional delinquent year.
Judge a deadline by what forfeiture does to you, not by the size of the late fee. Texas charges $50 and can cost you the liability shield.
The cheap-to-form, expensive-to-keep inversion
Sort the table by formation fee and you get one ranking. Sort it by five-year cost and the order barely survives.
California is the extreme case: the second-cheapest state to form in this entire set, and by a wide margin the most expensive to keep. Montana and New Mexico are cheap on both measures, which is genuinely unusual. Texas and Alaska are the mirror image of California, charging real money at the door and little or nothing afterward, which rewards long holds and punishes churn. Nevada is expensive on both.
The practical consequence depends on how many entities you plan to hold and for how long. A one-property holding company kept for a decade should be evaluated almost entirely on recurring cost, where the spread between New Mexico and California over ten years is roughly $8,000 per entity. A structure with ten entities multiplies the recurring number by ten, which is why North Carolina’s $200 becomes $2,000 a year for a ten-entity portfolio while Ohio’s nothing stays nothing. Illinois deserves its own note here: its series structure is openly priced at $400 to form and $75 plus $50 per series annually, so a ten-series Illinois LLC pays $575 a year, which is honest pricing and still the cheapest way to run ten separated pools of assets in a state that recognizes them.
None of this should decide where you form. Where your LLC actually lives is a legal question with tax and litigation consequences that dwarf these numbers, and forming in a cheap state while operating in an expensive one usually means paying both. The doctrine is on the nexus and foreign qualification page, which is also where the question of which state your LLC legally lives in gets answered. These figures tell you what the paperwork costs. They do not tell you where to file it.
Why these numbers and not the ones you found elsewhere
Every figure here was read from a state’s own schedule or statute, and the verification date is published on each state’s page, currently July 2026 across the set. That discipline exists because fee tables are unusually prone to a specific failure: a wrong figure gets copied until several sources agree, and agreement gets mistaken for verification. Delaware’s formation fee circulates as $90, $110, and $220 in different places, and the wrong ones are adjacent rows of the same official table. Wyoming’s expedited filing is widely described as unavailable and appears on the official schedule. A number several websites agree on can be several copies of one mistake.
The corollary is the part most sites skip: fee schedules change, and a page that publishes figures without dates is unfalsifiable. Every number above can be checked against a named source, and every one of them will eventually be wrong. The dates are there so you can tell when.
Expedited filing in every state
Wyoming, the state that sells itself on a $100 formation, charges $700 to file next business day and $1,400 to file the same day. Delaware does next-day for $50 to $100. A deal that needs the borrowing LLC to exist by Friday can make the expedite fee the largest cost of formation, and in Wyoming it is 14 times the filing fee. The structuring consequence: form the entity when the deal is signed, not when it closes, and file online where online filings post immediately, as they do in Colorado and Alabama, before paying for speed.
In Wyoming, same-day filing costs $1,400, fourteen times the $100 it costs to form the LLC.
| State | Expedited service |
|---|---|
| Alabama | None for entity filings; online filing is already the fastest service |
| Alaska | No expedite service; online filings post immediately |
| Arizona | $35 per filing; or $100 next day, $200 same day, $400 two-hour |
| Arkansas | None listed on the fee schedule |
| California | $350 24-hour, $750 same day; $500 four-hour for precleared drop-offs |
| Colorado | $150 for paper filings within three business days; online filings post immediately |
| Connecticut | $50 per transaction, within 24 hours |
| Delaware | $50 to $100 next day, $100 to $200 same day, $500 two-hour, $1,000 one-hour |
| District of Columbia | $50 three-day, $100 same day |
| Florida | None listed on the fee schedule |
| Georgia | $120 two business days, $275 same day, $1,200 one-hour |
| Hawaii | $25 on the schedule, but suspended since July 2026 during a system change |
| Idaho | $20 for some filing types |
| Illinois | $100 same day or 24-hour for formation, foreign admission or reinstatement; $50 for most other filings |
| Indiana | None; the state says most filings process quickly |
| Iowa | $15 five-day, $50 two-day, $125 same day, $200 one-hour, since July 1, 2026 |
| Kansas | None listed on the fee schedule |
| Kentucky | None listed on the fee schedule |
| Louisiana | $35 within 24 hours, $60 while you wait |
| Maine | $50 next business day, $100 same day |
| Maryland | $50 standard expedite; same day $325 online or $425 on paper |
| Massachusetts | No faster-service tier; electronic filings carry a small surcharge |
| Michigan | $50 24-hour and $100 same day for formation; $500 two-hour, $1,000 one-hour |
| Minnesota | None listed on the fee schedule |
| Mississippi | None listed on the fee schedule |
| Missouri | None listed on the fee schedule |
| Montana | $20 priority, $100 expedite (2017 instructions; confirm) |
| Nebraska | None listed on the fee schedule |
| Nevada | Up to $125 24-hour, $500 two-hour, $1,000 one-hour by statute; the current 24-hour price is not confirmed |
| New Hampshire | None listed on the fee schedule |
| New Jersey | $25 over the counter; $50 same day by fax; $500 two-hour, $1,000 one-hour |
| New Mexico | $150 same day, $100 within two business days under a 2011 rule; confirm the service is still offered |
| New York | $25 within 24 hours, $75 same day, $150 within two hours |
| North Carolina | $100 within 24 hours, $200 same day |
| North Dakota | None listed on the fee schedule |
| Ohio | $100 two business days, $200 one business day, $300 four-hour in person |
| Oklahoma | Not confirmed |
| Oregon | No paid expedite; online filings process the same or next business day |
| Pennsylvania | $100 same day, $300 three-hour, $1,000 one-hour; not by mail |
| Rhode Island | None listed on the fee schedule |
| South Carolina | Not confirmed |
| South Dakota | $50 |
| Tennessee | None in the fee statute; confirm with the Secretary of State |
| Texas | $25 per document |
| Utah | $75 per filing |
| Vermont | None listed on the fee schedule |
| Virginia | Next-day and same-day service offered; prices not posted |
| Washington | $100, generally within three working days |
| West Virginia | $25 24-hour, $250 two-hour, $500 one-hour; dissolutions excluded |
| Wisconsin | $100 next business day; $250 four-hour or $500 one-hour at the Madison counter |
| Wyoming | $700 next business day, $1,400 same day |
Last verified October 2026 against each state’s own fee schedule, filing form or statute; fees are added to the regular filing fee. None listed means the official schedule shows no expedite service, not that the office will never rush a filing. A cell marked not confirmed means the figure could not be read from an official source.
Foreign registration, dissolution and reinstatement figures for every state and the District of Columbia are on the foreign registration, dissolution and reinstatement pages.
The bottom line
Formation fees run $35 to $425 in the verified set and tell you almost nothing. Five-year costs run $50 to $4,130 and tell you nearly everything. California is cheaper than Wyoming to form and more than ten times more expensive to hold for five years. Nevada’s real formation cost is $425 rather than the $75 usually published, because three mandatory filings arrive together. Florida charges the harshest late penalty at $400 automatic; Texas charges $50 and is the more dangerous deadline, because forfeiture reaches the owners personally. Ohio and New Mexico have no recurring state filing at all. And two states in the table have no figures printed, because this page publishes what it has read and says so when it has not.
Last verified July 2026.