Secretary of State
Business Entity Search

What is a Secretary of State business entity search?

Every state maintains a public registry of the businesses formed or registered to do business there. The Secretary of State's office — or an equivalent agency in some states — is typically the custodian of that registry. A business entity search is the public-facing lookup tool that lets anyone query it by business name, registered agent, or entity ID number.

People use these searches for a few different reasons. Someone forming a new LLC checks whether their preferred name is already taken before filing. A vendor or potential partner runs a search to confirm a company is in good standing before signing a contract. Attorneys, lenders, and due-diligence researchers pull entity details — registered agent address, formation date, officer names — as part of routine background work. Consumers sometimes use them to verify whether a business they're dealing with is legitimately registered.

Registration is handled at the state level, so the search tool, the fees, and the formation rules differ from one jurisdiction to the next. This site publishes step-by-step guides for all 51 jurisdictions — all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. It is an independent informational resource, not affiliated with any government agency.