Liquor license applications typically have two fees – the actual license fees and the application fees. Those two items add up to the liquor license cost.
License fees range, as you’d expect, with a range from $300 to $13,800 nationwide. The average license fee is $1400 in the US. The license filing fee for the application can be several hundred dollars for processing fees.
You’ll find the most expensive license fee if you’re applying in a state that has license quotas. Some states base the number of licenses to sell or serve alcohol on population numbers. If you learn that this is the case in your state, you may have to purchase a liquor license that a business entity is selling, or wait – it can be years – for the alcohol beverage control board to again approve new licenses.
Liquor licenses can be sold, business to business (business location stays the same), business to business (the business relocates in the same town) and business to new owner/new location. If a state has liquor license quotas, often liquor licenses are sold – subject to approval by the state liquor control and appropriate county regulations, if required, such as the local ABC district office. As you can imagine, in a liquor license quota state, prices are high on liquor licenses. For example, an auction house in Bucks County (Philadelphia area, Pennsylvania) lists liquor licenses for sale with prices beginning at $375,000.