Open Company Data in United States: Official Sources, APIs and Reuse Rights
United States has a serious official company-data ecosystem, but it should not be reduced to a simple list of companies. The right way to evaluate United States is to start with the official register, then add open-data, statistics, procurement, intellectual-property and regulator layers.
The strongest route is state business registries for private-company legal existence, SEC EDGAR for reporting companies, SAM.gov and USAspending for federal contractors and award recipients, IRS exempt-organization data, USPTO trademark data, OFAC sanctions screening and FinCEN BOI as a restricted non-public compliance boundary. That makes United States a decentralized federal-and-state source map, not a single national company-house register, but it does not remove the usual reuse checks: dataset terms, attribution, no-endorsement language, privacy, marketing-law boundaries and source freshness.
This guide maps the main official sources for company data in United States, explains what each source can and cannot do, and shows where a normalized CompaniesData-style dataset adds value.
The deeper question is not whether a source exists. The useful question is which source can be trusted for identity, which one proves events or filings, which one is usable at scale, which one is only a manual service, and which fields become legally sensitive once the data is reused commercially.
Quick Answer
The United States is publishable only as a decentralized official-source guide. Federal APIs and bulk-style datasets are strong for SEC reporting companies, federal contractors, federal award recipients, tax-exempt organizations, trademarks and sanctions screening, but private-company registration is state-level and there is no complete public federal company register.
For practical work, the most useful source stack is: SEC EDGAR APIs, data.sec.gov, SEC Developer Resources, SAM.gov Entity Information, SAM.gov Entity Management API, SAM Entity/Exclusions Extract APIs.
The safe editorial answer is this: United States has strong public and official business-data sources, but public data is not automatically bulk-downloadable, marketing-ready or free of personal-data constraints.
A serious United States dataset normally needs at least four layers: the legal register for entity identity, official publications or filings for change events, public procurement/regulator/IP/statistical sources for enrichment, and a separate compliance layer for privacy, contact-data use, suppression and lawful outreach.
Key Takeaways
- Best starting point: state business registries for private-company legal existence, SEC EDGAR for reporting companies, SAM.gov and USAspending for federal contractors and award recipients, IRS exempt-organization data, USPTO trademark data, OFAC sanctions screening and FinCEN BOI as a restricted non-public compliance boundary.
- Core source stack: SEC EDGAR APIs, data.sec.gov, SEC Developer Resources, SAM.gov Entity Information, SAM.gov Entity Management API, SAM Entity/Exclusions Extract APIs.
- Reuse rule: public visibility is not the same as bulk reuse, resale permission or marketing-contact permission.
- Buyer value: the useful dataset is the normalized, deduplicated and source-auditable version, not a raw list of portal links.
- Commercial separation: official company records, enriched company profiles and business contact data should remain separate layers with separate compliance notes.
Editorial Methodology
This article uses an official-source-first method. Sources are included when they help verify legal existence, public filings, procurement activity, taxpayer or identifier context, IP ownership, regulated status, statistics or lawful compliance context. Commercial providers and contact-data products are not used as authority for official reuse rights.
- Prefer the national registry, company house, gazette or official business-registration authority before any secondary source.
- Classify access as search, API, bulk download, paid extract, subscription, document workflow, data catalogue or unclear/manual access.
- Separate legal-entity data from establishment statistics, procurement suppliers, listed-company disclosures, tax identifiers and private contact data.
- Treat beneficial owners, officers, addresses, signatures, insolvency notices and sole-trader records as privacy-sensitive unless the source and law clearly support reuse.
- Hold or omit unstable source links when live QA shows 403, 429, 5xx, DNS, TLS or timeout behaviour that would create broken-link noise.
What Counts as Company Data in United States?
| Layer | Examples | Typical business use |
|---|---|---|
| Registry identity | Legal name, registration number, status, legal form, registered office | Entity matching, deduplication and KYB |
| Register events | Incorporation, changes, filings, extracts, publications | Corporate timeline and legal traceability |
| Open-data/API layer | Official datasets, APIs, CSV/JSON/XML services where available | Automated ingestion and monitoring |
| Statistics | Business demography, enterprise counts, sector/geography totals | Market sizing and data-quality benchmarks |
| Procurement | Tenders, awards, suppliers and contracting authorities | Public-sector sales intelligence |
| IP and regulators | Trademarks, patents, supervised entities and decisions | Enrichment and compliance screening |
| Contact data | Email, phone, contact roles and segmentation | Marketing only with a separate lawful basis |
In United States, these layers should not be collapsed into one undifferentiated database. A registry result may prove legal existence, a procurement notice may prove public-sector activity, an IP record may prove brand or invention ownership, and a regulator list may prove supervision. Those are different facts with different update cycles, identifiers and reuse boundaries.
