LLC Filing Fees by State (2026): Every Fee, Verified

LLC filing fees in 2026 run from $35 in Montana to $500 in Massachusetts, and the average state filing fee across all 50 states is about $122 (median: $100). Ongoing fees spread even wider: nine states charge nothing to keep an LLC in good standing, while a California LLC owes at least $800 every year it exists. Every figure on this page was verified against the state’s own Secretary of State fee schedule, statute, or official register in July 2026, and each row links to that primary source.

This is a reference table of LLC filing fees by state, not a sales page. Use it to budget your formation, check whether your state raised its fee this year (six did), and catch the costs the headline number hides. If you want a personalized total instead, our LLC formation cost calculator turns these same numbers into a year-one estimate for your state and choices.

The short version (2026):
Cheapest state: Montana ($35), followed by Kentucky ($40) and Arkansas ($45).
Most expensive: Massachusetts ($500 to form, $500 every year).
The 50-state average filing fee is about $122.
Nine states charge $0 in ongoing report fees (AZ, ID, MN, MS, MO, NM, OH, SC, TX).
The biggest 2026 change: Kansas cut its filing fee from $160 to $75.
Watch the fine print: Nevada’s real day-one cost is $425, not $75, and New York adds a newspaper publication bill of $200 to $2,000 or more.

The 2026 LLC Filing Fee Table: All 50 States + DC

Last updated: July 6, 2026. The filing fee is what you pay the state once to create the LLC (the Articles of Organization or Certificate of Formation). The ongoing fee is the state’s recurring report or tax that keeps the company in good standing. This LLC filing fees by state table shows online rates where a state charges less online; footnotes flag the states where the sticker price misleads.

Key Findings From the 2026 Data

Five numbers stand out once you line up LLC filing fees by state in one verified table:

• The average LLC filing fee is about $122; the median is $100. Half the country charges $100 or less to form an LLC.
• The cheapest and most expensive states are 14x apart. Montana charges $35; Massachusetts charges $500 plus another $500 every year after.
• Nine states charge $0 in recurring report fees: Arizona, Idaho, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, and Texas. Add Montana through 2027 (fee waiver) and Alabama for most small LLCs.
• The most expensive state to own an LLC is not the most expensive to form one. California’s $70 filing fee sits below average, but its $800 minimum annual franchise tax is the highest recurring state cost in the country.
• Kansas made the biggest move of 2026, cutting formation from $160 to $75 and the report fee from $50 to $5, effective February 27, 2026. Meanwhile at least six states raised fees since 2024.

How to Read These Numbers

Three distinctions keep a table of LLC filing fees by state honest, and they are the ones most fee lists blur:

Formation fee vs. ongoing fee. The filing fee is a one-time payment for the document that creates the LLC. The ongoing fee is the annual or biennial report (some states call it a renewal, statement, or annual certificate) that keeps the company in good standing. A state that looks cheap on one can be expensive on the other: New York forms at $200 but then costs $4.50 a year, while North Carolina forms at $125 and then bills $200 every single year.

Report fees vs. taxes. Arkansas, California, Delaware, Kentucky, and Tennessee charge flat or minimum taxes that behave like fees because they are owed regardless of income. We include them in the ongoing column (with footnotes) because your bank account cannot tell the difference.

What is not in this table. Registered agent service ($100–$299/yr if you hire one; see our 50-state registered agent cost comparison), local business licenses, industry permits, and the IRS EIN, which is always free directly from the IRS no matter what a formation upsell page implies.

The Cheapest States to Form an LLC

Montana ($35), Kentucky ($40), and Arkansas ($45) hold the floor in 2026, with a large group at $50 (Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Iowa, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico). Kansas joined the budget tier this year at $75 after its fee cut.

The catch: a low filing fee predicts nothing about the recurring bill. Arkansas forms at $45, then charges a $150 franchise tax every year, so its five-year cost passes many states that charge triple its filing fee. The five-year math is the honest comparison: Montana at $35 + $0 reports (through 2027, then $20) beats Arkansas at $45 + $150/yr by more than $500. Kentucky’s $40 looks unbeatable until the LLET’s $175 minimum shows up on the state tax return.

