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Independent comparisons of state-approved real estate schools Updated August 2026 · 50 states covered
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State guides

Licence requirements by state

Every state sets its own hours, fees and exam. Pick yours for the requirements and the schools approved to teach them.

Last updated 15 August 2026

There is no national real estate licence. Each state runs its own licensing system, sets its own pre-licensing education requirement, and approves its own list of schools.

That variation is larger than most people expect. Required pre-licensing hours range from around 40 in the lightest states to over 180 in the heaviest. Some states require a single course; California requires three separate ones totalling 135 hours. Exam formats, passing scores, application fees and background-check procedures all differ too.

It matters practically, because a course approved in one state does not count in another. Before you buy anything, confirm the school holds current approval from your state's commission.

How to use these guides. Each state page sets out that state's requirements — hours, exam format, passing score and fees — taken from the state agency's own published material, with the source linked and the date we checked it. Below that we compare the schools approved to teach those courses there.

Choose your state

Linked states have published guides. The rest are in progress and we are adding them steadily — we would rather publish a state slowly and correctly than quickly and wrong.

Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

What every state has in common

The specifics vary, but the shape of the process is consistent almost everywhere:

  1. Meet the basic eligibility rules. Minimum age is 18 in most states and 19 in a few. Many states have no residency requirement, so you can often qualify from out of state.
  2. Complete pre-licensing education with a school approved by that state's commission. Most states accept online, self-paced study, and some add a proctored final exam — but not all do. Connecticut has not approved a self-paced pre-licensing course since April 2024, Rhode Island requires live instruction, and New Hampshire allows only 8 of its 40 hours self-paced.
  3. Pass the licensing exam. Most states use a national portion plus a state-specific portion, with passing scores typically around 70–75%.
  4. Submit fingerprints and a background check. Required in most states, and usually the slowest step where it applies — start it early rather than last. A few states, including Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Connecticut, take no fingerprints at all and screen by self-disclosure instead.
  5. Apply for the licence and join a brokerage. New agents work under a licensed broker; the licence is generally issued once a sponsoring broker is on file.

Some states add a post-licensing requirement — further education within the first year or two of holding the licence. Where that applies, the state page says so.