Reuse Rights and Compliance
Across jurisdictions, public-sector-information and open-data policies can support reuse of public-sector data, and high-value dataset rules increasingly treat company and company-ownership data as important public information. In practice, United States's actual reuse position still depends on each source, endpoint, licence and access method.
- Cite official sources and preserve update dates where the source provides them.
- Do not imply that a derived dataset is endorsed by the registry or public authority.
- Do not mix public register data with marketing-contact permission.
- Check whether API, bulk download, paid extract and web-search access have different terms.
- Treat officers, beneficial owners and natural-person data as GDPR-sensitive where applicable.
publishable only as a decentralized official-source map; not as a national Companies-House-style register
Coverage, Access and Update Risk
The most common mistake in United States company-data work is to confuse visibility with completeness. A public search screen can be authoritative for one entity lookup without being suitable for bulk ingestion. A downloadable dataset can be reusable for a defined snapshot while still excluding filings, documents, directors, inactive entities or historical changes.
- Coverage: identify whether the source covers companies, business names, branches, non-profits, sole traders, listed issuers, regulated entities or only a sector subset.
- Freshness: preserve the source update date and avoid mixing live portal results with old downloaded files without version labels.
- Identifiers: map registration numbers, tax identifiers, procurement supplier IDs, LEI records and exchange tickers as separate keys until verified.
- Language and formats: normalize local-language names, legal forms, transliteration, accents, abbreviations and address formats carefully.
- Operational access: document whether the workflow is public search, API, bulk file, paid extract, login-only service, PDF, CKAN/OData/SPARQL or manual request.
Reuse Checklist for United States
| Layer | Useful for | Reuse caution in United States |
|---|---|---|
| Public search | Good for verification and manual QA | May prohibit scraping, bulk extraction or automated reuse |
| API or dataset | Best route for repeatable ingestion | Endpoint terms, attribution and rate limits still apply |
| Paid extract or certificate | Useful for legal certainty | Usually contractual, document-level and not an open dataset |
| Procurement and regulator data | Strong enrichment and monitoring layer | Subset coverage; not a universal company register |
| Officer, owner or address fields | Useful for KYB and compliance where lawful | Privacy-sensitive and never automatic marketing consent |
| Business emails and phones | Commercial outreach layer | Requires separate lawful basis, suppression logic and contact-data governance |
50-State Registry Model: Why the United States Is Different
The United States does not have a single public national company register for private companies. LLCs, corporations and many partnerships are formed or qualified through state and territory authorities. A useful US company dataset is therefore a registry-stitching project, not a single-source download.
- Formation state: store the state where the entity is incorporated, organized or registered.
- Foreign qualification: a company can be formed in one state and registered to do business in others; those records should not be deduplicated blindly.
- Registered agent and service address: useful for legal service and matching, but not a sales-contact signal.
- Document access: some states expose free PDFs, others charge for certified documents or bulk orders.
- Bulk/API access: availability, fees, terms and field scope vary state by state.
- Update cadence: annual reports, amendments, dissolutions and reinstatements are state-specific event streams.
The practical CompaniesData model should treat each state registry as an authoritative shard. Federal layers such as SEC, SAM.gov, USAspending, IRS TEOS, USPTO, OFAC and FinCEN add useful facts only when the entity appears in that federal population.
Federal Layers: Useful, Strong, but Not Universal
- SEC EDGAR: public-company and reporting-company filings, XBRL facts and submission metadata.
- SAM.gov: entities registered for federal procurement and related exclusions/entity-management workflows.
- USAspending: contracts, grants, loans and other federal-award recipient data.
- IRS TEOS: tax-exempt organization search and download context.
- USPTO: trademarks and other IP ownership/enrichment signals.