If you want the genuinely cheapest states to own an LLC for five years, the shortlist is Montana, New Mexico ($50, then nothing), Missouri ($50 online, then nothing), Arizona ($50, then nothing, though budget for the one-time publication outside Phoenix and Tucson), and Ohio ($99, then nothing).

The Most Expensive States (and Why)

Massachusetts is the clear outlier: $500 to form and $500 every year after, the highest combination in the country. Tennessee’s per-member pricing ($50 per member, $300 minimum on both formation and the annual report) makes a six-member LLC a $600-a-year proposition before it earns a dollar. Texas charges $300 up front, though it balances that with no recurring report fee for companies under the $2.65 million franchise-tax threshold.

Then there is California, the state that proves the filing fee is the wrong number to budget around. Forming costs a modest $70, but every California LLC owes the $800 minimum franchise tax each year, starting with its first, since the pandemic-era first-year waiver expired at the end of 2023. Over five years a California LLC pays the state at least $4,070; a Massachusetts LLC pays $2,500. The pattern I see with new owners is budgeting for the fee they read about and getting surprised by the tax they did not.

Hidden Costs a Fee Table Can’t Show

Four states bury real money outside the two headline columns, and they are exactly where first-time filers get caught:

• Nevada’s $425 day one. The $75 Articles of Organization must be filed with a $150 Initial List of managers and a $200 state business license. The state does not accept one without the others, so Nevada’s real formation cost is $425, then $350 every year.
• New York’s publication rule. Within 120 days of formation you must publish notice in two county-designated newspapers for six consecutive weeks and file a $50 Certificate of Publication. In upstate counties that runs a few hundred dollars; in New York County it can exceed $2,000.
• Annual license layers. Alaska requires a separate $50/yr state business license, and Nevada’s $200 license renews annually. Washington runs licensing through a separate Department of Revenue system on top of the $70 report.
• Minimum taxes that ignore your income. California ($800), Delaware ($300), Arkansas ($150), Kentucky (LLET, $175 minimum), and Tennessee ($300 minimum) all bill an LLC that earned nothing.

None of this argues against forming an LLC. It argues for budgeting from the full table, not the marketing number. If your LLC’s job is done, unused registrations keep billing until you formally close them; our guide to dissolving an LLC properly covers stopping the meter.

What Changed in 2025 and 2026

State legislatures kept fee schedules busy. The verified changes worth knowing:

• Kansas cut fees dramatically (Feb 27, 2026): Articles of Organization dropped from $160 to $75, and the report fee fell from $50 to $5 online, now filed every two years. Most fee lists online still show the old numbers.
• Montana waived its annual report fee for on-time filings in 2026 and announced the waiver continues in 2027.
• Vermont raised both numbers: Articles moved from $125 to $155 and the annual report from $35 to $45.
• Washington’s report rose to $70/yr (from $60), codified by 2026 legislation.
• Colorado’s periodic report went from $10 to $25 (July 2024), still among the cheapest.
• Georgia’s annual registration now totals $60 online after a $10 service fee was added to the $50 base (September 2025).
• South Dakota’s annual report rose from $50 to $55 online (July 2025).
• Pennsylvania introduced an annual report at all: since January 2025, LLCs file yearly at $7, replacing the old once-a-decade report. Enforcement penalties phase in with the 2027 cycle.
• Alabama dropped its annual report (October 2024) and exempted small LLCs from the minimum Business Privilege Tax.
• California’s first-year franchise-tax holiday stayed dead: the 2021–2023 waiver expired, so new LLCs owe the $800 in year one again.

Net direction: recurring fees are drifting up. Six states raised an LLC fee in the last two years; only Kansas cut one, and Montana’s break is a temporary waiver rather than a repeal.

