At least 750 unique data brokers were registered in one or more of five US state registries, according to a joint Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and Electronic Frontier Foundation analysis published June 2025, based on an April 2025 snapshot of California, Vermont, Texas, and Oregon's registration data. That number is a floor, not a ceiling: the same review found hundreds of companies registered in one state but missing from another, and no registry captures brokers that skip registration altogether.
How many data brokers are actually registered nationwide?
750 is the most rigorous public count available, and it only counts companies that registered somewhere. Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and EFF built that number by pulling registration data from every state that publishes one and merging duplicate entries into a single list of unique companies. It is a large jump from the last time anyone tried this exercise.
Figure 1: Independent researchers identified roughly 180 data brokers in 2018, before any state required registration. By July 2021, Vermont and California's registries alone held 540 unique companies. By April 2025, five state registries held 750. Source: Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, "Registered Data Brokers in the United States: 2021" and "Why Are Hundreds of Data Brokers Not Registering with States?" (2025).
The 2021 report also flagged that the increase in registered businesses during that first three-year period more than doubled the number identified by independent research back in 2018. Growth has continued since, but it tracks new state laws taking effect at least as much as it tracks new companies entering the industry.
Which states publish a registered-broker count, and what does it cost to register?
Six states now have a data broker law on the books, but only four had a functioning registry with real registrants as of 2025. Each sets its own fee, and the fees vary by a factor of sixty between the cheapest and the most expensive.
| State | Registry began | Registered companies | Annual fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vermont | 2018 | 283 (2025-2026 cycle) | $100 |
| California | 2020, CPPA-run since 2024 | 522+ (June 2025); 600+ by Aug 2026 | $6,000 |
| Texas | 2023 | Not separately published | $300 |
| Oregon | 2023 | Not separately published | $600 |
| All states combined | -- | 750 unique companies | -- |
Source: Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (2025), Vermont Secretary of State registry as compiled by RecordingLaw (2026), California Privacy Protection Agency, and DataGrail's 2026 Field Guide to Data Broker Compliance.
Figure 2: California's fee is sixty times Vermont's, and Vermont still has the largest per-capita registration base of any state that publishes a count. Source: DataGrail, "The 2026 Field Guide to Data Broker Compliance in California, Connecticut, New Jersey and Beyond."
Texas and Oregon run searchable registries but neither state publishes a running total of registered companies, which is why those two rows above say "not separately published" rather than a number. For a fuller look at what the industry does with the data these companies register to handle, our data broker statistics roundup covers breach costs and removal-service volume alongside the registry figures here.
How much do state registries overlap?
Before five states published registries, only two did: Vermont and California. Their 2021 overlap is the clearest picture anyone has ever published of how much a single company's registration status can differ from state to state.
Figure 3: Of the 540 unique companies registered in Vermont or California in July 2021, only 135, exactly one in four, had registered in both states. Source: Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, "Registered Data Brokers in the United States: 2021" (published February 22, 2022).
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse did not republish that same overlap breakdown in its 2025 five-state review, but its central finding was the same shape at a larger scale: a company registering in one state is not a reliable signal that it registered anywhere else.
Why don't the state totals add up?
Because registering in one state carries no obligation to register in another, even when a company's activity would legally require it. The 2025 review checked each of the 750 companies against every state's own list and counted the gaps.
Figure 4: Texas had the largest gap: 524 companies that registered somewhere else never registered in Texas at all. Source: Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and Electronic Frontier Foundation, "Why Are Hundreds of Data Brokers Not Registering with States?" (June 20, 2025).
Every one of those gap numbers is larger than the number of companies actually registered in some of these states, which is the strongest evidence that the true count of active data brokers is well above 750, even before accounting for companies that never registered anywhere.
Are Connecticut and New Jersey counted yet?
No. Both states passed data broker registration laws in 2026, but neither had an open registry as of this review, so neither contributes a single company to the 750 count above.
Figure 5: Connecticut's law, signed May 27, 2026, sets registration starting January 1, 2027. New Jersey's law, enacted June 30, 2026, has the state's Division of Consumer Affairs targeting a spring 2027 registry launch. Source: Davis+Gilbert and Faegre Drinker legal alerts, 2026.
New Jersey's fee structure will also be the steepest anyone has tried: tiered from $5,000 to $1.5 million a year depending on how much consumer data a company sells, according to Faegre Drinker's July 2026 analysis of the new law. Neither state's registry will contribute a verifiable company count until well into 2027.
Does every business that sells data have to register as a broker?
Not automatically. Every state's law defines "data broker" around selling or licensing personal data about people the business has no direct relationship with, and most states pair that definition with a revenue or record-volume threshold before registration is required.
