Why is my New York LLC's address in Albany? What it means

Two Albany addresses: the State's office and the one on your record

Process personally served on the Secretary of State is delivered in Albany; for an LLC that is not suspended, a copy goes to the address on file.

The Department of State's service of process page (opens in a new tab), read October 26, 2026, says service on a domestic or authorized foreign LLC "by personal delivery requires that two copies of the process be personally served on the New York Secretary of State or any person authorized by him at the Office of the New York Department of State, One Commerce Plaza, 99 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12231." The same service of process page (opens in a new tab) says service on a suspended LLC "by personal delivery requires that one copy of the process be personally served on the New York Secretary of State", and it refers to "the appropriate section of law for additional mailing/service requirements".

For an LLC that is not suspended, LLC Law §303(a)(1) names the place, "the office of the department of state in the city of Albany", and says "The secretary of state shall promptly send one of such copies by certified mail, return receipt requested, to such limited liability company at the post office address on file in the department of state specified for that purpose." (LLC Law §303 (opens in a new tab))

For an LLC suspended under §301-A, LLC Law §301-A(e)(2) names the same office, "the office of the department of state in the city of Albany", and says that service "shall be sufficient if notice thereof and a copy of the process are" either "delivered personally within or without that state to such limited liability company by a person and in the manner authorized to serve process by law of the jurisdiction in which service is made" or "sent by or on behalf of the plaintiff to such limited company by registered or certified mail with return receipt requested to the last address of such limited liability company known to the plaintiff". (LLC Law §301-A (opens in a new tab))

The Department's instructions for process servers (opens in a new tab), also read October 26, 2026, say: "In the case of service upon a domestic or authorized foreign entity, DOS mails one copy of the process to the entity served at the address provided by that entity."

The address on file is the one a New York LLC's record shows. The articles of organization of a New York LLC designate the Secretary of State as the LLC's agent for service of process, with a post office address to which the Secretary of State mails a copy of any process (LLC Law §203(e)(4) (opens in a new tab)). Section 203(e)(4) asks the articles for "the post office address within or without this state to which the secretary of state shall mail a copy of any process against the limited liability company served upon him or her." The county of the LLC's office is a separate statement in the same articles (§203(e)(2)). That post office address is the LLC's service of process address; process is the papers served to start or carry on a legal action, such as a summons.

A registered agent company forwards process under its own contract with the LLC. More on how the State's own mailing works is in does a New York LLC need a registered agent?

Whose Albany address is it? The "Name:" line says

The service of process address starts with a "Name:" line, and on most Albany addresses it names an agent company.

The agent companies and buildings are our own dated lists (as of October 23, 2026), not the State's. They are a lower bound, so an Albany address that matches neither list may still be an agent company's.

On DOS Public Inquiry, the State's entity search, as it read on October 23, 2026, the service of process address sits under the heading "Service of Process on the Secretary of State as Agent": a "Name:" line, then an "Address:" line. Below it comes "Electronic Service of Process on the Secretary of State as agent:" with "Permitted" or "Not Permitted". The public DOS record shows the status of electronic service of process (e-service) but never the email address itself. A registered agent, where the LLC names one, is a separate entry.

Of the 33,268 active domestic LLCs formed from October 23, 2025 to October 22, 2026 with an Albany service of process address, 27,221 (81.8%) also name a registered agent, by our count of New York DOS open data. Of the 6,047 that name none, 4,424 (73.2%) still have an agent company's name or building on the service of process address. An Albany address can be an agent company's even when the record names no registered agent.

An LLC's publication notice states its service of process address too: LLC Law §206(a)(4) (opens in a new tab) has the notice include "the post office address within or without this state to which the secretary of state shall mail a copy of any process against it served upon him or her".

The free record check reads the same live record and says whether the service of process address is with an agent company on our list.

Is the Albany address the State's own?

The State's own Albany address is almost never the service of process address on an LLC's record.

By our count of New York DOS open data, as updated October 25, 2026, 135 of the 2,068,872 active domestic LLCs list the Department of State's own ZIP code, 12231, on their service of process address, and 37 name the Secretary of State, the Department of State or the Division of Corporations on the first line of that address.

The Department of State's contact page (opens in a new tab) gives its Albany location as One Commerce Plaza, 99 Washington Ave, Albany, NY 12231-0001 (read October 26, 2026). That building's street address alone does not make an address the State's. Of the 599 Albany-address LLCs formed from October 23, 2025 to October 22, 2026 whose address line is 99 Washington Avenue or One Commerce Plaza, 509 (85.0%) carry the name of an agent company on our list, and 17 use the State's own ZIP code, 12231, by our count of New York DOS open data.

The "Name:" line, not the street, says whose address it is.

How many New York LLCs have an Albany service of process address

On today's records, an Albany address is over three times as common for LLCs formed in 2026 as in 2016.