- OFAC: restricted-party and sanctions screening, not company master data.
- FinCEN BOI: beneficial ownership reporting is a restricted compliance regime, not a public open-data source.
Allowed and Blocked Claims for the US Article
Claims allowed
- The United States has strong federal open/API layers for public-company filings, federal contractors, federal awards, tax-exempt organizations, IP and sanctions/compliance.
- Private-company registration is primarily state-level; there is no single complete federal company register equivalent to Companies House.
- SEC EDGAR, SAM.gov and USAspending are official, useful and API-positive, but they cover specific entity populations.
Claims blocked
- Do not claim a complete free official bulk database for all US businesses.
- Do not treat SEC, SAM.gov, USAspending or state registry examples as a national private-company register.
- Do not imply FinCEN beneficial ownership information is public; BOI access is restricted.
Resource Pack
Use this resource pack as a working map for verification, ingestion planning and source-risk review. The small source logos are decorative credibility cues only; the authority still comes from the official URL, owner, access model and reuse note.
Registry and legal identity
California Business Search
Use: High-volume state example for entity verification.
Watch: California-only; terms and fields differ by state.
API, bulk and open-data access
SAM.gov Entity Management API
Use: Programmatic entity lookup for SAM.gov registered entities.
Watch: Access and fields vary by authorization and data sensitivity.Data.gov
Use: Discovery layer for federal, state, local and tribal datasets.
Watch: Catalogue, not the authority for each state registry.Delaware entity search
Use: Important incorporation state example.
Watch: Search is state-specific and not a full national API.
Procurement and public spending
SAM.gov Entity Information
Use: Federal contractors, entity registrations and exclusions context.
Watch: Federal procurement population, not a complete business universe.USAspending API
Use: Award recipients, contracts, grants and federal-spending enrichment.
Watch: Award-recipient layer, not all US companies.
IP, brands and intangible assets
USPTO Trademark Search
Use: Trademark owner and brand enrichment.
Watch: IP layer, not company master data.
Regulators and compliance
SEC EDGAR APIs
Use: Public filer submissions, company facts, XBRL and listed/reporting-company enrichment.
Watch: Reporting companies only, not all US businesses.data.sec.gov
Use: Machine-readable SEC company facts and submissions data.
Watch: Requires fair-access headers and moderate request rates.SEC Developer Resources
Use: Technical and lawful-use context for SEC data consumption.
Watch: Policy/guidance layer rather than a company registry.SAM Entity/Exclusions Extract APIs
Use: Public entity and exclusions extracts for compliance workflows.
Watch: Sensitive fields and non-public extracts are restricted.OFAC Sanctions Search
Use: Restricted-party screening and compliance context.
Watch: Compliance list, not a company register.FinCEN BOI
Use: Compliance caveat for beneficial ownership boundaries.
Watch: Beneficial ownership information is not a public open company database.
Additional verification sources
IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search
Use: Nonprofit and exempt-organization entity context.
Watch: Tax-exempt organizations only.
Main Official Sources: Deep Dive
1.
SEC EDGAR APIs
Owner: official regulator. Access: https://www.sec.gov/edgar/sec-api-documentation.
- What it gives: Public filer submissions, company facts, XBRL and listed/reporting-company enrichment.
- Reuse value: SEC fair-access and website terms
- Main limitation: Reporting companies only, not all US businesses.
SEC EDGAR APIs is a official regulator source for United States. Its main practical value is Public filer submissions, company facts, XBRL and listed/reporting-company enrichment. Access is through https://www.sec.gov/edgar/sec-api-documentation, so the source should be treated according to that access model rather than assumed to be an unrestricted bulk feed.
For reuse, the working rule is: SEC fair-access and website terms. The main limitation is Reporting companies only, not all US businesses. In a normalized company-data workflow this source should be captured with provenance, retrieval date, field-level caveats and a clear distinction between legal-entity facts, compliance signals and any later marketing/contact enrichment.
2.
data.sec.gov
Owner: official regulator. Access: https://data.sec.gov/.
- What it gives: Machine-readable SEC company facts and submissions data.
