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Pennsylvania business name search

Check name availability against the Pennsylvania Secretary of State database

166,079
Business applications, last 12 months
Census BFS via FRED, trailing 12 months
46,055
Filed Q2 2026
Census BFS via FRED, Q2 2026
+13.5%
Year-over-year growth
FRED, trailing 12 months vs prior 12
659
Filings per business day
Derived from TTM applications, FRED
Pennsylvania seal
Websitewww.pa.gov
Phone(717) 787-1057
Address401 North St, Room 206, Harrisburg, PA 17120
Hours8:00 AM – 5:00 PM, Mon-Fri

Pennsylvania business formation by the numbers

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

#10
Pennsylvania ranks 10th 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
+61.6%
Formation activity since 2019
Comparison of trailing-twelve-month business applications to the 2019 calendar year total. Captures the post-pandemic formation surge.
FRED / BABATOTALNSAPA
+13.2%
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
$125
LLC filing fee and processing time
Standard processing: 7-10 business days.
Pennsylvania Secretary of State, verified Mar 2026
9,197
Federal trademark applications from Pennsylvania businesses
Filed with the USPTO in 2023 by applicants with a Pennsylvania address, the 8th highest total of any state. Trademarks are federal, so this is separate from registering a business name with the Pennsylvania Secretary of State.
USPTO Trademark Case Files, 2023 vintage
flat
Trademark filing change since 2015
Pennsylvania filings went from 9,165 in 2015 to 9,197 in 2023, essentially unchanged.
USPTO Trademark Case Files, 2023 vintage

What the filing data shows about Pennsylvania

Applicants with a Pennsylvania address filed 9,197 federal trademark applications in 2023, almost exactly the 9,165 filed in 2015. Pennsylvania is one of a handful of states where the volume barely moved across eight years.

The country did not stand still around it. Florida (up 39%), Texas (up 36%), North Carolina (up 28%) and Georgia (up 20%) gained sharply over the same eight years and California (down 4%), New York (down 10%) and Illinois (down 7%) declined.

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

A trademark and a Pennsylvania registration are different things

Registering an entity with the Pennsylvania Secretary of State establishes that name for that entity within Pennsylvania. 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 Pennsylvania entity search and still overlap an existing federal mark, and why a federal mark can exist for a name no Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania mailing address, and reflect filings rather than registrations granted.