Which states file the most trademarks — and why does the answer look so strange? We ranked all 50 states, plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, by the number of trademark records whose owner is organized there (for companies) or a citizen there (for individuals), drawn from the TMarkMetric database of 98,243 U.S. federal trademark records. The ranking is one of the most counterintuitive datasets in all of trademark data.
The paradox: Delaware ranks #1 — ahead of California, Texas, Florida, and New York — with 12,890 filings. Delaware has about one million residents. California has nearly forty million. Per person, Delaware files trademarks at more than 40× California's rate. That is not entrepreneurial spirit — it is corporate law.
Full Ranking: Trademark Filings by State
Ranked by the number of records whose owner is organized in, or a citizen of, each state or territory:
Why Delaware Wins — and What It Means for You
The owner of a trademark is the legal entity that filed it, and every USPTO record notes two separate things about that entity: its mailing address, and the state (or country) under whose law it is organized. This ranking uses the second. And a huge share of U.S. companies — from tech startups to Fortune 500s — incorporate in Delaware for its well-developed corporate law and Court of Chancery, regardless of where their founders live or their customers shop. So a brand run from Los Angeles or Austin, with a California or Texas address on its record, frequently shows up in this count as a Delaware trademark, because that is where the LLC or C-corp is organized. Rank the same owners by address instead and the picture flips: in the full USPTO data for applications filed in the first half of 2024, California comes first and Delaware isn't in the top six.
The same logic explains two other outliers:
- Wyoming (#9) and Nevada (#14) rank far above what their populations would suggest. Both are popular, low-cost states to form an LLC — no state income tax, low fees, strong privacy. Entities form there, so trademarks land there.
Practical takeaway: when you run a clearance search and see a conflicting mark owned by a Delaware or Wyoming entity, don't assume the business is actually there. The state of organization tells you where they incorporated, not where they operate or sell. Check the owner's address on the same record in TSDR, and look at the specimen and goods description to find the real business.
The Population States Still Matter
Below the incorporation havens, the ranking behaves the way you'd expect: California, Florida, Texas, and New York — the four most populous and business-dense states — take the next four spots. These are genuine centers of brand creation, where a large filing count really does reflect a large, active economy. Georgia, New Jersey, and Illinois follow the same pattern.
A Steep Long Tail
Trademark activity is highly concentrated. The top five states account for the bulk of all filings, while the smallest states — West Virginia, Alaska, North Dakota, Vermont — each have only a few dozen records. The bottom twenty states combined file fewer trademarks than Delaware alone. For how individual owners compare, see our top trademark owners report and the overall picture in the U.S. trademark statistics report.
Methodology
Counts come from the TMarkMetric database: 98,243 U.S. federal trademark records loaded in June 2026 from two USPTO bulk XML files, grouped by the state in the owner's nationality field: the state of organization for companies, of citizenship for individuals. (Our first version of this page called this the owner's address. It isn't — the address is a separate field. Corrected 19 October 2026; the counts did not change.) About three-quarters of the records are applications filed between January and early June 2026, so the table describes who filed recently far more than who holds registrations. It covers the 50 states plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico; 31,586 records with a foreign or blank owner state are left out. This is a snapshot, not the complete USPTO register, so treat the counts as a comparison between states rather than official USPTO totals. Rechecked on 2026-10-13.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which U.S. state files the most trademarks?
Delaware files the most trademarks of any U.S. state — 12,890 in this dataset of 98,243 records — ahead of California, Florida, Texas, and New York. Delaware leads because the count uses the state where the owner is organized, and so many companies incorporate there.
Why does Delaware have so many trademarks despite a small population?
Because the count reflects incorporation, not residents. A large share of U.S. companies incorporate in Delaware for its corporate law, so their trademark records list Delaware as the state of organization even when the business, and its address, are elsewhere. Per capita, Delaware files trademarks at more than 40 times California's rate.
Does a trademark's state tell you where the business operates?
Not on its own. A trademark record lists both the owner's address and the state where it is organized — often an incorporation state like Delaware, Wyoming, or Nevada. Neither proves where the company actually sells; the specimen and the goods-and-services description tell you more.
Which states have the fewest trademark filings?
The smallest states — West Virginia, Alaska, North Dakota, and Vermont — each have only a few dozen records trademarks. The bottom twenty states combined file fewer trademarks than Delaware alone.
- USPTO Open Data Portal: Trademark Full Text XML, daily applications (TRTDXFAP)
- USPTO: Trademark Applications Daily XML documentation v2.0 (owner nationality and entity fields)
Laws, fees and procedures change. If anything here differs from the official source, the official source is right. Links checked 19 October 2026.