License by Trade

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15 states · 45 trade pages · checked 2026-10-20

Trade license requirements by state

The six New England states and the large states where at least one trade could be verified from an official page. Each card lists the trades covered; each trade page carries its own sources and date.

1234
  1. 1Electrician 13 states
  2. 2Plumber 14 states
  3. 3HVAC 10 states
  4. 4General contractor 8 states
CaliforniaLarge states · Electrician, Plumber, HVAC, General contractor ConnecticutNew England · Electrician, Plumber, HVAC, General contractor FloridaLarge states · Electrician, Plumber, HVAC, General contractor GeorgiaLarge states · Electrician, Plumber, HVAC IllinoisLarge states · Plumber MaineNew England · Electrician, Plumber MassachusettsNew England · Electrician, Plumber, HVAC, General contractor MichiganLarge states · Electrician, Plumber, HVAC, General contractor New HampshireNew England · Electrician, Plumber, HVAC North CarolinaLarge states · Electrician, Plumber, HVAC, General contractor OhioLarge states · Electrician, Plumber, HVAC PennsylvaniaLarge states · General contractor Rhode IslandNew England · Electrician, Plumber, General contractor TexasLarge states · Electrician, Plumber, HVAC VermontNew England · Electrician, Plumber
New Hampshire4 yearsCalifornia4 yearsFlorida4 yearsGeorgia4 yearsMassachusetts5 yearsOhio5 yearsConnecticut6 yearsMaine6 yearsTexas6 yearsMichigan6 years
Minimum years to the top electrician credential in each state that states one. Bars are to scale; states whose source gives no floor are not drawn.

What is covered

This site started with New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont) and the most populous states. A trade and state pair is published only when the issuing board's page or the statute could be fetched and read; everything on the pair's page comes from those sources. New York does not appear because its trade licensing is run by cities and counties and no statewide source could be verified. Pennsylvania appears only for contractor registration and Illinois only for plumbing, for the same reason.

Coverage by trade: Electrician (13 states) · Plumber (14 states) · HVAC (10 states) · General contractor (8 states). The methodology lists every source, the checked date and every exclusion.

Why the states differ so much: some license the individual tradesperson at journeyman and master level (Massachusetts, Texas, Michigan), some license only the contracting business and leave individual workers to employers or cities (California's CSLB classes, Florida's certified contractors, Ohio's commercial contractor board), and some only register home improvement businesses without testing them (Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island). The license or registration guide walks through what each model checks.

General information, not legal advice. The boards are the authority.