Business license requirements by US city (2026)
Free one-page summaries for 78 of the 100 most populous US cities: whether the city requires a general business license, the issuing office, the fee, the renewal period and where to apply. Each page cites its source and the date it was compiled (2026-10-05 to 2026-10-06).
This page is part of a free reference covering 78 cities. All cities by state
Cities by state
After each city: whether a general local business license or registration (city, county or metro government) is required.
Alabama
- Huntsville: Yes
Arizona
- Chandler: Yes
- Gilbert: Yes
- Glendale: Yes
- Mesa: Yes
- Phoenix: No general local license
- Scottsdale: Yes
- Tucson: Yes
California
- Anaheim: Yes
- Chula Vista: Yes
- Fresno: Yes
- Irvine: Yes
- Long Beach: Yes
- Los Angeles: Yes
- Oakland: Yes
- Riverside: Yes
- Sacramento: Yes
- San Diego: Yes
- San Francisco: Yes
- San Jose: Yes
- Santa Ana: Yes
- Stockton: Yes
Colorado
- Aurora: Yes
- Colorado Springs: No general local license
- Denver: Varies by business type
District of Columbia
- Washington: Yes
Florida
- Cape Coral: Yes
- Jacksonville: Yes
- Miami: Yes
- Orlando: Yes
- Port St. Lucie: Yes
- St. Petersburg: Yes
- Tampa: Yes
Georgia
- Atlanta: Yes
Idaho
- Boise: Varies by business type
Illinois
- Chicago: Yes
Indiana
- Fort Wayne: No general local license
Kansas
- Wichita: No general local license
Kentucky
- Lexington: Yes
- Louisville: Yes
Louisiana
- New Orleans: Yes
Maryland
- Baltimore: Varies by business type
Massachusetts
- Boston: Varies by business type
Michigan
- Detroit: Varies by business type
Minnesota
- St. Paul: Varies by business type
Missouri
- Kansas City: Yes
- St. Louis: Yes
Nebraska
- Omaha: No general local license
Nevada
- Henderson: Yes
- Las Vegas: Yes
- North Las Vegas: Yes
- Reno: Yes
New Jersey
- Newark: Yes
New Mexico
- Albuquerque: Yes
New York
North Carolina
- Greensboro: No general local license
- Raleigh: No general local license
- Winston-Salem: Varies by business type
Ohio
- Toledo: Varies by business type
Oklahoma
- Oklahoma City: Varies by business type
Oregon
- Portland: Yes
Pennsylvania
- Philadelphia: Yes
- Pittsburgh: Yes
Tennessee
Texas
- Austin: Varies by business type
- Fort Worth: No general local license
- Houston: No general local license
- Irving: No general local license
- Laredo: Yes
- Lubbock: No general local license
Virginia
- Chesapeake: Yes
- Richmond: Yes
- Virginia Beach: Yes
Washington
- Seattle: Yes
Wisconsin
How these pages were made
For 54 of the 78 cities an AI agent fetched the official page cited as the source and read it. For the other 24 the official page could not be fetched directly, so the agent read excerpts of it returned by a web search limited to the official domain; those summaries are less complete and should be confirmed on the city page first. Each city page says which of the two applies.
A script then checked every summary for format and consistency: required fields, URLs, dates and allowed values. A summary that says no general local license applies must carry an excerpt copied from its source, shown on the city page; the script checks that the excerpt is there. It does not compare a summary against its source. Cities for which the agent found no official text stating the rule are not listed.