Minnesota Licensed Professional Counselor License Requirements
Requirements, fees, and renewal timing for this license, sourced from state board records.
Provides mental health counseling and therapy services.
What the Minnesota data shows for Licensed Professional Counselors
To practice as a licensed professional counselor in Minnesota, the state licensing board requires 2,851 documented education or training hours, a passing score on NCE (National Counselor Exam) or NCMHCE, and 2 years of supervised work experience. A criminal history background check is also part of the application. Applicants must be at least 18 years old. The regulation sits under Minnesota's professional licensing framework, which classifies the training track as "Masters Degree in Counseling".
The initial price tag is $127, and renewal costs $109 every 2 years. Maintaining the license requires 30 hours of continuing education per 2-year cycle, an ongoing cost applicants often underestimate when budgeting the career.
Reciprocity for this profession works like this: Counseling Compact: 40+ states.
Licensing Ease Score
A higher score means this specific license is LESS burdensome to obtain and maintain here than the national requirement corpus, based on education hours, fees, continuing education, and experience requirements, not an overall judgment of the profession or the state.
Licensing Requirements in Minnesota
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Related Guides
What to do with this licensed professional counselor license
Licensed Professional Counselor in Minnesota, with a documented reciprocity path, is one requirement row in a licensed professional counselor-wide, 50-state comparison.
- See how Minnesota's licensed professional counselor requirements compare to every other state before relocating. Licensed Professional Counselor in every state
- Confirm whether your out-of-state licensed professional counselor license transfers under an interstate compact before starting a new application. Reciprocity guide
- See how Minnesota's overall licensing burden compares to other states, not just this one profession. Minnesota overview
Requirements shown are compiled from NCSL and Institute for Justice research; verify current rules with the Minnesota licensing board before making career decisions.
Source: NCSL Occupational Licensing Database, Institute for Justice License to Work (3rd Ed.), state licensing board websites
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Institute for Justice, the PlainCredential comparison corpus (current as of May 15, 2026) maps 4,947 state licensing requirement records; see the methodology.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.