Vermont Business Entity Search: What the Register Shows, From LLCs to L3Cs

Vermont has the smallest population of any state outside Wyoming, yet its business register is growing faster than at any point on record. The register holds 281,075 business entities, 113,541 of them active, and Vermonters filed a record 7,575 business applications in 2025, with 2026 running 20.7% ahead. This guide explains how the Vermont business entity search (also called the Vermont Secretary of State business search) works, what the numbers mean, which industries the companies sit in, what the register does and does not publish, and how to get Vermont company data at scale.

How many companies are registered in Vermont?

The Vermont Secretary of State does not publish a running count of registered businesses. Its budget presentations to the Legislature give workload figures instead: the Business Services Division processed about 130,000 filings in fiscal 2025, including more than 14,500 new business formations, more than 68,000 annual and biennial reports and over 16,500 UCC filings, and collected $11.2 million in revenue. It does all of this with a team of about six people.

Counting the register itself gives the real picture. As of November 2026 the Vermont register in Global Database holds 281,075 entities across all statuses, roughly one active entity for every six residents.

New businesses in Vermont, year over year

Before the pandemic Vermont recorded around 5,600 business applications a year. In 2021 the figure jumped 27.1% to 7,166, and unlike many states that saw a post-pandemic reversal, Vermont held the gain. Applications rose again in 2022 and 2023, dipped 2.5% in 2024 and reached a record 7,575 in 2025, 36% above the 2019 level. By the end of September 2026 another 6,992 had been filed.

2026 is a breakout year. Every month from February to September came in above the same month of 2025. April reached 960 applications, the busiest single month in Vermont's history, and September's 857 was 52% above September 2025. If October to December follow last year's pattern, Vermont will finish 2026 with more than 8,500 applications, beating the 2025 record by around 12%.

Active vs inactive companies in Vermont

Only 40% of Vermont's records are active, a much lower share than in states such as New Mexico, where LLCs never file reports and so are rarely struck off. In Vermont every for-profit entity files an annual report, and those that stop filing or lose their registered agent are terminated. Over decades that has built up 165,904 inactive records, which still matter for due diligence: an old supplier, landlord or counterparty may only exist in that inactive history.

Vermont entities by legal form

LLCs now make up half of Vermont's active register. Based on the legal suffix in each registered name, about 55,965 active entities (49%) are LLCs, against 26,481 (23%) carrying "Inc." and 2,745 named "Corporation" or "Corp." The rest are nonprofits, trusts, cooperatives, partnerships and older names with no suffix. Across all 281,075 records, active and inactive, LLCs account for only 34%: the LLC is the form most new Vermont businesses choose, and the register's history is full of older corporations.

Two smaller forms are worth knowing. Vermont has 271 active L3Cs (low-profit LLCs) out of 663 ever registered, the legacy of being the first state to create the form. Another 746 active entities are limited liability partnerships. Survival also differs by form: 58% of LLC-named records are still active, against 44% of those named "Inc."

The shift to LLCs, told through filing revenue

Vermont does not publish new formations by legal form, but the Secretary of State's fee report to the Legislature shows where filing revenue comes from, which is a clear proxy. Between FY2020 and FY2024, revenue from limited liability company filings rose 40%, from $3.13 million to $4.39 million. Revenue from domestic corporation charters fell 12%, from $0.84 million to $0.74 million. Foreign corporations, out-of-state companies registered to trade in Vermont, brought in a steady $2.3 to $2.6 million a year.

A new Vermont company today is most likely an LLC, while many of the corporations on the register are foreign entities incorporated in other states. For due diligence that matters: for a foreign corporation the Vermont record is only a registration, and the authoritative company record sits in its home state. For companies incorporated in Delaware, our Delaware registry guide covers the home-state record.

Vermont companies by industry and size

The Vermont register records no industry codes, so sector analysis has to come from enriched data. Among active, classified Vermont companies in Global Database, the largest sectors are other services (4,631 companies), construction (3,611), retail trade (3,139) and professional, scientific and technical services (3,123). The tourism economy shows up in 1,449 accommodation and food businesses, and the working landscape in 573 agriculture and forestry businesses.

By size, Vermont is a market of micro-businesses. Of the 41,424 active Vermont companies with a headcount figure in Global Database, 78.5% employ fewer than 10 people. Only 1,653 have 50 or more staff, and 123 employ 1,000 or more. For sales and lending teams, that small group of mid-size and large employers is where most of the state's addressable B2B spend sits.

