Last updated: September 27, 2026|General $100,000 surety bond information — confirm current requirements with the licensing authority.

Direct answer: A $100,000 surety bond costs $1,000 to $10,000 per year — 1% to 10% of the bond amount, set mainly by credit. But unlike smaller bond tiers, $100,000 bonds get there three different ways: a flat statutory floor for money transmitters (Georgia sets $100,000 under O.C.G.A. § 7-1-683.2), a volume-tier ceiling for high-grossing commercial contractors (Arizona caps its CB license bond at $100,000 under A.R.S. § 32-1152), and court-ordered penal sums that simply match a $100,000 estate or judgment. Which one applies to you changes both the underwriting and the paperwork.

3 mechanisms, 1 dollar figure2026 rates

$100,000 Surety Bond Cost —Rates by Credit

A floor, a ceiling, and a match. Georgia sets $100,000 as the minimum a money transmitter can post. Arizona sets it as the maximum a commercial contractor's license bond can reach. And a probate court sets it because that's what the estate happens to be worth. Same number, three different reasons — and three different ways to price it.

$1,000–$10,000

Typical annual premium

1%–10%

Of the $100,000 bond amount

$10M

AZ volume where the CB bond hits its $100k ceiling

$75,000

Federal freight broker bond — one tier below, not $100k

Quick answer

A $100,000 bond can be a floor (Georgia money transmitters), a ceiling (Arizona commercial contractor license bonds) or a court-set amount (probate). The typical annual premium is $1,000-$10,000, or 1%-10% of the $100,000 bond amount.

Amount: Arizona's commercial contractor bond reaches its $100k ceiling at $10M of volume; the federal freight broker bond is $75,000, one tier below.
Typical cost (estimate): $1,000-$10,000 typical annual premium (1%-10% of the $100,000 bond amount). The surety sets the final price.

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Three Different Reasons a Bond Lands at $100,000

At $10,000 or $25,000, most bonds are flat figures set once by statute and left alone. $100,000 is where that pattern breaks. It shows up as a floor (the minimum a regulator will accept), a ceiling (the maximum a graduated schedule will demand), and a match (whatever a judge decides the underlying asset or judgment is worth) — three unrelated underwriting logics that happen to produce the same number.

Three Paths to a $100,000 Bond — Verified, 2026

Same dollar figure, three unrelated mechanisms for reaching it.

Bond Category	Mechanism	Statute / Authority	How $100,000 Is Reached
Money transmitter / MSB bond	Statutory floor	Georgia: O.C.G.A. § 7-1-683.2	$100,000 minimum, can rise to $2,000,000 by regulator order
High-volume commercial contractor bond	Volume-tier ceiling	Arizona: A.R.S. § 32-1152	$5,000 to $100,000, scaled to anticipated annual gross volume
Probate, guardianship, appeal, or judgment bond	Court-ordered value match	Varies by state — no fixed statutory number	Judge sets the bond to match the estate or judgment amount

Not exhaustive — other states and license categories also land at $100,000 through similar mechanisms. These three are independently verified against primary sources as of August 2026.

Sources: O.C.G.A. § 7-1-683.2 (Georgia); A.R.S. § 32-1152 (Arizona); state probate/fiduciary statutes generally (bond set to estate or judgment value).

The Statutory Floor: Georgia's $100,000 Money Transmitter Bond

Georgia's Department of Banking and Finance requires every licensed money transmitter to post a bond in the principal sum of $100,000 — a flat floor, not a formula. The Department can order additional coverage above that floor if a licensee's average daily outstanding transmission obligations exceed the current bond amount, but under no circumstances can the total required coverage exceed $2,000,000.

Official Georgia Requirements

"The bond for money transmitters shall be in the principal sum of $100,000.00."

Official Code of Georgia Annotated, via Georgia Department of Banking and Finance rulemaking (Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 80-3-2) • O.C.G.A. § 7-1-683.2

$100,000 is not universal. California requires $250,000 to $7,000,000 for the equivalent license under Cal. Fin. Code § 2037 — a floor 2.5x higher than Georgia's before volume scaling even applies. Texas and Florida run their own separate schedules. Before assuming your money transmitter bond is $100,000, confirm your specific state on our money transmitter bonds hub.

The Volume-Tier Ceiling: Arizona's Commercial Contractor Bond

Arizona's Registrar of Contractors doesn't assign one bond amount per license type — it scales the commercial general (CB) classification to anticipated annual gross volume, and $100,000 is where that scale stops climbing.

Arizona Commercial General (CB) Contractor Bond — Volume Tiers

A.R.S. § 32-1152 — 2026 schedule

Under $150,000 Annual Volume

$5,000

Smallest commercial general (CB) tier

The floor bond for any CB-classified contractor, regardless of how little commercial work they actually do.

$150,000 – $500,000 Volume

$5,000 – $15,000

Second CB tier

Bond rises inside this band as reported anticipated annual gross volume increases.