- Reuse value: SEC fair-access and request-rate guidance
- Main limitation: Requires fair-access headers and moderate request rates.
data.sec.gov is a official regulator source for United States. Its main practical value is Machine-readable SEC company facts and submissions data. Access is through https://data.sec.gov/, so the source should be treated according to that access model rather than assumed to be an unrestricted bulk feed.
For reuse, the working rule is: SEC fair-access and request-rate guidance. The main limitation is Requires fair-access headers and moderate request rates. In a normalized company-data workflow this source should be captured with provenance, retrieval date, field-level caveats and a clear distinction between legal-entity facts, compliance signals and any later marketing/contact enrichment.
3.
SEC Developer Resources
Owner: official regulator. Access: https://www.sec.gov/about/developer-resources.
- What it gives: Technical and lawful-use context for SEC data consumption.
- Reuse value: SEC terms and fair-access policy
- Main limitation: Policy/guidance layer rather than a company registry.
SEC Developer Resources is a official regulator source for United States. Its main practical value is Technical and lawful-use context for SEC data consumption. Access is through https://www.sec.gov/about/developer-resources, so the source should be treated according to that access model rather than assumed to be an unrestricted bulk feed.
For reuse, the working rule is: SEC terms and fair-access policy. The main limitation is Policy/guidance layer rather than a company registry. In a normalized company-data workflow this source should be captured with provenance, retrieval date, field-level caveats and a clear distinction between legal-entity facts, compliance signals and any later marketing/contact enrichment.
4.
SAM.gov Entity Information
Owner: official federal procurement/entity source. Access: https://sam.gov/content/entity-information.
- What it gives: Federal contractors, entity registrations and exclusions context.
- Reuse value: SAM.gov terms and FOIA/CUI boundaries
- Main limitation: Federal procurement population, not a complete business universe.
SAM.gov Entity Information is a official federal procurement/entity source source for United States. Its main practical value is Federal contractors, entity registrations and exclusions context. Access is through https://sam.gov/content/entity-information, so the source should be treated according to that access model rather than assumed to be an unrestricted bulk feed.
For reuse, the working rule is: SAM.gov terms and FOIA/CUI boundaries. The main limitation is Federal procurement population, not a complete business universe. In a normalized company-data workflow this source should be captured with provenance, retrieval date, field-level caveats and a clear distinction between legal-entity facts, compliance signals and any later marketing/contact enrichment.
5.
SAM.gov Entity Management API
Owner: official GSA API. Access: https://open.gsa.gov/api/entity-api/.
- What it gives: Programmatic entity lookup for SAM.gov registered entities.
- Reuse value: GSA/SAM API terms and CUI restrictions
- Main limitation: Access and fields vary by authorization and data sensitivity.
SAM.gov Entity Management API is a official GSA API source for United States. Its main practical value is Programmatic entity lookup for SAM.gov registered entities. Access is through https://open.gsa.gov/api/entity-api/, so the source should be treated according to that access model rather than assumed to be an unrestricted bulk feed.
For reuse, the working rule is: GSA/SAM API terms and CUI restrictions. The main limitation is Access and fields vary by authorization and data sensitivity. In a normalized company-data workflow this source should be captured with provenance, retrieval date, field-level caveats and a clear distinction between legal-entity facts, compliance signals and any later marketing/contact enrichment.
6.
SAM Entity/Exclusions Extract APIs
Owner: official GSA API. Access: https://open.gsa.gov/api/sam-entity-extracts-api/.
- What it gives: Public entity and exclusions extracts for compliance workflows.
- Reuse value: FOIA/public extract and CUI boundaries
- Main limitation: Sensitive fields and non-public extracts are restricted.
SAM Entity/Exclusions Extract APIs is a official GSA API source for United States. Its main practical value is Public entity and exclusions extracts for compliance workflows. Access is through https://open.gsa.gov/api/sam-entity-extracts-api/, so the source should be treated according to that access model rather than assumed to be an unrestricted bulk feed.
For reuse, the working rule is: FOIA/public extract and CUI boundaries. The main limitation is Sensitive fields and non-public extracts are restricted. In a normalized company-data workflow this source should be captured with provenance, retrieval date, field-level caveats and a clear distinction between legal-entity facts, compliance signals and any later marketing/contact enrichment.
7.
USAspending API
Owner: official federal open data. Access: https://api.usaspending.gov/docs/.
