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A Secretary of State business search is a search of one state's register of companies. There is no national version. You search the state where the company was formed, and then any other state where it registered to do business. The cards below this text open each state's guide and its official search.
The office is not always the Secretary of State
Most states keep company filings with the Secretary of State, but a good number do not. If you type "Secretary of State" plus a state name and land on an elections page, this is usually why. Some examples:
- Delaware: the Division of Corporations, part of the Department of State. See our Delaware guide.
- Florida: the Division of Corporations, known as Sunbiz. See the Florida guide.
- Arizona: the Arizona Corporation Commission, not the Secretary of State. See the Arizona guide.
- Virginia: the State Corporation Commission, through its Clerk's Information System. See the Virginia guide.
- Utah: the Division of Corporations in the Department of Commerce. See the Utah guide.
Others include Maryland (the State Department of Assessments and Taxation), Michigan (the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs), Wisconsin (the Department of Financial Institutions), New Jersey (the Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services) and Washington, DC (the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection). Each state guide names the office and links its search.
How to pick the right state
Start with what you know about the company.
- Look at its paperwork. Contracts, invoices, websites and W-9 forms often say "a Delaware limited liability company" or similar. That is the home state.
- Search where it operates. A company formed elsewhere must usually register as a foreign entity in each state where it does business. That record often names the home state and the formation date there.
- Try the common formation states. Many companies form in Delaware, Wyoming or Nevada even when the owners live elsewhere.
If a company has offices in several states, you may find several records. They are the same company if the home state and formation date match.
What the search returns
The layout differs by state, but most records show the same core facts:
- Exact legal name and entity type (LLC, corporation, limited partnership, nonprofit).
- Entity or file number, the state's own ID.
- Status, such as Active, Good Standing, Delinquent or Dissolved. Our status guide explains the words.
- Formation or registration date, and the home state for foreign entities.
- Registered agent name and address in that state.
- Principal office address and, in many states, managers, officers or directors.
- Filing history, often with free images of the documents.
Some states let you search by more than the name. Florida's search, for example, also takes an officer or registered agent name and an FEI/EIN number. Delaware only searches by name or file number, and its results include inactive entities, so a hit there does not tell you the current status.
Telling look-alike names apart
Two names that look the same can be two unrelated companies. Check these before you rely on a record:
- The ending. "Harbor Supply LLC" and "Harbor Supply Inc." are separate entities.
- Extra words. "Harbor Supply Group LLC" is a different company again.
- The state. The same name can be taken in several states by different owners.
- The entity number and formation date. These are the only reliable way to match a record to the company you deal with.
- The address and agent. If they do not match the company's own documents, keep looking.
When the company does not show up
Shorten the search to one or two distinctive words and remove punctuation. Try a "contains" search instead of "begins with" if the state offers it. Then try other states. If nothing turns up anywhere, the business may be a sole trader or a partnership using a trade name, which is filed with the county or the state as a DBA. Our DBA search guide covers that. You can also ask the company for its legal name and home state. A real business will tell you.