Most and Least Licensed States: A Data-Driven Ranking

How We Measure Licensing Burden

Occupational licensing burden is multidimensional: it depends both on how many professions a state licenses and on how difficult those licenses are to obtain. Our burden score draws on the Institute for Justice License to Work research and NCSL Occupational Licensing data, combining several factors into a single composite index (in our data, a lower score means more burden):

• Education/training hours required - The average number of hours mandated across licensed professions
• Fees - Application and renewal fees across professions
• Exam requirements - The proportion of professions requiring one or more exams
• Number of licensed professions - States that license more professions have a broader burden footprint
• Criminal background checks - The frequency of mandatory criminal background requirements

The Most Burdened States

These states consistently rank at the top for regulatory burden on working-class professions:

Note: on our burden score, a lower number means more burden -- rank #1 is the single most-regulated state in our data, not the least.

Why California Tops the List

California's licensing burden is driven by a combination of factors: high minimum education hours (cosmetologists need 1,592 hours in our data, versus a national median of about 1,268), fees that frequently exceed $200, and the sheer number of professions that require a license. The California Department of Consumer Affairs oversees dozens of licensing boards covering hundreds of professions statewide.

This isn't entirely without benefit, California's licensing standards do produce some of the most rigorously trained professionals in certain fields. But critics, including the Institute for Justice, note that many of the lower-stakes licenses (interior designers, home organizers, etc.) add cost without commensurate consumer protection.

Louisiana: A Well-Known Outlier

Louisiana isn't in our top 5 (it sits at #11 in our data), but it's still worth a special mention: the Institute for Justice has repeatedly highlighted Louisiana's licensing of professions like florists, tour guides, and casket sellers, trades that are rarely regulated elsewhere. Louisiana also has some of the more restrictive criminal-history policies in our data, with a higher-than-average share of professions denying applicants with any criminal record.

The Least Burdened States

These states take a lighter regulatory touch:

Arizona's Model: Universal Recognition

Arizona doesn't rank among our lowest-burden states overall (it sits at #6 for combined fee/education burden in our data), but it pioneered a different kind of reform: in 2019, Arizona became the first state to pass universal occupational licensure recognition. Under this law, any person holding a license from another state who has been actively practicing their profession for at least one year is automatically eligible to practice in Arizona, no additional testing, no additional fees, no waiting period beyond basic application processing.

More than 20 states have since adopted some form of universal recognition, often modeled on Arizona's approach. Portability and overall licensing burden are different axes, a state can have real education/fee requirements and still make it easy for an already-licensed worker to transfer in.

Regional Patterns

Licensing burden isn't random, it follows regional patterns. In our data, a lower burden-score number means more burden:

• Southeast - Mixed. Louisiana (#11) is comparatively high-burden; Tennessee (#29), Georgia (#25), and South Carolina (#37) are medium; Florida (#15) is on the higher end.
• West Coast - High burden. California (#1), Oregon (#2), and Washington (#7) all rank in our top 10 for burden.
• Mountain West - Mixed. Arizona (#6) and Montana (#10) are actually high-burden in our data; Wyoming (#46) and Idaho (#43) take a much lighter approach.
• Northeast - Mixed. Rhode Island and Connecticut (#12) are comparatively high-burden; New York sits at #17; New Hampshire (#49) is the clear outlier, the single lowest-burden state in our data.
• Midwest - Generally medium. Varies significantly by state.

The Ongoing Debate

Occupational licensing is a genuinely contested policy area. Defenders argue that licensing protects consumers from incompetent or dangerous practitioners, ensures minimum quality standards, and provides a credential that helps employers and consumers make informed choices.

Critics, including economists across the political spectrum, point out that many licensed professions pose minimal consumer risk, that licensing barriers primarily protect existing practitioners from competition, and that the costs fall disproportionately on low-income workers who can't afford education hours, fees, and the income gap during training.

A 2015 Obama administration report and a 2019 FTC report both called for significant reform. The momentum for universal recognition laws reflects some of that policy influence taking hold at the state level.

What This Means for Workers

If you're choosing where to start a licensed career or considering relocation, state licensing burden matters:

• In high-burden states, expect 6–24 months of training before you can work, plus hundreds of dollars in fees. But once licensed, you have strong credential protection and consumers trust your license.
• In low-burden states, you can get started faster with less upfront investment. Competition may be higher, but barriers to entry are lower for everyone.
• If you anticipate relocating frequently - especially military families, prioritize states in the NLC compact for nursing, PSYPACT for psychology, or with universal recognition laws for your profession.