Methodology

By Muhammet Çay

Data classes

OFFICIAL FEE

A fee found in a government authority’s publication, rule, statute, or filing page. The amount applies only to the named license, entity, event, and date.

VERIFIED DATA

A sourced fact checked against its cited record, such as an agency requirement or published wage figure.

MARKET ESTIMATE

A dated observation or planning range from commercial sources. It is not a binding quote or population-wide average.

YOUR INPUT

A value entered or chosen by the reader. Its quality depends on the reader’s records or quotes.

CALCULATED

An output produced by the formula from the available facts and inputs.

Verification process

Researchers identify the responsible authority, locate the current source page or official document, compare the stored claim with the source text, and retain the evidence URL, quote, access date, and status. The September 24, 2026 verification log records 267 confirmed fee checks and 5 confirmed jurisdiction checks. These checks cover logged claims, not every possible fee or every jurisdiction. A fee may have different initial, renewal, late, or entity-specific amounts; we keep those distinctions instead of merging them.

Records are connected to source IDs and verification dates. We check whether a record has the expected fields before rendering it. A missing value or an unpublished license record is shown as unavailable. For LLC filing fees, some medium-confidence records rely on archived official pages; readers should check the current state filing office before acting.

Coverage and re-checks

License research currently covers 15 states, and coverage varies by trade. We do not infer nationwide rules from them, and a state record does not eliminate local permits. Regulatory records are re-verified at least every six months and whenever a source changes. Stale records are flagged. Market observations can change more rapidly and should be refreshed against current quotes before use.

Read the datasets to inspect records, calculator methodology for formulas, and corrections to report an error.

Last updated: September 26, 2026