The best state to form an LLC as a non-resident.

Most of the 50 states are immediately disqualified by some combination of high fees, public owner records, or franchise taxes that scale with revenue. For a non-resident with no US physical presence, the shortlist has been stable for years:

Fees are state filing costs as scored by our methodology; registered agent service (~$50–125/yr, required in any state where you don't have an address) comes on top.

$50 to form, then no annual report and no annual fee, ever. New Mexico is also one of the few true "anonymous LLC" states — members are not disclosed on the public record. The trade-offs: thinner case law than Delaware or Wyoming, and it's the wrong choice if you might raise US venture capital. Best for solo operators and consultants who want the absolute lowest ongoing cost.

$100 to form and $60/year, with no state corporate income tax and no franchise tax. Wyoming pairs New Mexico–level privacy (owner names stay off the public record) with the strongest charging-order protection in the country — meaning a personal creditor of yours has a very hard time reaching the LLC's assets. For e-commerce sellers, SaaS founders, and holding companies that aren't chasing VC money, Wyoming is the balanced pick and the most common recommendation our assessment produces for non-residents.

Here's the part most articles get wrong: Delaware is the right answer for roughly 12% of founders, not all of them. Its genuine advantages — the Court of Chancery, universal VC acceptance, clean conversion to a C-Corp — only matter if you plan to raise institutional funding. If you do, form there and don't overthink it. If you don't, you're paying $300 in franchise tax every year for brand prestige your customers will never see.

Nevada has strong charging-order protection and no state income tax, but at $425 to form and $350+ per year it costs 5–10× what Wyoming does for broadly similar protection. It makes sense mainly for high-net-worth holding structures where the specific contours of Nevada law matter.

Raising VC within 18 months → Delaware. Otherwise: absolute lowest cost → New Mexico; best all-round balance of cost, privacy, and protection → Wyoming; specialized asset-protection holding → Nevada. And one hard rule that overrides everything: if you have real physical operations in a US state (office, inventory, employees), you'll have to register there anyway — forming elsewhere just doubles your fees.