How many licensed contractors are in each state

Edited by John Voll. Last verified October 8, 2026.

We counted active contractor licenses and registrations by trade in 16 states, straight from 29 official state license files and open datasets, as of October 6, 2026. Each count names the dataset it came from. We publish counts only, never names, addresses or license numbers. States define their credentials differently, so read what each row counts before comparing.

Key findings

• The largest single count we found is 242,338 active individual electrical licenses in Texas, 764.2 per 100,000 residents (Electrician licensee file, every electrician license type, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, as of October 6, 2026). Apprentice licenses are included in that count. source
• Washington has 647.2 active general contractor registrations held by businesses per 100,000 residents (51,786 in all), the highest rate of the 6 states we can compare and 2.4 times the next state, New Jersey (273.6). Source: L&I Contractor License Data: General, Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, as of October 6, 2026. source
• Colorado has 305.1 active individual plumbing licenses per 100,000 residents (18,346 in all), the highest rate of the 5 states we can compare and 1.2 times the next state, Vermont (259.4). Source: Professional and Occupational Licenses in Colorado, Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, Division of Professions and Occupations; Electrical and Plumbing license types only, as of October 6, 2026. source

Rankings per 100,000 residents

Each ranking compares only rows that count the same kind of holder for the same trade, and needs at least 3 states. Rates divide the active count by the state's resident population estimate for July 1, 2025 from the U.S. Census Bureau. Rows covering part of a state, repeating another trade's records, or counting a business license or a bond instead of a trade credential are left out.

Active counts by state and trade

Every count below is the same figure shown on the state's own page, where the definitions and notes for each dataset are listed in full.

States we do not cover yet

We surveyed all 50 states for official bulk license data. 34 have no counts here yet, for these reasons (from our survey of October 6, 2026). Their state pages still link each board's official license lookup.

The publisher offers a free file, but it sits behind a bot wall or a search form that needs a browser step, so we have not pulled it yet.

Alaska, Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee

We found no complete statewide data file: only an order form, a PDF roster for one trade, or a list we could not confirm.

Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota

The state sells its license list, or gives away only part of it.

Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Nevada, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Wisconsin

The data is available only through a public records request, or we found no bulk file at all.

Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Wyoming

The publisher forbids reuse of its roster, or puts the download behind a CAPTCHA.

