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Time and cost to get licensed, by trade and state

Every row is a credential path read from the pages its record names, most of them the licensing authority's own. "Time" is the on-the-job training, at full-time hours, to the first license on the main path that takes 2,000 or more on-the-job hours (a separate, narrower license a state also offers, such as a residential-only one, is not counted; the state page names it); "starting cost" is what a worker pays to start working: the published state fees for the registrations, trainee or apprentice credentials, learner's permit and federal steps held before any experience. Where a state states its requirement in years rather than hours, the time reads "varies". The cost reads "none required" where the state licenses no one at the worker level (only contractors, or only cities and counties), "none listed" where it licenses workers but lists no credential before the first license, "not stated" where the pages read do not say whether a worker needs a license, "no state fee" where the only start step is federal (EPA 608), "not published" where a start step's fee is not published, and "varies" where the fee depends on the application date. A place named beside a figure marks a city's or county's fee, a local example, not the state's. The license-cost calculator also totals what it takes to hold the first license. Open the page for the sourced detail.

Two calculators read the same records: time to journeyman gives the years to each license at your own hours a week, and license cost itemises every published fee for one trade in one state.

120 sourced credential paths across 30 states and 4 trades. "Time" uses 2,080 hours = a full-time year. "Starting cost" is what the steps before any experience cost (registrations, trainee or apprentice credentials, learner's permits, federal steps), excluding exam-vendor fees; the trade-and-state page lists every tier. 1. Alabama, electricians: at least 4 years. Four years is the work-experience route; a completed non-DOL apprenticeship is entered as two years. 2. Colorado, plumbers and pipefitters: The pages read give this as 4 years (6,800 hours). 3. Illinois, plumbers and pipefitters: at least 4 years. That is the apprenticeship route; approved plumbing courses can replace part or all of it. 4. Massachusetts, plumbers and pipefitters: at least 4 years. The four-year floor is the education's: the 550 hours of theory must span at least four years. 5. Michigan, HVAC technicians: the hours are experience, not all of it on the job: a completed 2-year HVAC program can credit up to 1 year. 6. North Carolina, HVAC technicians: the hours are experience, not all of it on the job: up to half of which may be academic or technical training. 7. North Carolina, plumbers and pipefitters: the hours are experience, not all of it on the job: up to half from technical training.

As files: every license on every sourced path, with its source passage (CSV) · the records whole (JSON) · all files and how to credit them.

How to read this

A short path can lead to a license with a limited scope of work, such as a residential specialty; each page's requirement text says what the license covers. Use this to compare the paths, then open a page for the pay figures beside the full requirements. The CDL is earned by tests (federal entry-level training, a knowledge test and a skills test) rather than logged hours, so its time reads "varies". HVAC starts with the federal EPA 608 refrigerant certification; its time reads "varies" except where the state counts hours toward its own license. Where a state also sets a minimum number of years, the time uses whichever is longer. The steps are on each page.