Occupational licensing · 51 states ranked

Occupational Licensing Rankings

How do states and professions compare on occupational licensing requirements? Explore which professions require licenses in the most states, and which states license the most occupations.

By ·Data as of 2026-05-15

States Ranked
51
Most Burdensome
California
Least Burdensome
New Hampshire

Most Licensed Professions

Professions ranked by the number of U.S. states that require a license to practice, from universal to rare requirements.

Strictest Licensing States

States ranked by composite licensing-burden score and rank, not by an identical profession-count total.

Two views of the same burden ladder

Horizontal bars show the ten heaviest scores; the gauge places California on the corpus score range (28.5-65.0). Both use the same states.burden_score column.

California · #128.5Oregon · #230.2Illinois · #331Nevada · #432.1Colorado · #533.5Arizona · #634.2Washington · #735Hawaii · #835.8New Mexico · #936.5Montana · #1037
Top 10 most-burdened states · lower composite score = heavier documented burden
2667Corpus avg4828.5
California #1 · score 28.5 vs avg 48 (same burden_score as bar #1). Lighter end New Hampshire 65.0.

Browse all states

Alabama #33 Alaska #42 Arizona #6 Arkansas #36 California #1 Colorado #5 Connecticut #12 Delaware #19 District of Columbia #18 Florida #15 Georgia #25 Hawaii #8 Idaho #43 Illinois #3 Indiana #27 Iowa #39 Kansas #40 Kentucky #35 Louisiana #11 Maine #48 Maryland #13 Massachusetts #14 Michigan #24 Minnesota #30 Mississippi #34 Missouri #31 Montana #10 Nebraska #41 Nevada #4 New Hampshire #49 New Jersey #13 New Mexico #9 New York #17 North Carolina #26 North Dakota #44 Ohio #22 Oklahoma #38 Oregon #2 Pennsylvania #18 Rhode Island #12 South Carolina #37 South Dakota #45 Tennessee #29 Texas #20 Utah #34 Vermont #47 Virginia #28 Washington #7 West Virginia #34 Wisconsin #32 Wyoming #46

What to do with this

California carries the heaviest documented licensing burden and New Hampshire the lightest -- here's how to use that.

  • Before relocating or entering a profession, compare its education hours, fees, and exam requirements across states. Browse all professions
  • See California's full licensing profile, or check whether your own state ranks lighter or heavier. California state page
  • Check whether your license transfers under an interstate compact before assuming you need to start over. Reciprocity guide

Burden scores are compiled from Institute for Justice License to Work research and NCSL board coverage; always confirm current rules with the licensing board before relying on any single row.

Data source: Licensing requirement data compiled from state licensing board databases and Institute for Justice License to Work research. Coverage spans 50 states plus Washington D.C.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Institute for Justice, this ranking (current as of May 15, 2026) reflects the burden scores computed from the same underlying licensing requirement corpus; see the methodology.

Download the jurisdiction snapshot (same CSV as /statistics): licensing-statistics.csv (CC BY 4.0).

Compiled from official public sources by the publisher.

Every figure on PlainCredential is rendered directly from NCSL and state occupational- licensing board data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on NCSL and state licensing board data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.