Ask ten couples what a courthouse wedding costs and you’ll get ten answers — because “the cost” is really two different fees, charged by two different desks, and only one of them is universal.
The marriage license fee is what you pay the clerk for the license itself: the legal permission to marry. Every couple pays it. It is set by state law or by the county, and across the counties we have verified against the clerks’ own published pages it most often falls between about $25 and $100. New York City charges $35. Maricopa County (Phoenix) charges $98. Clark County (Las Vegas) charges $102. Los Angeles County charges $91 for a public license — and $85 for a confidential one, a California option most couples never hear about.
The ceremony fee is separate, and it only exists where the courthouse actually performs ceremonies. Many counties issue licenses and nothing more — you bring your own officiant. Where the courthouse does marry you, the fee is usually modest next to the license: $25 in New York City, $10 in Cook County, Illinois, $35 in Los Angeles County.
So the honest way to budget is: license fee + ceremony fee (if any) + certified copies of the marriage certificate afterwards (clerks charge per copy). Two of those three numbers are published by your county clerk, and both are on your county’s page here — checked against the clerk’s own source, with the date we checked it.
One more wrinkle: several states discount the license if you complete a premarital course first. Florida‘s $86 license drops to $61 with a course certificate; Texas counties commonly drop $60 and waive the waiting period with a Twogether in Texas certificate. If a course is on your list anyway, the saving is real money.
Find your county in the search on the homepage and you’ll see both fees, side by side, exactly as published.