State boards + NCSL + NASCLA · June 27, 2026

Contractor license statistics from the live extract

Key findings from the 51-jurisdiction by 20-trade licensing registry. Catalog flags and published bond amounts, not advice about any contractor or project.

51
Jurisdictions
20
Tracked trades
731
Pairs marked required
72%
Required share

The extract in one line

731 of 1,020 state-by-trade pairs (72%) are marked as requiring a state-level license. Electrician and Pest Control sit at 51 of 51 jurisdictions.

1,020
State-by-trade pairs
72%
Marked required
51
Electrician and Pest Control coverage
115
Rows with a bond amount

Not hiring advice. Confirm the current requirement and roster with the state board before you sign.

What the registry counts

731 of 1,020 state-by-trade pairs (72%) are marked as requiring a state-level license. Electrician and Pest Control sit at 51 of 51 jurisdictions.

PlainHireCheck compiles board, NCSL, and NASCLA licensing flags for 20 trades across 51 jurisdictions (snapshot 2026-06-27). 731 of 1,020 pairs are marked required. 328 required rows also mark an exam. 115 required rows publish a surety-bond amount. This is a requirements directory, not a live credential check.

Compiled from official public sources by the publisher.

Key findings

Standalone, citable statements from this extract. Free to reuse with attribution to PlainHireCheck (CC BY 4.0; cite the page).

  • 1,020 state-by-trade pairs sit in this registry (51 jurisdictions times 20 tracked trades). Each cell is a compiled board/NCSL/NASCLA row, not a live credential check.
  • 72% of those pairs (731 of 1,020) are marked as requiring a state-level license in this extract. The other 289 are marked not required. Coverage is a catalog flag, not a quality or safety grade.
  • 36 of 51 jurisdictions have a statewide contractor-license flag on the state row. 15 list none on that flag and still show some catalog trades as licensed through other boards. Confirm the live board for the job location.
  • 51 jurisdictions mark Electrician and Pest Control as licensed, the full catalog. Electrician and Pest Control are the only trades at 51 of 51 in this extract.
  • 25 jurisdictions mark Pool Contractor and Solar Installer as licensed, the narrowest coverage among the 20 tracked trades. A low count is missing catalog coverage, not a finding that the work is unregulated.
  • 44.9% of required rows (328 of 731) also mark an exam. The flag is presence of an exam requirement in this extract, not pass rates or exam names.
  • $500,000 is New Jersey's published general-contractor surety bond in this extract, the high figure among 9 distinct GC amounts. 115 required rows publish any bond amount. Other bonded trades in this extract stamp a single baseline figure; treat those as estimates, not 51 independently verified statutes.
  • 6 jurisdictions mark all 20 catalog trades as licensed. 3 mark three or fewer. Breadth here is how many of this directory's 20 trades are flagged, not how many licenses exist in the state.

Two cuts of the same extract

Trade bars are the share of 51 jurisdictions that mark each trade as licensed. The gauge is the required share of all 1,020 pairs.

Trade coverage

20 tracked trades (share of 51 jurisdictions)

Electrician100%Pest Control100%Plumber92.2%HVAC Technician78.4%Carpenter70.6%Demolition70.6%Elevator Mechanic70.6%Excavation70.6%
Top coverage shares in this extract. Electrician and Pest Control sit at 51 of 51.

Required-pair share

731 of 1,020 pairs

0%100%72%
72% of state-by-trade pairs are marked required

Source: State contractor licensing boards, NCSL, and NASCLA Compiled state-by-trade licensing flags, exam flags, and published surety-bond amounts · 2026 required is a catalog flag on the state-trade row. licensing_required on the state row is a statewide contractor-license flag and can be 0 even when some trades are licensed through other boards. Bond amounts for most trades are a trade-wide baseline; general contractor is the trade with per-state variance in this extract.

Broadest catalog coverage by state

Jurisdictions that mark the most of this directory's 20 trades as licensed. Breadth is catalog coverage, not a strictness or quality score.

Trades marked licensed

Of 20 tracked trades

Arizona20 tradesCalifornia20 tradesFlorida20 tradesHawaii20 tradesNevada20 tradesOregon20 tradesWashington19 tradesAlabama18 trades
6 jurisdictions mark all 20 catalog trades as licensed.

How to read these numbers

Four populations stay labeled. (1) The 51-jurisdiction by 20-trade registry (1,020 pairs). (2) The required flag on each pair. (3) The statewide contractor-license flag on the state row, which is not the same as pair coverage. (4) Published surety-bond amounts, including trade-wide baselines versus the general-contractor amounts that vary by state. Always verify current requirements on the live board. See methodology and the rankings boards.

Download the jurisdiction snapshot: contractor licensing statistics CSV (CC BY 4.0).

According to state licensing boards, NCSL, and NASCLA, contractor-licensing rules are published by public authorities. Every figure on PlainHireCheck is rebuilt from those board-sourced tables; no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.