How We Verified Every Fee

Every row of this LLC filing fees by state table was checked in July 2026 against a primary government source: the Secretary of State’s published fee schedule, the online filing portal’s fee page, the state statute, or, for the newest changes, the state register entry (Kansas’s cut, for example, comes from the Kansas Register regulation effective February 27, 2026). The source column links to the exact page we used, so you can re-verify any number in one click.

Where online and paper prices differ, the table shows the online rate and notes the paper rate. Where a state’s recurring charge is legally a tax rather than a report fee, we say so in a footnote instead of silently mixing categories. One number resisted full confirmation: Nebraska’s capital-based biennial fee, which official sources present inconsistently; we show the amount most small LLCs actually pay, marked as approximate. When a state adjusts a fee, we update the table and the date stamp above it; this page is maintained as a standing reference, not a one-time post.

Cite, Download, or Embed This Data

Journalists, bloggers, and researchers are welcome to use this table. Cite any figure with a link back to this page as the source; that keeps the citation traceable to the government documents behind it.

The CSV carries the same verified values as the table: state, filing fee, ongoing fee, frequency, and source URL. If you spot a state that changed its fee before we did, tell us through the contact page and we will re-verify against the state source and update the table.

Should You Form in a Cheaper State?

Comparing LLC filing fees by state tempts everyone once: Montana at $35 sits right there next to your $500 home-state bill. For most small businesses the answer is no, and the table explains why: an LLC that operates in your home state must register there as a foreign LLC anyway, which typically costs as much as forming locally, and then you pay two states’ recurring fees and maintain two registered agents. The “cheap Wyoming LLC” plan usually doubles the paperwork it promised to shrink.

Out-of-state formation makes sense mainly when the business genuinely operates there, when you hold passive assets in a state-specific structure, or when investors require a Delaware entity. If you are deciding between staying a sole proprietor and paying your state’s numbers, our sole proprietorship vs. LLC guide walks the trade-off, and converting later is a filing, not a crisis. Once the LLC exists, mark the report deadline from the table above in your calendar; the late penalties (Florida’s $400 is the harshest) cost more than most states’ fees.

Frequently Asked Questions

What state has the cheapest LLC filing fee in 2026?

Montana, at $35 for online filing. Kentucky ($40) and Arkansas ($45) are next. Montana is also waiving its annual report fee for on-time filings in 2026 and 2027, which makes it the cheapest state to form and maintain an LLC right now.

What is the most expensive state to form an LLC?

Massachusetts, at $500 to file plus $500 every year for the annual report. Tennessee and Texas charge $300 to form, and Tennessee’s $300 is also a yearly minimum. California costs the most over time: only $70 to form, but at least $800 per year in franchise tax.

Do I have to pay the LLC filing fee every year?

No. The filing fee is a one-time payment when you create the LLC. What recurs is the annual or biennial report fee, which ranges from $0 in nine states to $500 in Massachusetts, plus flat minimum taxes in states like California ($800), Delaware ($300), and Arkansas ($150).

Which states have no annual LLC fee?

Nine states charge no recurring report fee: Arizona, Idaho, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, and Texas. Idaho, Minnesota, and Mississippi still require a yearly filing, only without a fee. Montana joins the list temporarily through 2027, and most small Alabama LLCs owe nothing recurring since 2024.

Can I save money by forming my LLC in a cheaper state?

Usually not. If your business operates in your home state, you must register there as a foreign LLC even if you formed elsewhere, so you end up paying both states plus two registered agents. Forming out of state mainly pays off for businesses that genuinely operate there or startups whose investors require a Delaware entity.

Is the EIN included in these state fees?

No, and it costs nothing. The IRS issues Employer Identification Numbers for free in about 15 minutes online. Any site charging $50 to $100 for an EIN is reselling a free government service, so treat that line item on a formation quote as pure markup.

David Miller

David Miller writes about small business and LLC formation for ClearLegalTips. He focuses on making business registration, S-corp elections, and seller’s permits understandable for new founders handling them without a lawyer.