United States company search: SEC EDGAR and state registries

TL;DR. The United States has no single national company registry. Each of the 50 states and Washington DC operates its own Secretary of State business portal. SEC EDGAR holds federal disclosure data for companies that have registered securities with the SEC. sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar, efts.sec.gov/LATEST/search-index, sec.gov/edgar/sec-api-documentation and ofac.treasury.gov are all online. The state Secretary of State sites were not checked for this guide. Fees are unknown rather than free; confirm at source.

What is the official United States business registry?

There is no US federal company registry equivalent to Companies House in the UK or ACRA in Singapore. That is the structural fact about US business verification.

Every US company is incorporated at the state level. A Delaware C-corp, a Nevada LLC, and a New York partnership are each registered in a different state registry with different disclosure rules. A company doing business nationwide may be incorporated in one state while physically operating in another.

Verifying a US company often requires checking the state of incorporation and, separately, any states where the entity has filed a foreign qualification to operate. The state portals for Delaware, Nevada, California, New York, Wyoming, Texas and Florida were not checked for this guide.

Federal disclosure (public companies only):

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) maintains EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval). These are online:

• Classic company search: sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany
• Full-text search: efts.sec.gov/LATEST/search-index

EDGAR covers companies that have registered securities with the SEC (public companies, investment funds, and some debt issuers). It does not cover private companies. The search fields, turnaround and cost could not be confirmed from those pages; confirm at source.

Federal employer identification: The IRS issues Employer Identification Numbers (EINs) to US entities. No public EIN lookup could be found, and the IRS sites were not checked for this guide.

What can you search?

The SEC EDGAR addresses above are online, but their search fields were not read for this guide. EDGAR has been described as searchable by company name, CIK, ticker and filing type; confirm at source.

State Secretary of State portals were not checked for this guide, so their name, entity-number and registered-agent fields are not described here.

How much does it cost?

State fees of USD 10 to 50, and a Delaware fee of USD 50, have been reported but could not be confirmed here, so the table above reads unknown rather than free; confirm at source.

Do you need a local account or ID?

The EDGAR addresses are online, and no account or identity screen appears on them. An account and a local ID are shown as not required on that basis. State registry account rules were not checked for this guide.

Is the website in English?

Yes for the SEC and OFAC sites, which are US federal English sites. The state registries’ language was not checked for this guide.

What’s the turnaround time?

Unknown. No turnaround time is published on the EDGAR pages; confirm at source.

Is there an API?

SEC EDGAR: API documentation at sec.gov/edgar/sec-api-documentation is online. A rate limit of 10 requests per second has been reported; confirm at source.

State Secretary of State portals: API availability was not checked for this guide.

What you legally cannot do

The SEC EDGAR and state-portal terms were not read for this guide. Restrictions on bulk automated downloads outside published API limits, and on using personal data from filings for unsolicited approaches, have been reported; confirm at source.

OFAC at ofac.treasury.gov is online. This page does not prescribe a screening workflow. For the broader due-diligence framework, see our Global Business Due Diligence Guide.

Practical tips for foreign compliance buyers

• No single national company registry. Identify the state of incorporation before treating any one portal as the file of record. The state registries were not checked for this guide.
• EDGAR is online. browse-edgar, the full-text search index and the API docs all load. EDGAR covers registered-securities filers, not private companies.
• Delaware disclosure rules are not described here. The state registries were not checked for this guide.
• There is no public EIN lookup. The IRS sites were not checked for this guide.
• OFAC is online. ofac.treasury.gov loads. sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov was not checked for this guide.
• The FATF lists load. fatf-gafi.org is online. The US entry on those lists was not read for this guide; confirm at source.
• CTA / FinCEN BOI. The FinCEN beneficial-ownership database has been reported as not publicly searchable; the FinCEN sites were not checked for this guide. Confirm at source.

Alternatives if you cannot access the registries directly

• EDGAR API docs at sec.gov/edgar/sec-api-documentation: online.
• OpenCorporates / Bizapedia: not checked for this guide.

Local data suppliers

Named US commercial providers (Dun & Bradstreet, Experian Business, Equifax Business, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, OpenCorporates, Bizapedia) were not checked for this guide. They are commercial suppliers, not official registries.

Use state Secretary of State portals (when reachable) and EDGAR for primary-source legal filing data. Use a commercial provider when you need credit or litigation data layered on top of the official record.

FAQ

Does the United States have a single national company registry?

No. Each of the 50 states and Washington DC maintains its own business registry. A company incorporated in Delaware is not searchable in California’s registry as a substitute for the Delaware file. The state registries were not checked for this guide.

Can a foreign company access US state business registries?

The state registries were not checked for this guide. The SEC EDGAR addresses are online.

What is SEC EDGAR and which companies does it cover?

EDGAR is operated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and covers companies that have registered securities with the SEC. It does not cover most private companies, partnerships, or most LLCs. The browse and full-text search addresses are online.

Is there a public lookup for a US company’s EIN (tax ID)?

No public EIN lookup could be found, and the IRS publishes no public EIN search.

What does the Corporate Transparency Act mean for foreign buyers doing US due diligence?

FinCEN’s beneficial-ownership database is restricted, not a public company search, and there is no public address for it. The FinCEN sites were not checked for this guide.

Why do so many US companies incorporate in Delaware?

Delaware corporate law and the Court of Chancery are the historic reasons. A Delaware incorporation does not mean the company is based there. The Delaware registry was not checked for this guide.

How do I verify a US company for AML or sanctions screening?

EDGAR covers registered-securities filers. OFAC at ofac.treasury.gov is online. The state registries were not checked for this guide. This page does not prescribe a screening workflow.

Last verified: 2026-09-04. Sources: sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar, efts.sec.gov/LATEST/search-index, sec.gov/edgar/sec-api-documentation and ofac.treasury.gov, all online. The state registries were not checked for this guide. For the full global due diligence framework, see our Global Business Due Diligence Guide.