By our count of New York DOS open data, as updated October 25, 2026, among active domestic LLCs the share with an Albany service of process address goes from 5.6% of those formed in 2016 to 10.0% in 2020, 13.8% in 2024, 17.2% in 2025 and 18.9% in 2026 to October 25. These are today's records: LLCs that have since dissolved are not counted, and an older LLC's address may have changed since it was formed.

Source: the Department of State's Active Corporations data set (opens in a new tab) on data.ny.gov, domestic LLCs only (PLLCs not included), counted by us on October 26, 2026.

By our count of New York DOS open data, across all 2,068,872 active domestic LLCs, 192,874 (9.3%) have an Albany service of process address, and 163,644 of those (84.8%) carry a listed agent company's name on the first line of that address.

Does an Albany address mean your LLC's county is Albany?

The county is a separate entry from the service of process address, set by its own statement.

The articles of organization state "the county within this state in which the office of the limited liability company is to be located" (LLC Law §203(e)(2)). On form DOS-1359-f, the county has its own statement, "The county location, within this state, in which the office of the limited liability company is located, is changed to:", apart from the address statement.

Revoking the registered agent or replacing the service of process address leaves the county as it was, unless the certificate also carries the county statement. Remove Registered Agent's certificates never use the county statement.

How the Albany address on your record changes

An Albany service of process address stays on the record until a filing changes it.

Under LLC Law §301(c) (opens in a new tab), the address "shall continue until the filing of a certificate or other instrument under this chapter directing the mailing to a different post office address". A Certificate of Change is not the only filing that sets the address: the address in the statement an LLC files biennially under LLC Law §301(e)(1) "shall supersede any previous address on file with the department of state for this purpose."

What the certificate carries depends on the two entries:

• A registered agent is named, and an agent company's name is on the service of process address. One certificate can revoke the agent and replace the address, as the guide to the address after a removal explains.
• No registered agent is named, but the address is still an agent company's. The certificate only replaces the address, because there is no agent to revoke.

After a registered agent service ends, a New York LLC's State record can still name the agent company, and its service of process address can still be that company's address. One Certificate of Change can take the agent company off a New York LLC's State record and, where needed, replace the LLC's service of process address.

Remove Registered Agent files that certificate for New York LLCs. The LLC chooses the new address and signs the certificate. Every statement on the form is in the guide to filing DOS-1359-f.

An LLC can also fill in and file it itself, by email or mail. For an owner filing it by hand, it comes to at least 10 hours of work, with everything right the first time; our operator timed it. Most of those hours go to steps a quick estimate leaves out: reading the LLC Law to choose the statements, checking with the agent company, calling the Department of State and waiting for its answer, and checking everything again before mailing. In our operator's experience, one small mistake on the form brings a correction letter and a resubmission. The same guide lists where the hours go.

Remove Registered Agent files electronically through its operator's service company account with the Department of State: the certificate goes into the Department's system when it is submitted, dated that day, with nothing to print, mail or scan. Of the 12 Certificates of Change our operator emailed to the Department of State from June 15 to July 1, 2026, 11 were dated the day they were sent or the next business day; a mailed one is dated no earlier than the day the mail reaches the Department. Remove Registered Agent applies LLC Law §211-A (opens in a new tab), §302 (opens in a new tab) and §301 (opens in a new tab) to your LLC's live record: which statements it calls for, and whether the address must be replaced. The address statement Remove Registered Agent writes replaces the whole entry, "Name:" line included, with the address the LLC chooses. If the State asks for a correction, Remove Registered Agent makes the correction and resubmits the certificate at no charge. The Certificate of Change accepted by the State, or your full $100 back.

Remove Registered Agent files each signed certificate electronically through the E-Submission upload of eCorp, the Department of State's online filing system, under its operator's service company account; filers without a service company account email or mail the Certificate of Change. Its free record check reads the "Name:" line first, and when the Albany address is an agent company's, the certificate it prepares replaces the whole entry with the address the LLC chooses.

Our operator's own filings show what each route has meant in practice. Of the 100 Certificates of Change our operator filed from January 12 to October 29, 2026, the 29 uploaded through eCorp's E-Submission, the route every certificate an LLC signs takes, had a median of under 1 day from filing to the State's response, and the 23 sent by mail a median of 7.2 days from mailing. These are past records, not a promise.

As of October 30, 2026, our operator has filed 100 New York Certificates of Change since January 2026, all accepted by the State: the same filing a New York LLC uses to revoke its registered agent. The Our work page lists every one: the day filed, how it was filed, the day the State responded and the days between.

Free record check: whose address is on your LLC's record

Remove Registered Agent reads your LLC's live State record for free, before anything is filed.

You enter your LLC's name or DOS ID in our record check. It shows the registered agent the State lists for your LLC, if any, and its service of process address, where the Secretary of State mails a copy of any process against the LLC that is served on the Secretary of State, then says what one Certificate of Change would change and what it costs.

Remove Registered Agent, a document filing service for New York LLCs, is operated by Sandeep Arneja LLC. It is not a law firm, and this page is general information, not legal advice.