Contractor License Reciprocity by State and Trade (2026)
Last verified: 2026-08-07
Contractor reciprocity is organized by trade and class, not by state alone: 31 states have at least one trade-specific agreement, 10 offer none of any kind, and the rest use licensure by endorsement or the NASCLA/NERA exam networks. The tables below break it down by trade — because a state that recognizes your electrical license may not touch your general-building one.
Check your exact transfer pathway
Pathway, requirements, fees, and board links for your specific state pair.
The pathways, applied to contractor
Trade-specific reciprocity agreements
The Southeast runs the densest web of these: Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, the Carolinas, and Florida trade exam waivers among themselves, often with different partner lists for commercial versus residential work. An agreement waives the destination's trade exam for your specific trade — it does not touch the business/law exam, bond, or registration.
The NASCLA exam (commercial general building)
About 15 states accept the NASCLA Accredited Commercial General Building Contractor Examination. Pass it once and you carry a credential recognized across all of them, skipping each state's own trade exam. For a commercial GC planning to work in several states, NASCLA is usually the highest-leverage move — take it before you need it.
NERA (electrical)
The National Electrical Reciprocal Alliance links roughly 14 states that waive each other's electrical exams for licensees who earned their license by examination and have held it at least a year. It is the closest thing electricians have to portability — but grandfathered (non-exam) licenses are excluded, and it does not cover general or mechanical trades.
Endorsement and full application
Where no agreement or network covers your trade, states fall back to endorsement (case-by-case credit for your experience and exams) or, in the no-reciprocity states, full application as a new licensee. Utah, notably, uses endorsement rather than reciprocity — despite aggregator claims of a large "reciprocity" list.
A recurring honesty note: agreements die. The Alaska-Utah general-contractor arrangement ended; Louisiana logged changes in 2024. Treat every count on this site as dated — the verification date on each page is the date we last confirmed it against the board.
The master matrix: every state by pathway
| Pathway (as destination) | States |
|---|---|
| Licensure by endorsement(41) | Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming |
| No reciprocity offered(10) | Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island |
Fees & timelines: the spread
Lowest verified application fees
- Maryland$25–$150
- Ohio$25
- Indiana$30
- Texas$30–$115
- New Mexico$36
Highest verified application fees
- California$650–$800
- North Dakota$100–$450
- Kentucky$200–$400
- Oregon$400
- South Carolina$350
Processing times range from 2–3 weeks (Pennsylvania) to 4–6 weeks (Oregon) — where a board publishes no timeframe, the state page says so honestly instead of guessing.
Frequently asked questions
How does contractor license reciprocity work in 2026?
Contractor reciprocity is organized by trade and class, not by state alone: 31 states have at least one trade-specific agreement, 10 offer none of any kind, and the rest use licensure by endorsement or the NASCLA/NERA exam networks. The tables below break it down by trade — because a state that recognizes your electrical license may not touch your general-building one.
Which states have no contractor reciprocity?
Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island offer no contractor reciprocity of any kind as of 2026-07-21 — out-of-state contractors apply as new applicants. Several other states (with municipal-only or no general-contractor license) have no practical GC reciprocity either.
What does contractor reciprocity actually waive?
Usually just the trade or technical exam. You almost always still complete the destination's business and law exam, financial statement, bond, and insurance — reciprocity shortens the process, it does not skip it.
What is NASCLA and how does it help contractors move?
The NASCLA Accredited Examination for Commercial General Building Contractors is a single exam accepted by about 15 states toward their commercial GC license. Passing it once lets you apply in any accepting state without re-sitting that state's trade exam.
What is NERA for electricians?
The National Electrical Reciprocal Alliance is a group of about 14 states that waive each other's electrical licensing exams. Eligibility typically requires holding your license at least a year and having earned it by examination (grandfathered licenses are excluded).
Why do reciprocity lists online disagree so much?
Because contractor licensing is split by trade and class, aggregators combine unrelated per-trade waivers into one inflated 'reciprocity' count. Widely copied errors include overstating Nevada and Utah. This site lists each trade separately and cites the state board.
Reviewed by Billy Reiner, Editor · verified against primary sources 2026-08-07
How we verify · All sources · spot an error? [email protected]