What an LLC costs, state by state.
There is no national answer, because an LLC is a state filing and every state sets its own terms. There is a national structure: something to file at the start, something that repeats afterwards, and a set of items the state never mentions that the business needs anyway. Pick your state for the figures that apply where you are.
Four things that change with your state.
The question people ask is one number. The answer is four lines, and states weight them differently: some put more of the total at formation, others put more of it in the obligation that repeats.
The formation filing
Every state requires a payment to file the document that creates the LLC, and every state sets its own schedule for it. It is a government charge rather than a service, it happens once, and it is the one line on this page that nobody can opt out of.
What repeats every year
Most states want something on a repeating cycle: an annual report in many, a biennial one in some, and in others a franchise tax return instead of a report entirely. Both the form and the cycle are the state's decision, and they change what an LLC costs to run rather than to start.
What the state never lists
A registered agent, an address the state will accept, any license the work itself requires, and insurance. The state's own schedule mentions none of them and the business needs them anyway, which is why the formation figure and the first-year figure are rarely the same one.
Operating across a line
Doing business in a state you did not form in adds that state's registration and its recurring obligation to the one you already have. Two registers, two calendars, two sets of figures. It is the most commonly missed part of the arithmetic when a business spreads.
One filing at the start, one obligation that repeats, and everything the state leaves you to arrange yourself. The mix is what changes.
Pick your state.
Each state page sets out the formation figure for that state, the recurring obligation and the cycle it runs on, the items that sit outside the state's own schedule, and the related filings a business there tends to need in its first year.
A clean handoff, in four steps.
Working out the real answer is a short exercise, provided you do it in the right order and keep the things that repeat separate from the things that happen once.
Start with your state
The formation figure and the recurring obligation are both set where you file. Everything else follows from that choice, so it is the first thing to pin down rather than the last.
Split one-time from recurring
One-time items happen once. Recurring ones continue for as long as the entity exists, which makes them the line that matters over the life of the company rather than at the start of it.
Count what the state omits
Registered agent, an address the state will accept, licenses the work requires, insurance appropriate to it. None of it appears on the state's schedule and all of it belongs in the total.
Check the second state
If you operate outside the state you formed in, add that state's registration and its recurring obligation. That is a second calendar as much as a second set of figures.
The formation filing is one line. The calendar is the rest of it.
The rest of What it costs.
Every one of these is built the same way: a national explainer above its state pages. They are the filings that sit closest to this one.
Annual report cost
Annual report cost, state by state
All 51 states → HubCorporation cost
What a corporation costs, state by state
All 51 states → HubLLC cost
What an LLC costs, state by state
All 51 states → HubTrademark cost
Trademark cost, state by state
All 51 states →The full index lives on What it costs.
The questions people ask before they file.
Why do states differ so much?
Because each one sets its own schedule, and they do not use the same structure. Some states put more of the total at formation and ask for very little afterwards. Others do the reverse, with an obligation that repeats every year for as long as the entity exists. Comparing states on the formation line alone will mislead you, and it can mislead you in either direction.
Is the formation filing a one-time thing?
Yes. It happens when the entity is created and not again for that entity. What is not one-time is everything that keeps it on the register afterwards: the report or the tax return on your state's cycle, the registered agent, and any license that has to be renewed. Those are the lines that decide what an LLC takes to run rather than to start.
What do people forget to count?
The registered agent, an address the state will accept for the record, any license or permit the work itself requires, insurance appropriate to that work, and the second state's obligations if you operate across a line. None of these appear on a state's formation schedule. All of them are ordinary parts of running a company that exists on a public register.
Does a sole proprietorship avoid all this?
A sole proprietorship has no formation filing and no state register to stay current with, so the recurring obligations described here do not apply to it. What it also has is no liability separation between the business and you personally. That is the trade, and it is a different question from the arithmetic on this page.
Do I pay twice if I work in two states?
You register twice, and each register carries its own obligations. Foreign qualification in the second state brings that state's registration and its recurring filing, on its own cycle and under its own name, in addition to everything your home state already asks for. The entity is still one company throughout. The paperwork and the calendar are the parts that double.
Where do I find the figures for my state?
On that state's page. Everything that applies to forming an LLC and keeping it current is state-specific, so a single national figure would be wrong for fifty jurisdictions out of fifty-one. The state pages carry the current position for each one, along with what the recurring obligation is called and how often it comes due there.
Keep going, in order.
What it costs
Every hub in what it costs, in one place.
Open the index → IndexAll 51 state guides
Every filing a business does, organised by jurisdiction.
Open the index → ServiceCompliance calendar
Every deadline that touches your entity, watched.
Track deadlines → ServiceTalk to a specialist
A person who files these every day, not a call centre.
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