- What it gives: Award recipients, contracts, grants and federal-spending enrichment.
- Reuse value: USAspending/public federal data terms
- Main limitation: Award-recipient layer, not all US companies.
USAspending API is a official federal open data source for United States. Its main practical value is Award recipients, contracts, grants and federal-spending enrichment. Access is through https://api.usaspending.gov/docs/, so the source should be treated according to that access model rather than assumed to be an unrestricted bulk feed.
For reuse, the working rule is: USAspending/public federal data terms. The main limitation is Award-recipient layer, not all US companies. In a normalized company-data workflow this source should be captured with provenance, retrieval date, field-level caveats and a clear distinction between legal-entity facts, compliance signals and any later marketing/contact enrichment.
8.
Data.gov
Owner: official open data. Access: https://catalog.data.gov/.
- What it gives: Discovery layer for federal, state, local and tribal datasets.
- Reuse value: dataset-specific US government terms
- Main limitation: Catalogue, not the authority for each state registry.
Data.gov is a official open data source for United States. Its main practical value is Discovery layer for federal, state, local and tribal datasets. Access is through https://catalog.data.gov/, so the source should be treated according to that access model rather than assumed to be an unrestricted bulk feed.
For reuse, the working rule is: dataset-specific US government terms. The main limitation is Catalogue, not the authority for each state registry. In a normalized company-data workflow this source should be captured with provenance, retrieval date, field-level caveats and a clear distinction between legal-entity facts, compliance signals and any later marketing/contact enrichment.
9.
California Business Search
Owner: official state registry. Access: https://bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov/search/business.
- What it gives: High-volume state example for entity verification.
- Reuse value: California Secretary of State terms
- Main limitation: California-only; terms and fields differ by state.
California Business Search is a official state registry source for United States. Its main practical value is High-volume state example for entity verification. Access is through https://bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov/search/business, so the source should be treated according to that access model rather than assumed to be an unrestricted bulk feed.
For reuse, the working rule is: California Secretary of State terms. The main limitation is California-only; terms and fields differ by state. In a normalized company-data workflow this source should be captured with provenance, retrieval date, field-level caveats and a clear distinction between legal-entity facts, compliance signals and any later marketing/contact enrichment.
10.
Delaware entity search
Owner: official state registry. Access: https://icis.corp.delaware.gov/Ecorp/EntitySearch/NameSearch.aspx.
- What it gives: Important incorporation state example.
- Reuse value: Delaware Division of Corporations terms
- Main limitation: Search is state-specific and not a full national API.
Delaware entity search is a official state registry source for United States. Its main practical value is Important incorporation state example. Access is through https://icis.corp.delaware.gov/Ecorp/EntitySearch/NameSearch.aspx, so the source should be treated according to that access model rather than assumed to be an unrestricted bulk feed.
For reuse, the working rule is: Delaware Division of Corporations terms. The main limitation is Search is state-specific and not a full national API. In a normalized company-data workflow this source should be captured with provenance, retrieval date, field-level caveats and a clear distinction between legal-entity facts, compliance signals and any later marketing/contact enrichment.
Practical Options
Official open-data or API route
Start with the jurisdiction of formation or qualification for private companies, then add federal layers only when the entity belongs to that population: SEC EDGAR for reporting companies, SAM.gov for federal procurement registration, USAspending for awards, IRS TEOS for exempt organizations, USPTO for trademarks and OFAC for restricted-party screening.
For production use, treat this route as an ingestion plan rather than a single download. Start with the official registry or data catalogue, keep raw source snapshots, record access terms, then add enrichment sources one by one with field-level provenance.
Manual verification and document route
Some countries expose important company facts through certificates, PDF filings, gazette notices, paid extracts or login-based services. Those sources can be valuable, but they should be documented as controlled workflows. Do not describe them as open APIs or bulk datasets unless the authority clearly publishes that access model.
Contact-data and marketing-list route
For sales outreach, company identity data is only the first layer. Business emails, phone numbers, contact roles, suppression logic and segmentation require a separate compliant contact-data process. That layer should be documented separately from official registry reuse.
Private reports and risk products
Private company-report providers can be useful for manual due diligence in United States, but the editorial focus here is not a directory of competitors. The strategic value is understanding which official sources exist and where normalization is required.