Louisiana, Missouri

Methodology

Sources and required notices

• Alabama: Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors, Download License Verification List (CSV), file GenConLicenses.csv, as of October 6, 2026. Data license: no reuse terms stated. Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors.
• Arkansas: Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board, CLB Roster Export (latestroster.csv), commercial and residential licensees, as of October 6, 2026. Data license: no reuse terms stated. Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board, Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing.
• Colorado: Professional and Occupational Licenses in Colorado (7s5z-vewr), Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, Division of Professions and Occupations; Electrical and Plumbing license types only, as of October 6, 2026. Data license: Public Domain. DORA.
• Connecticut: State Licenses and Credentials (ngch-56tr), Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection, as of October 6, 2026. Data license: Public Domain. Department of Administrative Services & Department of Consumer Protection.
• Delaware: Delaware Business Licenses (5zy2-grhr), as of September 29, 2026. Data license: Public Domain. Department of Finance, Division of Revenue.
• Delaware: Professional and Occupational Licensing (pjnv-eaih), Delaware Division of Professional Regulation, as of September 29, 2026. Data license: Public Domain. Department of State, Division of Professional Regulation.
• Florida: Construction Industry Licensing Board and Electrical Contractors' Licensing Board licensee files, as of October 6, 2026. Data license: no reuse terms stated; DBPR provides the files as public records under Chapter 119, Florida Statutes, through free download. Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR).
• Illinois: Professional Licensing (pzzh-kp68), Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, filtered to license type ROOFING CONTRACTOR, as of October 5, 2026. Data license: ODBL (Open Data Commons Open Database License). Contains information from the IDFPR Professional Licensing dataset (https://data.illinois.gov/d/pzzh-kp68), which is made available here under the Open Database License (ODbL). Publisher attribution: IDFPR.
• Iowa: Active Iowa Construction Contractor Registrations (Iowa Data Hub dataset 1052), Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing, as of October 5, 2026. Data license: CC BY 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International). Source: Active Iowa Construction Contractor Registrations, Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing, via the Iowa Data Hub (https://data.iowa.gov/datasets/1052), licensed CC BY 4.0. Aggregated counts by this site.
• Minnesota: Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, Construction Codes and Licensing Division license export: residential contractors, as of October 6, 2026. Data license: Public domain as stated by the publisher (DLI disclaimer: all information and documents on the DLI website are in the public domain); source attribution requested. Source: Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry license data (dli.mn.gov). Not endorsed by the State of Minnesota.
• Minnesota: Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, Construction Codes and Licensing Division license export: electrical, as of October 6, 2026. Data license: Public domain as stated by the publisher (DLI disclaimer: all information and documents on the DLI website are in the public domain); source attribution requested. Source: Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry license data (dli.mn.gov). Not endorsed by the State of Minnesota.
• Minnesota: Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, Construction Codes and Licensing Division license export: plumbing, as of October 6, 2026. Data license: Public domain as stated by the publisher (DLI disclaimer: all information and documents on the DLI website are in the public domain); source attribution requested. Source: Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry license data (dli.mn.gov). Not endorsed by the State of Minnesota.
• Minnesota: Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, Construction Codes and Licensing Division license export: mechanical contractor bond, as of October 6, 2026. Data license: Public domain as stated by the publisher (DLI disclaimer: all information and documents on the DLI website are in the public domain); source attribution requested. Source: Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry license data (dli.mn.gov). Not endorsed by the State of Minnesota.
• New Jersey: Home Improvement Contractors, active business licensee file, New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, as of October 1, 2026. Data license: no reuse terms stated. Source: New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Standard Files.
• New Jersey: Board of Examiners of Electrical Contractors, active business licensee file, New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, as of October 1, 2026. Data license: no reuse terms stated. Source: New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Standard Files.
• New Jersey: Board of Examiners of Electrical Contractors, active individual licensee file, New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, as of October 1, 2026. Data license: no reuse terms stated. Source: New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Standard Files.
• New Jersey: State Board of Examiners of Master Plumbers, active individual licensee file, New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, as of October 1, 2026. Data license: no reuse terms stated. Source: New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Standard Files.
• New Jersey: State Board of Examiners of HVACR Contractors, active individual licensee file, New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, as of October 1, 2026. Data license: no reuse terms stated. Source: New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Standard Files.
• New York: DOB License Info (t8hj-ruu2), NYC Department of Buildings, as of October 6, 2026. Data license: No license stated on the dataset; NYC Open Data Law (Administrative Code section 23-502, subdivision d): no license requirement or restrictions on use. Department of Buildings (DOB).
• New York: Issued Licenses (w7w3-xahh), NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, Home Improvement Contractor rows, as of August 20, 2026. Data license: No license stated on the dataset; NYC Open Data Law (Administrative Code section 23-502, subdivision d): no license requirement or restrictions on use. Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP).
• Oregon: CCB Active Licenses (g77e-6bhs), Oregon Construction Contractors Board, as of October 6, 2026. Data license: Public Domain U.S. Government. Oregon Construction Contractors Board.
• Oregon: Building Codes Division - Active Contractor/Individual Licenses (vhbr-cuaq), Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services, Building Codes Division, as of October 2, 2026. Data license: Public Domain. Department of Consumer Business Services - Building Codes Division.
• Texas: Electrical contractor licensee file, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, as of October 6, 2026. Data license: no reuse terms stated. Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
• Texas: Electrician licensee file, every electrician license type, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, as of October 6, 2026. Data license: no reuse terms stated. Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
• Texas: Air conditioning contractor licensee file, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, as of October 6, 2026. Data license: no reuse terms stated. Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
• Texas: Air conditioning technician licensee file, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, as of October 6, 2026. Data license: no reuse terms stated. Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
• Vermont: DFS Licensing MasterList (cy8e-89cz), Vermont Department of Public Safety, Division of Fire Safety, as of October 6, 2026. Data license: ODBL (Open Data Commons Open Database License). Contains information from the DFS Licensing MasterList (https://data.vermont.gov/d/cy8e-89cz), which is made available here under the Open Database License (ODbL). Publisher attribution: Division of Fire Safety, http://firesafety.vermont.gov.
• Virginia: Virginia DPOR regulant list: Class A Contractor (list 2701), as of October 5, 2026. Data license: No reuse terms stated. Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR), Board for Contractors, regulant lists.
• Washington: L&I Contractor License Data - General (m8qx-ubtq), Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, as of October 6, 2026. Data license: PDDL. Labor & Industries.
• Population: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division, Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico (NST-EST2025-ALLDATA), estimates for July 1, 2025, read October 8, 2026 from the state totals file. U.S. Government work, not subject to copyright in the United States.

This data has been modified for use from its original source, which is the State of Colorado. The State of Colorado makes no representations or warranty as to the completeness, accuracy, timeliness or content of this data.

This is not a government site, and no state agency endorses it. Counts are a snapshot; the boards' live records may differ.