$500,000 – $1,000,000 Volume

$10,000 – $25,000

Third CB tier

ROC continues stepping the bond up in bands between $1 million and $10 million in volume before the ceiling.

Most Common

Over $10,000,000 Volume

$50,000 – $100,000

Ceiling band — largest commercial GCs

The Registrar sets the exact figure within this band, but $100,000 is the statutory maximum under A.R.S. § 32-1152 — no CB contractor, however large, posts more than this for the license bond itself, though public and large private owners will still require separate, project-specific performance and payment bonds on top of it.

Source: Arizona Registrar of Contractors, A.R.S. § 32-1152. Intermediate bands between $1,000,000 and $10,000,000 in annual volume continue stepping the bond upward before the $100,000 ceiling; exact figures are set by the Registrar within the statutory range.

The full Arizona classification system also covers residential (KB/KR) and commercial specialty (CR) contractors at lower bond ranges — see the complete Arizona contractor license bond guide for every classification.

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The Value Match: When a Court Sets Your Bond at $100,000

Probate, guardianship, appeal, and judgment bonds don't come from a rate card at all — there is no statute anywhere that says a probate bond is "$100,000." Instead, the court sets the penal sum to match the value of whatever the bond protects: the personal property in an estate, the assets under a guardian's control, or the judgment being appealed. A $100,000 probate bond simply means the court is protecting roughly $100,000 in assets, at whatever multiplier that state's probate code applies.

That multiplier varies more than most people expect. Our state-by-state probate bond cost guide covers the individual rules, but the mechanism itself is worth seeing worked through once: Ohio requires the bond to equal double the estate's personal property value under ORC § 2109.04 — the strictest multiplier of any state — so a modest $50,000 estate produces a $100,000 bond requirement there, while the same estate in a 1:1 state would only require $50,000 in coverage.

Probate/Fiduciary Bond — Value-Match Formula (Ohio Example)

Worked Example

Given$50,000 personal property, Ohio (2x multiplier)

$50,000 × 2

Bond Amount$100,000 bond

Given$50,000 personal property, Ohio (2x multiplier)

$50,000 × 2

Bond Amount$100,000 bond

Ohio: ORC § 2109.04 (bond equal to double the personal property value). Multiplier varies by state — some require 1x, others up to 2x; see /learn/probate-bond-cost-by-state/ for individual state rules.

Guardianship, appeal, and judgment bonds follow the same value-match logic with different inputs — an appeal bond typically runs 100%-150% of the judgment being appealed, not a fixed statutory figure. See court bonds, probate bonds, and estimate your own figure with the executor bond calculator or the appeal bond calculator.

What You'll Actually Pay: $100,000 Bond Premiums by Credit Tier

License and money-transmitter bonds at this size price almost entirely off personal or business credit. Court and fiduciary bonds weigh the underlying case alongside credit — see the note below the table.

$100,000 Surety Bond — Annual Premium by Credit Score

Based on a $100,000 bond amount

Credit ScoreEst. Annual Cost

740+ (excellent)Rate: 1% – 2%
$1,000 – $2,000
680 – 739 (good)Rate: 2% – 4%
$2,000 – $4,000
650 – 679 (fair)Rate: 4% – 7%
$4,000 – $7,000
Below 650 (challenged)Rate: 7% – 10%
$7,000 – $10,000

Rates reflect BuySuretyBonds.com surety panel pricing for $100,000 license, money-transmitter, and fiduciary bonds, 2026. Money transmitter bonds may also weigh business financials and transaction volume alongside personal credit; probate and guardianship bonds may weigh estate complexity and any prior claims history.

Need a different bond amount? Read the full surety bond cost guide or run your own scenario on the bond cost calculator.

$100,000 vs. the Federal $75,000 Freight Broker Bond

It's worth naming this directly because the two figures get confused: the federal property broker (BMC-84) bond under 49 U.S.C. § 13906 is fixed at $75,000, not $100,000. It's both the floor and the ceiling — every FMCSA-licensed freight broker in the country posts the same figure regardless of size, unlike Arizona's contractor bond, which climbs to $100,000 only at the top of its volume schedule.

Household goods freight forwarders post the same $75,000 bond plus separate cargo insurance (a BMC-34 or BMC-83) covering $5,000 per vehicle and $10,000 per occurrence — additional coverage, not a change to the base bond figure. If you're pricing a freight broker bond specifically, see our freight broker bonds guide rather than this page.

$100,000 Surety Bond FAQs

The questions people actually ask once they know the dollar amount but not which of the three paths got them there.

Why does it take three explanations to answer "how much does a $100,000 bond cost?"