If a user needs CRM-ready company records, the practical path is to combine official-source provenance with enrichment, deduplication, quality checks and lawful delivery controls. That is different from buying a generic lead list: the official-source layer explains what can be verified, while the commercial dataset layer explains how the records can be used operationally.
What Is Missing from Official Open Data?
- Do not claim a complete free official bulk United States company database.
- State registries are independent authorities with different fields, fees, APIs, document access, update cycles and reuse terms.
- SEC EDGAR covers reporting companies and filings, not every private LLC, corporation, partnership or sole proprietorship.
- SAM.gov and USAspending cover federal procurement/entity and award populations, not the whole business universe.
- FinCEN beneficial ownership information is restricted compliance data, not a public open company dataset.
- Secretary-of-state records, registered-agent addresses, procurement contacts, officer fields and tax-exempt data are not marketing-contact consent.
- A commercial CompaniesData delivery must keep company identity, official-source provenance, enrichment and contact-data fields separate.
This is why company-data products often add value even when the underlying public sources are strong: official data is frequently split across authorities, formats, languages, identifiers and access models.
Missing data should be treated explicitly in the dataset design. If an official source lacks bulk downloads, CompaniesData should not pretend that the bulk file exists; it should record the source limitation, add alternate official enrichment where lawful, and expose confidence fields so users know which attributes came from which layer.
Recommended Data Model
A practical CompaniesData-style model for United States should keep source evidence and commercial-use fields separate. The core table should hold legal entity identity, status, registration identifiers, legal form, jurisdiction, registered address and source dates. Separate enrichment tables can then store procurement awards, IP assets, regulator status, listed-company signals, LEI matches, sanctions/compliance hits and statistics-sector context.
- Entity identity: legal name, normalized name, registration number, jurisdiction, legal form and lifecycle status.
- Source provenance: source URL, authority, retrieval date, access method, licence/reuse note and confidence flag.
- Event history: incorporation, amendments, filings, gazette notices, insolvency or dissolution where legally public.
- Enrichment: procurement, IP, regulator, exchange, LEI and official statistics layers with their own source dates.
- Commercial delivery: CRM-ready exports, segmentation and contact-data fields only when a separate lawful basis and suppression workflow exist.
How CompaniesData Adds Value
For United States, CompaniesData's role is to turn fragmented source material into a usable business dataset: normalized company names, deduplicated entities, consistent country and activity fields, source provenance, update tracking and enrichment hooks.
- Normalize register identifiers and legal names.
- Match official company records with procurement, IP, LEI and regulator signals.
- Flag source provenance so every derived profile can be audited.
- Separate company identity from contact-data and marketing-permission layers.
- Package data for analysis, CRM enrichment and market research instead of forcing users to parse portals manually.
For United States, the editorial value of CompaniesData is not claiming that every record is open or that every field can be reused without conditions. The value is the opposite: making source boundaries visible, normalizing messy records, adding explainable enrichment and delivering a dataset that users can audit instead of a black-box scrape.
Request a CompaniesData sample for United States if you need a practical dataset rather than a list of source portals.
Commercial Dataset and Contact-Data Boundary
The US open-company-data article supports the company-database sales motion, but it must not blur official records with marketing lists. A secretary-of-state record, SEC filing, SAM registration, award recipient record, trademark owner record or sanctions-list entry can help verify a company. It does not grant permission to email or call that company.
- Company identity layer: legal names, state IDs, jurisdiction, status, registered-agent fields and source dates.
- Enrichment layer: SEC CIKs, SAM UEIs, USAspending recipient IDs, USPTO owners, OFAC hits and LEI matches where lawful.
- Contact-data layer: business emails, phones, roles, suppression and outreach segmentation require a separate lawful-basis workflow through CompaniesData.cloud.
- Spanish-speaking buyers: contact-data demand can be routed to CentraldeComunicacion.es instead of recommending third-party contact-data competitors.
