District of Columbia business name search
Check name availability against the District of Columbia Secretary of State database
District of Columbia business formation by the numbers
State-level data from official sources on business formation activity in District of Columbia.
What the filing data shows about District of Columbia
Applicants with a District of Columbia address filed 2,236 federal trademark applications in 2023. Adjusted for population that works out to 325 filings per 100,000 residents, the 1st highest rate in the country, which puts District of Columbia well above its 32nd 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 District of Columbia filings since 2019 is Class 041, covering education, training and entertainment services.
A trademark and a District of Columbia registration are different things
Registering an entity with the District of Columbia Secretary of State establishes that name for that entity within District of Columbia. 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 District of Columbia entity search and still overlap an existing federal mark, and why a federal mark can exist for a name no District of Columbia 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 District of Columbia mailing address, and reflect filings rather than registrations granted.