Corporation Formation Fees by State — Explainer

Matrix explainer. Coverage: the articles-of-incorporation filing fee, turnaround, and expedite options for domestic corporations. Source matrix: Corporation Formation Fees by State. 50 states + DC. Fees as of the matrix's last verification (2026-05-31). Not legal advice.

Short answer

Incorporating means filing articles of incorporation with the state and paying a filing fee. Among the states that charge one flat number, that fee runs from $35 in Montana to $300 in Texas, and the median is $100 — the same broad range as LLC formation. The difference is how often the corporation fee isn't one flat number: several states scale it to the shares you authorize, Nevada bundles two required extras into a $725 minimum, and seven states charge differently depending on how you file. If you are comparing entity types on cost, the corporation column has more fine print than the LLC column.

Where the fee stops being flat

Four patterns break the flat-fee model, and the table marks each one where it applies:

• Share-based formulas. New Mexico starts at $100 for the first 100,000 authorized shares, then adds $1 per 1,000 shares up to a $1,000 cap. Massachusetts' $275 covers up to 275,000 shares, plus $100 per additional 100,000. Missouri's $58 minimum covers up to $30,000 in authorized shares. Delaware adds $9 per page to its $109 base. Authorizing a large share pool is not free paperwork — it prices the filing itself.
• Bundled add-ons. Nevada's articles are $75, but the required Initial List of Officers ($150) and the corporate state Business License ($500 for corporations; $200 for other entity types) are due at the same time — a $725 minimum to stand up a Nevada corporation. Georgia adds a $10 service fee to its $100 filing. Illinois collects its paid-in-capital franchise tax with the $150 filing.
• Method splits. Arkansas is $50 on paper but $45 online; Indiana $95 online, $100 by mail; Kansas $90 online, $115 by mail; Nebraska $100 online, $110 by mail; Idaho adds $20 if the form is handwritten rather than typed. Two states run the other way: Minnesota charges $155 online against $135 by mail, and Washington $200 online against $180 by mail — online is not always the cheap channel.
• Flat and simple. Everywhere else, one number: $100 is the most common (eight states charge exactly that), with $50 and $125 next.

Expedite: 20 states sell speed

Standard processing ranges from same-day portals to multi-week queues, and in 20 of the 51 jurisdictions the state sells an official expedite. The cheapest expedites are $25 (Texas, New York, Hawaii, Wisconsin, West Virginia); the priciest is Nevada's $125. A $100 expedite is common (Delaware, DC, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia). Where the table shows no expedite, the state does not offer one at any price — a service that promises faster state processing there is reselling the normal queue.

The full fee line, state by state

This explainer stays in prose deliberately; the full 51-jurisdiction table — every state's articles-of-incorporation fee, expedite option, and note, with a primary-source link on every row — lives on the matrix page: Corporation Formation Fees by State.

How these numbers are sourced

Each fee is read off the state's own published fee schedule or filing form and backed by a captured snapshot, bound to the domestic-corporation articles-of-incorporation line specifically — not the LLC line beside it, which often carries a different number. Full method at /about/methodology/; source taxonomy at /about/source-registry/. The structured matrix, with a source link on every row, is at Corporation Formation Fees by State.

What the matrix does not prove

• Your exact fee in a share-based state — that depends on the share pool your articles authorize, so the table shows the formula and its floor, not your number.
• The recurring costs that usually dwarf this one-time fee: the annual report and, in many states, a franchise tax. See corporation annual report & renewal rules.
• Registered-agent cost — required in every state, never included in these figures. See what a registered agent is.
• Whether a corporation is the right structure at all — see LLC vs. corporation formation and the LLC-side fee picture in LLC formation fees by state.
• That today's fee matches the table — fees change; every row carries a last-checked date in the matrix. Confirm against the linked state source before you file. Structured reference, not counsel.

See also: Corporation Formation Fees by State (matrix) · Corporation annual report & renewal rules · LLC formation fees by state