Source Matrix
| Source | Owner | What it gives | Reuse value | Limitations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| official regulator | Public filer submissions, company facts, XBRL and listed/reporting-company enrichment. | SEC fair-access and website terms | Reporting companies only, not all US businesses. | |
| official regulator | Machine-readable SEC company facts and submissions data. | SEC fair-access and request-rate guidance | Requires fair-access headers and moderate request rates. | |
| official regulator | Technical and lawful-use context for SEC data consumption. | SEC terms and fair-access policy | Policy/guidance layer rather than a company registry. | |
| official federal procurement/entity source | Federal contractors, entity registrations and exclusions context. | SAM.gov terms and FOIA/CUI boundaries | Federal procurement population, not a complete business universe. | |
| official GSA API | Programmatic entity lookup for SAM.gov registered entities. | GSA/SAM API terms and CUI restrictions | Access and fields vary by authorization and data sensitivity. | |
| official GSA API | Public entity and exclusions extracts for compliance workflows. | FOIA/public extract and CUI boundaries | Sensitive fields and non-public extracts are restricted. | |
| official federal open data | Award recipients, contracts, grants and federal-spending enrichment. | USAspending/public federal data terms | Award-recipient layer, not all US companies. | |
| official open data | Discovery layer for federal, state, local and tribal datasets. | dataset-specific US government terms | Catalogue, not the authority for each state registry. | |
| official state registry | High-volume state example for entity verification. | California Secretary of State terms | California-only; terms and fields differ by state. | |
| official state registry | Important incorporation state example. | Delaware Division of Corporations terms | Search is state-specific and not a full national API. | |
| official tax authority | Nonprofit and exempt-organization entity context. | IRS public information terms | Tax-exempt organizations only. | |
| official IP authority | Trademark owner and brand enrichment. | USPTO terms and dataset-specific notices | IP layer, not company master data. | |
| official sanctions authority | Restricted-party screening and compliance context. | US Treasury terms | Compliance list, not a company register. | |
| official financial-crimes authority | Compliance caveat for beneficial ownership boundaries. | restricted; not public open data | Beneficial ownership information is not a public open company database. |
The United States is commercially essential but structurally decentralized. Strong official API/bulk layers exist for SEC filers, federal contractors, federal awards, tax-exempt organizations, trademarks and sanctions/compliance. Private-company incorporation is state-level, so any article must lead with the absence of a single national private-company registry and explain state-by-state stitching.
FAQ
Is there a single free official bulk company database for United States?
Not always. United States has official company-data sources, but bulk access, API access, paid extracts and web search can be separate products. Do not assume a complete free bulk file unless the specific source proves it.
What is the best first source for United States company data?
The best first source is state business registries for private-company legal existence, SEC EDGAR for reporting companies, SAM.gov and USAspending for federal contractors and award recipients, IRS exempt-organization data, USPTO trademark data, OFAC sanctions screening and FinCEN BOI as a restricted non-public compliance boundary. It should then be combined with statistics, procurement, IP and regulator sources.
Can public company data be reused commercially?
Often yes, but only under the conditions of the specific source. Attribution, update-date preservation, no-endorsement wording and GDPR controls may apply.
Can I use registry data for cold email marketing?
No automatic conclusion follows from public registry access. Marketing requires a separate lawful basis, suppression handling and contact-data compliance review.
Why use CompaniesData instead of manually collecting United States sources?
Manual collection is slow because identifiers, formats, languages and coverage differ by source. CompaniesData adds normalization, matching, deduplication, provenance and practical delivery formats.
How often should United States company data be refreshed?
Refresh cadence depends on the source. Registry searches and APIs can support frequent checks, while gazettes, procurement portals, statistical releases and paid extracts may update on different schedules. A reliable dataset should store retrieval dates and source-specific update notes.
What should be audited before publishing or selling an enriched dataset?
Audit source authority, licence terms, personal-data exposure, contact-data lawful basis, field provenance, suppression rules, update dates and whether any official source prohibits automated reuse or resale.
Sources
SEC EDGAR APIs – official regulator
data.sec.gov – official regulator
SEC Developer Resources – official regulator
SAM.gov Entity Information – official federal procurement/entity source
SAM.gov Entity Management API – official GSA API
SAM Entity/Exclusions Extract APIs – official GSA API
USAspending API – official federal open data
Data.gov – official open data
California Business Search – official state registry
Delaware entity search – official state registry
IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search – official tax authority
USPTO Trademark Search – official IP authority
OFAC Sanctions Search – official sanctions authority
FinCEN BOI – official financial-crimes authority
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