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Colorado business name search

Check name availability against the Colorado Secretary of State database

152,958
Business applications, last 12 months
Census BFS via FRED, trailing 12 months
46,382
Filed Q2 2026
Census BFS via FRED, Q2 2026
+13.8%
Year-over-year growth
FRED, trailing 12 months vs prior 12
607
Filings per business day
Derived from TTM applications, FRED
Colorado seal
Websitewww.sos.state.co.us
Phone(303) 894-2200
Address1700 Broadway, Suite 550, Denver, CO 80290
Hours8:00 AM – 5:00 PM, Mon-Fri

Colorado business formation by the numbers

State-level data from official sources on business formation activity in Colorado.

#12
Colorado ranks 12th in U.S. business formations
Ranking is based on total business applications filed in the trailing twelve months across all 50 states and D.C.
Census BFS via FRED, TTM rank
+76.9%
Formation activity since 2019
Comparison of trailing-twelve-month business applications to the 2019 calendar year total. Captures the post-pandemic formation surge.
FRED / BABATOTALNSACO
+29.1%
Quarter-over-quarter change
Current quarter applications compared to the prior quarter. A useful read on whether momentum is building or fading.
FRED, latest 3 months vs prior 3
$50
LLC filing fee and processing time
Standard processing: Immediate for online filings.
Colorado Secretary of State, verified Mar 2026
8,057
Federal trademark applications from Colorado businesses
Filed with the USPTO in 2023 by applicants with a Colorado address, the 11th highest total of any state. Trademarks are federal, so this is separate from registering a business name with the Colorado Secretary of State.
USPTO Trademark Case Files, 2023 vintage
+7%
Trademark filing change since 2015
Colorado filings went from 7,552 in 2015 to 8,057 in 2023, up 7%.
USPTO Trademark Case Files, 2023 vintage

What the filing data shows about Colorado

Applicants with a Colorado address filed 8,057 federal trademark applications in 2023. Adjusted for population that works out to 136 filings per 100,000 residents, the 7th highest rate in the country, which puts Colorado well above its 11th place by raw volume.

Nationally the picture moved south over the same period: Florida (up 39%), Texas (up 36%), North Carolina (up 28%) and Georgia (up 20%) gained while California (down 4%), New York (down 10%) and Illinois (down 7%) declined.

The most common category for Colorado filings since 2019 is Class 041, covering education, training and entertainment services.

A trademark and a Colorado registration are different things

Registering an entity with the Colorado Secretary of State establishes that name for that entity within Colorado. A federal trademark is granted by the USPTO, applies nationally, and covers only the goods or services it is registered under.

The two records are separate, which is why a name can clear a Colorado entity search and still overlap an existing federal mark, and why a federal mark can exist for a name no Colorado entity has registered.

Trademark figures on this page come from the USPTO Trademark Case Files dataset, which covers applications through March 2024. Counts are applications filed by applicants with a Colorado mailing address, and reflect filings rather than registrations granted.