How to get licensed, state by state.

Source-verified US occupational licensing & certification, state by state. Every requirement, fee, exam, renewal, and issuing board — traced to an official source and dated, so you know it's current.

How licensing works How we verify

Find your state's requirements

329 sourced pages, 9 credentials, 51 jurisdictions. Pick a state and a credential to go straight to the page — the issuing board, what it takes, what it costs, and the date we last checked it.

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CNA Certification Requirements, State by State
What becoming a certified nursing assistant takes in each US state and DC: the state's required training …
How to Become a Notary Public, State by State
What a notary commission takes in each US state and DC: who commissions you, whether an exam, course or surety …
How to Get an HVAC License, State by State
HVAC licensing in every US state: which license the technician, which license only the contractor, and what …
Electrician License Requirements by State
What an electrician license takes in each US state: who the board licenses, experience hours, exams and where …
General Contractor Licensing by State
How general and construction contractors are licensed state by state — license classes and the scope or dollar …
Plumber Licensing by State
How plumbers are licensed state by state — individual licenses, contractor licenses, and local-only licensing, …
Alcohol Server Cards by State
Does your state require an alcohol server card? Who needs one, how long it's valid, what it costs, and the …
Food Handler Cards by State
Does your state require a food handler card? Who needs one, how long it's valid, what it costs, and the …

Why trust this atlas

Requirements come from the issuing boards themselves — not summarized from memory. Each page names its official source and the date it was last verified. We explain requirements; we never sell courses or rank "best" programs.

We also publish our own receipts, which is the part most references skip:

  • What changed at the boards — every week we re-check all 3,426 official sources this atlas cites, and we publish the 58 changes we have reviewed and written up in full — what the rule said before, what it says now, and who it affects. Rules change quietly: a page that was right in June can be wrong in August.
  • Corrections log — every factual defect we have ever found on this site, all 494 of them, 106 rated high severity, with what was wrong and what it says now. Published in full, including the ones nobody would have noticed.

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