Where Vermont's businesses are based

Burlington is home to about 9,100 active entities, followed by its neighbour South Burlington (4,060) and Rutland (3,162). Grouped together, the seven Chittenden County towns of Burlington, South Burlington, Essex, Colchester, Shelburne, Williston and Winooski hold about 24,500 active entities, more than a fifth of the state's total. Outside the Burlington area, the state capital Montpelier and neighbouring Barre, the southern towns of Brattleboro, Bennington and Manchester, and the ski town of Stowe are the largest business centres.

What makes the Vermont register different

A small register can still hold unusual entities. Four features of Vermont's corporate landscape are worth knowing before you search.

Vermont vs New Hampshire

Vermont's eastern neighbour has about twice the population and a larger register, but per resident the two states are remarkably close. The bigger difference is in status: only 28% of New Hampshire's records are active against 40% in Vermont. New Hampshire's 2026 surge is even steeper, with applications up 28.4% on 2025. For Vermont's southern neighbour, see our Massachusetts business entity search guide.

How to use the Vermont SOS business search

The public search lives on the Secretary of State's online business service at bizfilings.vermont.gov. It moved to a new platform in December 2024, a $5 million project that replaced the system the state had used since 2013.

1. Open the business search at bizfilings.vermont.gov. No account is needed to search.
2. Enter a business name or record number (the Business ID on paper forms) and choose "Starts With", "Contains" or "Exact Match".
3. Narrow the results by record type, record status or initial filing date if the name is common.
4. Use Advanced Search to find entities by principal name or registered agent name.
5. Open a record to see the entity type, status, filing date, principal office, registered agent, principals and the fiscal year end that sets the next report deadline.
6. Order a certificate of good standing ($25 for a corporation) or existence ($35 for an LLC) if a bank or counterparty needs official proof.

Annual reports, fees and deadlines

Every for-profit Vermont entity files an annual report, and nonprofits file every two years. Vermont is unusual in tying deadlines to each entity's own fiscal year end rather than to one calendar date, so report deadlines, and the terminations that follow missed ones, are spread across the whole year.

Other common fees: LLC name reservation $25, reinstatement after a missed report $35 (LLC) or $50 (corporation), and a change of registered agent $35 (LLC) or $25 (corporation). Certified copies cost $25; plain copies are free.

What data is available in a Vermont business search

The Vermont portal is free and shows the core registration details for every entity. Certified documents carry a fee, and several data points compliance and sales teams need are not collected by the state at all.

Commercial fields depend on whether a company has a public footprint, which many Vermont micro-businesses do not. Across the 113,541 active Vermont entities in Global Database, 96.7% carry a registration number, 81.8% a geocoded address, 36.5% a headcount, 19.6% a phone number and 10.6% a website.

A Vermont record, enriched

Here is what one active Vermont company looks like once the state record is combined with enrichment. The Vermont Country Store has traded from Manchester Center since long before the online register existed.

The same lookup works for any of the 281,075 Vermont companies, by name, record number or website, through the platform, the API or an AI assistant connected to Global Database.

Where to get Vermont company data

Limitations to plan for

• One record at a time. The state portal has no export, so building a list of Vermont companies by type, status or date means manual copying.
• Rolling deadlines. Because report deadlines follow each company's fiscal year, a supplier can fall out of good standing in any month, and the portal will not alert you.
• No owners. Vermont does not collect beneficial ownership, and US companies no longer report it to FinCEN, so ownership has to be traced elsewhere.
• Single-state view. Foreign entities registered in Vermont need a second search in their home state to see the full corporate record.
• System change. Records moved to the new platform in December 2024, so field names and search behaviour differ from older guides and saved links.
• No published totals. The Secretary of State does not publish the number of active or inactive entities, so market sizing needs a third-party register.

Who uses Vermont company data

How Global Database adds to Vermont registry data

The Secretary of State answers whether an entity exists. Global Database starts with that official record and adds the context Vermont does not hold:

• Cross-state coverage. Vermont entities sit next to their home-state records in Delaware, New York, Massachusetts and every other state, in one schema.
• Firmographics. Headcount, industry, phone and website where available, so you can segment Vermont companies in ways the state cannot.
• Entity matching. Match customer or supplier files to Vermont records and their registrations elsewhere.
• Monitoring. Alerts on terminations, status changes, officer changes and new filings.
• Delivery your way. Platform, bulk feed, API, CRM integration, browser extension and MCP.

Comparing registries across states? See our state-by-state Secretary of State guide and our guides to Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Wisconsin and California.

Frequently asked questions