SOS fee registry · August 2026

LLC first-year SOS fee key findings

Counts compiled from SmallBizCalc's 51-jurisdiction Secretary of State LLC fee table (50 states plus DC). Vintage August 2026. Registry facts only; not formation advice and not a census of every US formation path.

Compiled from official public sources by the editorial process.

SOS fee table · August 2026

This table lists 51 SOS fee rows. Filing fees run $35 (Montana) to $500 (Massachusetts). The first-year composite, which includes a flat $125 agent placeholder, runs $175 (Arizona) to $1,834 (New York).

According to the SmallBizCalc Secretary of State LLC fee table as of August 2026. See methodology. Figures recompute from the table. How we calculate →

51
jurisdictions
$310
median composite
2/51
publication required
$125
agent placeholder

Key findings

Standalone, citable statements from the SOS fee table. Free to reuse with attribution to SmallBizCalc. Licensed CC0.

  • 51 jurisdictions sit in this SmallBizCalc Secretary of State fee table (50 states plus the District of Columbia). Every finding below is recomputed from that table, not typed in by hand. This is the catalog count, not a census of every US formation path.
  • $35-$500 is the SOS articles-of-organization filing-fee range in this table (Montana to Massachusetts). Median filing fee is $100; mean is $129. Filing fee is the SOS line only, not the first-year composite.
  • $175-$1,834 is the first-year composite range (Arizona to New York). Composite = SOS filing + first-period report fee + a $125 registered-agent placeholder + publication only when this table marks it required. Median composite is $310 (North Dakota); mean is $383.
  • 82% of New York's $1,834 composite is the $1,500 newspaper-publication estimate. The SOS filing on that row is $200. Publication cost is not a Secretary of State filing.
  • 2 of 51 rows require newspaper publication in this extract (Nebraska $150; New York $1,500). The other 49 rows carry $0 publication.
  • 37/6/7/1 rows use annual / biennial / none / decennial report cadence in this extract. The decennial row is Pennsylvania ($7). Cadence is the SOS label in this table, not a filing calendar for a specific LLC.
  • 7 jurisdictions have no SOS report cadence in this extract (Arizona, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina). Arizona is the lowest composite because this extract lists a $50 filing and no report line, not because it is a recommended formation state.
  • $125 registered-agent placeholder is applied to every row (a constant). It does not change rank order. SOS-only totals (filing + first-period report + publication, no agent) run $50 (Arizona) to $1,709 (New York).

Lowest eight first-year composites

First-year composite as defined above, not a ranking of where to form an LLC. Arizona is lowest in this extract because the table lists no SOS report cadence on that row.

1. Arizona$1752. Mississippi$1753. Missouri$1754. New Mexico$1755. Kentucky$1806. Montana$1807. Colorado$1858. Hawaii$190
Eight lowest first-year composites among 51 SOS fee rows (August 2026). Includes the $125 agent placeholder.
018341500
New York publication estimate $1,500 of $1,834 composite (82%)

Source: State Secretaries of State, compiled by SmallBizCalc LLC first-year fee table · 2026 Composite includes a flat $125 registered-agent placeholder on every row. Publication cost is included only when this table marks newspaper notice required.

How to read these numbers

Filing fees, report names, cadences, and publication flags are compiled from each jurisdiction's Secretary of State schedule into this table. The registered-agent line is a SmallBizCalc placeholder, not a named-vendor quote. This page does not recommend a formation state and does not walk through name reservation, EINs, or operating agreements. Download the CSV or open the state fee registry. Verify current fees on the linked SOS site before relying on a figure.

What this table is for

Registry reading notes

  • The $125 agent placeholder is the same on every row, so it does not change rank order.
  • New York's composite is mostly the $1,500 publication estimate, not the $200 SOS filing.
  • 7 jurisdictions have no SOS report cadence in this extract; that is a table field, not advice to skip annual filings.
  • Confirm the live SOS schedule before using a number from this August 2026 extract.

SmallBizCalc is rendered directly from state Secretary of State LLC fee schedules, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error on this page. See the public changelog for verified updates. Data current as of August 2026.

The compiled fee table is dedicated to the public domain (CC0). Quote the figures with attribution to SmallBizCalc and the underlying Secretary of State.