Form an LLC in Your State — State-by-State Guides

For most owners, the answer is the state where you actually live and do business. Forming at home means one filing, one registered agent, and one annual report. Forming somewhere else usually means registering as a foreign LLC back in your home state anyway, so you end up paying and filing twice. The state guides above walk through the specific rules, fees, and deadlines for each state so you can compare them side by side.

Those three states come up constantly, and they do have real advantages — Wyoming for ownership privacy and low maintenance costs, Delaware for its court system and investor familiarity, Nevada for its lack of a state income tax. But those advantages mostly matter to holding companies, investor-backed startups, and owners with no fixed operating state. If you have employees, an office, or customers in one state, forming out of state generally adds cost without adding protection. Read the individual guides before deciding, and talk to a tax professional about your situation.

Three things drive the spread. First, the one-time filing fee for your Articles of Organization is set by each state and varies widely. Second, some states charge a recurring franchise tax or annual fee on top of the report itself. Third, a few states add requirements other states don't have at all — New York, for example, requires newspaper publication after you form. Each state guide breaks down what that state charges and when it is due.

No. You form your LLC once, in one state. If you then do business in another state — an office, employees, or a physical presence there — you register that same LLC as a foreign LLC in the second state rather than forming a new one. Foreign registration comes with its own filing fee, registered agent requirement, and annual report in that state.

The process is the same everywhere, and our general guide to forming an LLC covers every step in a state-neutral way. CompanySage handles formation filings and registered agent service nationwide, so you do not need a state guide on this page to get started — you pick your state during checkout and we file with that state's office.

That depends entirely on your state's office and how busy it is. Some states approve online filings the same business day; others take several weeks for mailed filings. CompanySage submits your filing within 24 hours of your order at no extra cost, so the only variable left is your state's own review time. Each state guide lists that state's typical turnaround.