Business entity search across state registries
Every LLC, corporation, and limited partnership in the US exists because someone filed paperwork with a state. A business entity search is a lookup against those filings: the state's record of the entity's legal name, its status, when it was formed, where it says it is, and who is attached to it. Secretary of State search portals answer one query at a time, for one state. A cross-state search runs the same question against several registries at once, so you can find a company without knowing where it was formed.
What a registry filing contains
The core of a filing is the same almost everywhere, though field names and completeness vary:
| Field | What it tells you | Common gotcha |
|---|---|---|
| Legal name | The name as registered, suffix included | "Acme LLC" and "Acme, L.L.C." are the same company; suffixes should be ignored when matching |
| Document number | The state's permanent ID for the filing | Unique within one state only |
| Entity type | LLC, corporation, nonprofit, LP | Foreign registrations repeat a company formed elsewhere |
| Status | Active, inactive, delinquent | Some states publish active entities only |
| Formation date | When the state accepted the filing | Late filings can backdate a month you already counted |
| Principal and mailing address | Where the business says it operates | Often a registered agent's office, not a real location |
| Registered agent | Who accepts legal service for the entity | Filing services serve as agent for thousands of companies |
| Officers / managers | Named people on the filing | Disclosure differs sharply by state |
Officer disclosure is a state-by-state patchwork
The people attached to a company are usually what you are searching for, and that is exactly where states disagree. Here is what the free bulk files contain for the seven state registries CoverFi searches today:
| State | Source | Officers or principals | Notable gaps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | Sunbiz daily + quarterly files | Yes | State file lists the first 6 officers only |
| New York | data.ny.gov | Partial: CEO + agent | Active entities only |
| Connecticut | data.ct.gov | Yes, plus agents | None major |
| Colorado | data.colorado.gov | No: registered agent only | No officer names |
| Texas | Comptroller franchise-tax holders | No | Not the Secretary of State file |
| Pennsylvania | data.pa.gov | Yes | No status, no agent |
| Alaska | State corporations download | Yes, plus agents | Small state |
Delaware, home to a large share of US corporations, publishes no bulk product at all; its search is one entity at a time. The federal beneficial-ownership registry does not fill the gap for most searches either: FinCEN exempted companies created in the US from reporting in March 2025 and made that exemption permanent in an August 2026 final rule, and the registry was never public.
How to search across registries well
- Search the name without the suffix. A prefix match on "Bayside Roofing" finds the LLC, the Inc, and the misspelled DBA registration. CoverFi's business search drops legal suffixes for this reason.
- Filter by where the business is, then check where it was formed. An address filter and a jurisdiction filter answer different questions. A Florida-based company formed in Delaware has a Delaware formation and a Florida foreign registration.
- Treat the registered agent as a forwarding address, not a person. Roughly a quarter of Florida's registered agents are filing services. A name that appears on 25 or more filings in one ZIP is almost certainly a service.
- Search the people, then the network. A person search returns every filing a name appears on; an ownership view shows the co-officers and their other companies. Same-name matches are leads, not identity: confirm with an address or a second shared company before acting. The identity resolution guide covers how to weigh that evidence.
Where registry data runs out
Registries record legal existence, not operations. A filing tells you an entity was formed and is in good standing; it does not tell you the business has revenue, employees, or a storefront. Two habits keep you honest:
- Read status with a lag in mind. States post new filings 1 to 5 business days after they are filed, and an entity formed last year has not yet been through a full annual-report cycle, so "active" means less for it than for a ten-year-old company.
- Watch for mail drops. A single street address with thousands of registered entities is an agent or virtual-office address. Counting those as local businesses inflates any area count you build.
For real-estate work, registry data is the bridge from an LLC on a deed to a human decision-maker; the real-estate skip tracing guide walks through that hand-off.
Business data and the FCRA
Registry filings describe companies, and they are public records. They are not consumer reports, and CoverFi is not a consumer reporting agency. That does not make every downstream use fine: anything that uses a person's details to decide their eligibility for credit, insurance, employment, or housing is out of bounds on CoverFi. The FCRA vs non-FCRA guide draws that line in detail.