Research
Surety Bond Cost Report
Which bond requirements are the largest, and how far apart are the states? This report ranks statutory surety bond amounts across every state-backed bond type we track, using regulator-published figures only: no estimates, no filled gaps.
Data as of 2026-06-17. Current edition: Q3 2026. Every figure recomputes from the underlying dataset, so the report never goes stale.
By Cornerstone Staff, Financial Services State Licensing Specialists
Headline findings
7
bond types with ranked statutory state data
Cornerstone Bond Cost Index
349
published statutory bond amounts across states
State regulator requirements, state-law dataset
$500,000
largest single statutory bond requirement tracked
State regulator requirements, state-law dataset
15
state and bond-type pairs where no bond is required
State regulator requirements, state-law dataset
Highest statutory bond requirements
The single largest published bond amounts across every state-backed bond type we track. Each links to the full state table in the Bond Cost Index.
Top statutory requirements (state, bond type)
- California, Money Transmitter Bond $500,000
- New York, Money Transmitter Bond $500,000
- Texas, Money Transmitter Bond $300,000
- Florida, Money Transmitter Bond $250,000
- Illinois, Money Transmitter Bond $100,000
- California, Mortgage Banker $50,000
- Florida, Mortgage Banker $50,000
- Illinois, Mortgage Banker $50,000
- New York, Mortgage Banker $50,000
- Texas, Mortgage Banker $50,000
Statutory amounts by bond type
Median and full range of published statutory amounts for each bond type with at least 10 stated state figures. States that publish no dollar amount are excluded from that bond's statistics rather than estimated.
Median statutory amount and range
- Money Transmitter Bond (Bond, not License) median $25,000, range $10,000 to $500,000, 51 states
- Mortgage Banker median $10,000, range $10,000 to $50,000, 52 states
- Mortgage Broker median $10,000, range $10,000 to $50,000, 52 states
- Mortgage Lender median $10,000, range $10,000 to $50,000, 52 states
- Mortgage Loan Originator median $10,000, range $10,000 to $50,000, 52 states
- Mortgage Servicer median $10,000, range $10,000 to $50,000, 52 states
- Debt Collector (Collection Agency) median $10,000, range $5,000 to $50,000, 38 states
Where state-to-state spread is widest
Bond types where the highest-requirement state publishes a figure many times the lowest, which is where checking your specific state matters most.
- Money Transmitter Bond: $10,000 to $500,000, roughly 50x from lowest to highest state.
- Debt Collector: $5,000 to $50,000, roughly 10x from lowest to highest state.
- Mortgage Banker: $10,000 to $50,000, roughly 5x from lowest to highest state.
- Mortgage Broker: $10,000 to $50,000, roughly 5x from lowest to highest state.
- Mortgage Lender: $10,000 to $50,000, roughly 5x from lowest to highest state.
Where no bond is required
Tracked states whose regulator publishes no bond requirement for a license type.
No-bond states by bond type
- Debt Collector 14 of 52 tracked states require no bond
- Money Transmitter Bond 1 of 52 tracked states require no bond
Methodology and sourcing
Statutory bond amounts come from the seeded state-law dataset, sourced from state regulator publications, the same data behind the Bond Cost Index. Premium-rate bands come from our published rate methodology.
A bond type appears in the rankings only when at least 10 states publish a dollar amount for it, and any state without a published figure is excluded from that bond's statistics rather than estimated. Where our own aggregated quote data appears in the Bond Cost Index, it is published only above a minimum sample size of 25.