Because unlike $10,000 or $25,000 — where a handful of unrelated licenses happen to share a number — $100,000 is where the underwriting logic itself splits into different shapes. Some states set it as a flat statutory floor for money transmitters (Georgia's O.C.G.A. § 7-1-683.2 sets $100,000 as the minimum, full stop). Some states set it as the ceiling of a graduated volume schedule (Arizona's commercial general contractor bond under A.R.S. § 32-1152 climbs from $5,000 to $100,000 as reported annual volume rises). And in probate, guardianship, and judgment bonds, there's no statutory number at all — a judge sets the penal sum to match the value of whatever the bond is protecting, and it simply happens to land on $100,000 when the estate or judgment does. The dollar figure is the same; the reason you got there is not.

Is Georgia's $100,000 money transmitter bond the same amount every state uses?

No — $100,000 is common but far from universal. Georgia, Massachusetts, Maine, and South Dakota are among the states that set $100,000 as a money transmitter bond figure, but California requires $250,000 to $7,000,000 under Cal. Fin. Code § 2037, scaled to the licensee's actual transaction volume — a completely different order of magnitude for the same license category. If you're bonding a money transmission business, the first question isn't "how much is the bond" but "which state's formula applies," because the answer can be 25 times larger depending on where you're licensed.

Why does Arizona cap a contractor bond at $100,000 instead of scaling forever with revenue?

Because the ROC license bond is meant to guarantee compliance with license law, not to insure the full financial risk of every project a contractor takes on — that job belongs to project-specific performance and payment bonds, which do scale with contract value and have no ceiling. Once a commercial general (CB) contractor crosses $10,000,000 in anticipated annual gross volume under A.R.S. § 32-1152, the license bond stops climbing at $100,000. A $500 million-a-year GC and a $12 million-a-year GC post the identical $100,000 license bond; the larger firm's actual project risk is covered separately, contract by contract.

Does posting a $100,000 court bond mean I need $100,000 in cash?

No. $100,000 is the penal sum — the ceiling on what the surety could be ordered to pay out if you breach your fiduciary or legal duty, not a deposit you hand over. You pay an annual premium, typically 1% to 10% of that figure depending on credit and case type, so a $100,000 fiduciary bond commonly runs $1,000 to $10,000 a year. Some courts do require cash or property collateral in higher-risk estates (contested wills, a fiduciary with credit problems, or out-of-state administrators), but that's the exception a producer will flag during underwriting, not the default.

Can I get a $100,000 surety bond with bad credit?

Often yes, though the path differs by bond category. License and money-transmitter bonds at this size can usually still be written for credit-challenged applicants at the top of the rate band (7%-10% annually, or $7,000-$10,000/year on $100,000), sometimes with collateral if credit problems stack with other red flags like an open bankruptcy. Court and fiduciary bonds are underwritten differently — many probate and guardianship bond programs weigh the value and complexity of the estate as heavily as personal credit, and some carriers offer fiduciary bond programs that don’t require a credit check specifically because the court, not the market, is requiring the bond. See our bad credit surety bonds guide for programs that apply across bond types.

How is a $100,000 bond different from the federal $75,000 freight broker bond?

They're actually adjacent, not equivalent — the federal BMC-84 property broker bond under 49 U.S.C. § 13906 is fixed at $75,000, not $100,000, and it applies nationwide regardless of the broker's size or state. A freight broker never crosses into $100,000-bond territory through growth the way an Arizona contractor does; $75,000 is both the floor and the ceiling under federal law. If you saw "$100,000" and a broker context together, you're likely looking at a household goods freight forwarder's combined bond-plus-cargo-insurance exposure or a state-specific requirement layered on top of the federal filing, not a change to the BMC-84 figure itself.

How much does a $500,000 surety bond cost?

Bonds this large are fully underwritten, so there is no flat rate. Applicants with strong credit and financials on contract or commercial bonds usually see roughly 0.5% to 3% of the bond amount, which is about $2,500 to $15,000 per year on a $500,000 bond. Expect the surety to ask for business or personal financial statements, and weaker credit or a high-risk bond type can push the rate higher or require collateral. Court bonds of this size, such as appeal or probate bonds, are priced on the same credit-and-financials basis.

Statutes and Agency Sources Behind the $100K Figures

Statutes cited on this page

Georgia money transmitter bond: O.C.G.A. § 7-1-683.2

Arizona commercial contractor bond: A.R.S. § 32-1152

Ohio probate bond multiplier: ORC § 2109.04

Federal freight broker bond ($75,000, for contrast): 49 U.S.C. § 13906

Agency sources

Georgia Department of Banking and Finance — money services business licensing and bonding

Arizona Registrar of Contractors — ROC bond schedule, A.R.S. § 32-1152

California DFPI: $250,000-$7,000,000 money transmitter bond (contrast to Georgia's $100,000 floor)

BuySuretyBonds.com: 1-844-810-BOND (2663)

Bond amounts and rules can change. Verify your specific state's current requirement with the regulator or court before relying on any third-party summary, including this one.

Keep Going: $100,000 Bonds and Cost Resources

Reviewed by

Eric Drummond, Licensed Surety Producer

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