Figure 6: The registration test every state broker law runs on, in simplified form. Source: state data broker statutes as compiled in DataGrail's 2026 Field Guide to Data Broker Compliance.
That definitional gap is exactly why estimates of the industry's true size vary so widely. Figures anywhere from 1,500 to 4,000 data brokers circulate in privacy advocacy and marketing writing, but none of the sources repeating those numbers during this review disclosed a methodology, so they are not used here. The Federal Trade Commission's 2014 market study, by contrast, is a disclosed, if dated, data point: it identified more than 100 data brokers operating in the US at the time, from a study that examined nine of them in depth. If your business shares personal data with any third party, even before you work out whether state law counts you as a broker, a privacy policy that discloses those data flows in plain language is the first thing a regulator checks. A related question, what any of that shared data is actually worth per person, is one we cover in a companion piece on data broker pricing; that post is still in production as of this writing.
The Bottom Line
Nobody, including the states that require registration, can say exactly how many data brokers exist. What the registries do show is a floor of 750 companies as of 2025, a count that has more than quadrupled since 2018, and a pattern of hundreds of companies registering in one state while skipping another they likely also owe a filing to. California's 522-to-600-plus registered brokers and its new DROP deletion platform are the most aggressive attempt yet to make registration mean something in practice rather than on paper, and Connecticut and New Jersey's 2027 registries will be the next real test of whether other states can catch up. For any business that collects or shares personal data, the safest move is not waiting to see whether "data broker" applies before disclosing what data moves where; the same disclosure a broker eventually has to make in a state filing is one a compliant privacy policy should already be making in plain language.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many data brokers are registered in the United States? At least 750 unique companies were registered in one or more of five state data broker registries reviewed, according to a Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and Electronic Frontier Foundation analysis published June 2025, based on an April 2025 snapshot.
Which states actually require data brokers to register? Four states had working data broker registries with real registrants as of 2025: Vermont, in place since 2018, California, since 2020 and run by the CPPA since 2024, and Texas and Oregon, both since 2023. Connecticut and New Jersey passed similar laws in 2026, but neither registry opens for registrants until 2027.
Why don't the state registry counts add up to one clean number? Because a company can register in one state and skip another entirely. The 2025 review found 524 companies missing from Texas's own registry, 475 missing from Oregon's, 309 missing from Vermont's, and 291 missing from California's, despite each having registered somewhere else.
How many data brokers are registered in California specifically? California's own registry had grown to 522 registered companies by the time Privacy Rights Clearinghouse published its June 20, 2025 review, up from roughly 425 four months earlier, and to more than 600 by the time the state's DROP deletion platform reached its August 1, 2026 enforcement deadline.
Where the Numbers Come From
- Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and Electronic Frontier Foundation. (2025). "Why Are Hundreds of Data Brokers Not Registering with States?" 750 unique companies identified across five state registries, April 2025 snapshot, published June 20, 2025; registration gaps of 524 (Texas), 475 (Oregon), 309 (Vermont), and 291 (California); California registry grown to 522 registrations as of publication.
- Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. (2022). "Registered Data Brokers in the United States: 2021." 540 unique companies across California and Vermont as of July 2021 (444 California entries, 348 Vermont entries, 135 registered in both), against roughly 180 identified by independent research in 2018. Published February 22, 2022.
- Vermont Secretary of State registry, as compiled by RecordingLaw. (2026). "Vermont Data Privacy Laws: Data Broker Registry and Consumer Rights." 283 registered data brokers, 2025-2026 filing cycle, last reviewed June 21, 2026.
- California Privacy Protection Agency. (2026). "Information for Data Brokers." $6,000 annual registration fee, January 1-31 annual registration window, and 600-plus registered brokers heading into the state's August 1, 2026 DROP enforcement deadline.
- DataGrail. (2026). "The 2026 Field Guide to Data Broker Compliance in California, Connecticut, New Jersey and Beyond." State-by-state registry fees and effective dates.
- Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP. (2026). "New Jersey Enacts Sweeping Data Broker and Data Collector Registration Law." Enacted June 30, 2026; registry launch targeted for spring 2027; tiered fees from $5,000 to $1.5 million.
- Federal Trade Commission. (2014). "Data Brokers: A Call for Transparency and Accountability." Identified more than 100 data brokers operating in the US as of 2014, from an in-depth study of nine companies.
Note: All figures verified as of July 2026. State registry counts change with each annual filing cycle; Connecticut and New Jersey's figures in particular should be expected to shift once those registries open to registrants in 2027.
