Business licenses and permits in New York

What applies everywhere in New York

12 requirements are set by New York itself and apply whichever city you open in. Local permits sit on top of them.

Sources

Every statewide figure above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.

1. New York Department of State — Appearance Enhancement Business licenseNew York State Department of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
2. New York General Business Law section 409 — appearance enhancement business license fee of sixty dollars for a four-year periodNew York State Senate · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
3. New York Department of State — Articles of Organization for a domestic limited liability companyNew York State Department of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
4. New York Department of State — Barber Shop Owner and Area Renter licenseNew York State Department of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
5. New York Department of State — biennial statements for business corporations and limited liability companiesNew York State Department of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
6. New York Department of State — Certificate of Incorporation for a domestic business corporation (form DOS-1239-f)New York State Department of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
7. New York Department of State — Certificate of Publication for a domestic limited liability company (form DOS-1708-f)New York State Department of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
8. New York Limited Liability Company Law section 206 — publication in two newspapers for six successive weeks within 120 daysNew York State Senate · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
9. New York Social Services Law section 390 — child day care centre licences valid for up to four yearsNew York State Senate · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
10. New York Attorney General — home improvement contractors must be licensed in New York City, Suffolk, Nassau, Westchester, Putnam and Rockland countiesOffice of the New York State Attorney General · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
11. New York Department of State — the complete catalogue of licensed occupations, which contains no general or home improvement contractor licenseNew York State Department of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
12. 10 NYCRR section 14-1.190 — food service establishment permits, application, fees and the permit-issuing officialNew York State Department of Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
13. 10 NYCRR section 14-1.192 — permit term not to exceed two yearsNew York State Department of Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
14. 10 NYCRR section 14-1.73 — personnel training, which the permit-issuing official MAY establish and requireNew York State Department of Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
15. New York Tax Law section 1134 — certificate of authority issued without charge, for a term of not less than three yearsNew York State Senate · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
16. New York State Education Department — veterinary license requirements and feesNew York State Education Department, Office of the Professions · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03

Which New York city are you opening in?

