California DBA

Individuals or entities conducting business in California under a name other than their full legal name, must have a DBA name.

In California you can file your DBA (a.k.a. trade name, assumed name or fictitious business name) yourself with your County Recorder's office. Or, use a legal document service such as LegalZoom to handle the entire process for you.

LegalZoom charges $99.00 plus state filing fees for California DBA's. Click here to learn more about pricing.

What is a DBA?

DBA, short for "doing business as", is a formal declaration that an individual, company or organization is conducting business under a different name. DBA's are commonly referred to as a fictitious business names, assumed business and trade names. All these terms mean the same thing. Read more.

What is the difference between a fictitious business name and a DBA “doing business as” name? Read More

If I have a corporation or an LLC name, do I also have to file a DBA under that name as well? Read More

If I am operating a sole proprietorship under my personal name, do I need to file a DBA? Read More

California Small Business Statistics

(Information provided by U.S. Census Bureau)

		Number of Establishments by Employment-size class
Industry Code	Total Establishments	'1-4'	'5-9'	'10-19'
11	1,545	391	219	170
21	373	127	167	125
22	577	178	146	117
23	40,640	12,085	8,183	5,416
31	17,439	8,563	7,724	7,477
42	30,827	11,137	8,240	5,646
44	51,004	26,669	16,244	9,986
48	9,258	3,099	2,620	2,116
51	11,568	2,783	2,472	2,057
52	26,565	8,228	6,113	3,569
53	29,517	6,789	3,805	1,592
54	68,302	14,634	8,969	5,610
55	1,631	716	739	767
56	21,376	6,225	4,562	3,801
61	4,248	1,650	1,447	1,374
62	47,465	19,893	11,105	6,002
71	11,036	1,655	1,230	1,268
72	23,752	11,738	12,605	14,087
81	43,591	13,931	7,704	4,066
95	433	260	275	252
99	4,039	148	48	11
Total	445,186	150,899	104,617	75,509

• California
• Florida
• Illinois
• New York
• Texas
• All States

• Trademarks
• Power of Attorney
• LLC
• Incorporations
• Copyrights
• Non-Profits

• Can someone else use my business name if I have a DBA?
• What are the publication requirements?
• Can I conduct business and open a bank account before my DBA has been filed?
• How will I know if my business name is already being used? Will you perform a name check before filing my DBA form?
• What is a DBA?
• Using your DBA
• DBA Requirements