• Suffolk County, NYSuffolk County has 10 towns and 30 incorporated villages, and — per the county's own 'Guide for Business' — zoning, building permits, Certificates of Occupancy, and general business licensing are all TOWN or VILLAGE functions there, not county ones; those town and village requirements are not covered on this county page. The county's own regulatory footprint over the 10 target industries is limited to two agencies: the Suffolk County Dept. of Health Services (SCDHS), which runs food-establishment permitting under Article 13 of the county's own Sanitary Code plus a few other environmental-health programs (pools/bathing under Article 7, tobacco retail certification, body art, children's camps); and the Suffolk County Office/Division of Consumer Affairs, which licenses an exhaustive, named list of 11 trades under Suffolk County Code Chapter 563 ('Licensed Occupations') plus one program outside Chapter 563 (Chapter 769, swimming-pool maintenance/service business registration). The county's own 'Guide for Business' names county licenses only by occupation — appliance repair shops, auctioneers, contractors, electricians, plumbers, precious metal dealers and second hand dealers — and that list names no general business license. Auto repair, veterinary practice, cosmetology/salon licensing, and alcohol licensing are all New York State functions (DMV, Education Dept., Dept. of State, and State Liquor Authority respectively), carried at the state layer, not the county layer; Chapter 563's list of licensed occupations names no fitness-studio or gym category. Childcare licensing is run entirely by NYS OCFS; the county's Dept. of Social Services runs only a subsidy-eligibility 'Legally Exempt Provider Enrollment' function, not a licensing step.25 published records
• Nassau County, NYNassau County is almost entirely incorporated — 2 cities (Long Beach, Glen Cove), 3 towns (Hempstead, North Hempstead, Oyster Bay) and 64 villages inside those towns — and building permits, zoning and construction-code enforcement are a town, city or village function everywhere in the county, including unincorporated hamlet land; the County's own Building and Zoning Permits page refers applicants to their city, town or village for building permits. Two county agencies do reach essentially every address regardless of municipal line: the Nassau County Department of Health (food service, temporary food, on-site sewage, swimming pools and bathing beaches, indoor tanning) and the Nassau County Fire Marshal's Office, which enforces the county Fire Prevention Ordinance countywide by default except where a city or village — confirmed for Glen Cove — has created its own bureau of fire prevention and taken over local enforcement. The Department of Consumer Affairs licenses a short, named list of specific trades countywide (Home Improvement Contractors, Health Club Operators, Locksmiths, Pet Grooming, Scrap Metal Processors/Vehicle Dismantlers/Junk Dealers, and roughly a dozen more) rather than a general business license; its Licensing & Registrations page lists only those named categories. A sole proprietorship or general partnership trading under a name other than the owner's files a Certificate of Assumed Name with the County Clerk instead of the state. Childcare licensing (NYS OCFS), salon and cosmetology licensing (NYS Dept. of State), veterinarian licensure (NYS Education Dept.), auto repair shop registration (NYS DMV) and liquor licensing (NYS Liquor Authority) are all state functions, none of them among the Department of Consumer Affairs' listed categories, and are carried at the state level rather than here.20 published records
• Orange County, NYOrange County, New York has Goshen as its county seat and a population of 411,767 (2024). Its cities include Newburgh and Middletown, and it also has towns and villages. Each incorporated municipality runs its own business licensing, building permit, certificate of occupancy and zoning regime, and those requirements stack on the county permits listed in this entry. The county permits listed here come from the Orange County Department of Health, Division of Environmental Health, which issues food service, mobile food, temporary food, vending machine and swimming pool permits and charges plan review fees for food service layouts, pool modifications, individual sewage systems and private wells. The county also licenses electrical work under Local Law No. 11 of 2013. Under New York General Municipal Law section 239, the county Department of Planning reviews municipal land-use referrals, and that review sits alongside the local boards' own approvals.13 published records
• Erie County, NYErie County is a New York county whose seat is Buffalo. The Erie County Department of Health, Division of Environmental Health, issues the county's food service, mobile food, caterer, temporary event, pool, gym and onsite wastewater permits, and the tobacco and vapor retail permit, under the Erie County Sanitary Code, and that county permit applies inside the City of Buffalo as well as elsewhere in the county. Cities and villages may adopt their own license ordinances; under Sanitary Code Art. I §10 a city or village may not issue or renew a license requiring health inspection without the Commissioner of Health's approval. The county's Consumer Protection page states that the licensing or registration of contractors is handled at the municipal level in Erie County, and the licenses it names as examples are municipal licenses issued by the City of Buffalo, the Town of Amherst and the Villages of Akron, Alden and Blasdell. Each municipal license or permit regime sits alongside the county health permits described here.11 published records
• Westchester County, NYWestchester County is a New York county whose seat is White Plains, with a 2024 population of 1,006,447. The Westchester County Department of Health enforces the Westchester County Sanitary Code (County Code Chapter 873) across the health district, which §873.101(1)(j) defines as the geographical area comprising the County of Westchester, and it issues the county's food service, mobile food, temporary food, swimming pool and spa, animal facility, septic contractor and petroleum bulk storage permits, licenses and registrations. The Department of Consumer Protection issues the county home improvement contractor license under County Code Chapter 863, Article XVI, and that license applies only outside any city, village or area of a town that is itself regulating or licensing the trade. The Solid Waste Commission licenses certain solid waste and debris haulers under Chapter 826-a. Cities, towns and villages keep their own permit and license authority: §873.302 of the Sanitary Code provides that the code does not restrict any municipality's authority to issue permits or licenses under its own ordinances, so each municipal regime stacks on the county permits described here. The county's home improvement application packet states that the City of Yonkers has additional licensing requirements.11 published records
• New York, NYNo general business license exists — each trade is licensed separately by DOHMH, DOB, DCWP or FDNY, never by a borough or county office. A Food Protection Certificate never expires even though the underlying restaurant permit renews annually. Mobile food vending needs two credentials at once — an individual license plus a unit permit — now administered by NYC Health after DCWP's own page describing it was retired.9 published records
• Onondaga County, NYOnondaga County is administered from Syracuse, the county seat and the county's only city. The rest of the county is organised into towns and villages, and each town, village and the City of Syracuse runs its own zoning, building-permit and business rules, so a business in any of them stacks a municipal permit or certificate on top of the county permits recorded here. The county Health Department, through its Division of Environmental Health and its Food Protection Section, issues the food service, mobile food, temporary food, promotional food, vendor commissary, swimming pool, commercial tanning and scale items recorded here, and county local law sets those fees: Local Law No. 1 of 2026, adopted February 3, 2026 and effective January 1, 2026. The population figure is the 2024 estimate.8 published records
• Buffalo, NYErie County Department of Health permits Buffalo's restaurants, while the City separately requires its own Restaurant business license on top of that county permit — two governments, two fees, for the same business.7 published records
• Yonkers, NYWestchester County permits Yonkers's food establishments, having absorbed the city's own health district in 1973 — but Yonkers licenses its own contractors directly, since the county's parallel license explicitly excludes any city already regulating the trade itself.7 published records
• Monroe County, NYMonroe County, New York, seat Rochester, 2024 population 752,202. The county's Department of Public Health, Environmental Health, issues the county-level food service establishment, mobile food, food plan review, day care food inspection, bathing facility and indoor tanning permits in the county, and enforces New York State Sanitary Code Subparts 14-1, 14-2, 14-4, 14-5, 6-1, 6-2 and 6-3 under the county's own pages. The county food page states: "Note that if you plan on vending in the City of Rochester, you will also need a solicitor's license from the City Clerk's Licensing Office." That is a City of Rochester license, a municipal record outside the county records in these requirements. The City of Rochester, the towns of Greece, Irondequoit, Henrietta, Brighton, Webster and Penfield, and the other towns and villages in the county are separate municipalities. Municipal licensing, building and zoning are outside the scope of these county records. Monroe County's own Sanitary Code sets fees for county health services by reference to schedules adopted by the Legislature, so the amounts for the county food, plan review and day care records are stated as the adopted-schedule mechanism rather than as a figure.6 published records

Is there a single New York business license?

Who issues permits in New York?

• New York State Department of State, Division of Corporations, State Records and Uniform Commercial CodeArticles of organization and certificates of incorporation · Biennial statements · Certificates of publication4 permits
• New York State Department of Health, Bureau of Community Environmental Health and Food ProtectionFood service establishment regulation under 10 NYCRR Subpart 14-1 · Permits where no local health department has jurisdiction2 permits
• New York State Department of State, Division of Licensing ServicesAppearance enhancement businesses · Barber shop owner licenses · Thirty-six licensed occupations, not including construction2 permits
• New York State Department of LaborContractor and subcontractor registry for public work1 permit
• New York State Department of Taxation and FinanceSales tax Certificate of Authority · Vendor registration1 permit
• New York State Education Department, Office of the ProfessionsVeterinarian licensing · Professional entity authorisation1 permit
• New York State Office of Children and Family Services, Division of Child Care ServicesChild day care centre licensing outside New York City1 permit

By industry

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