Landscape Contractor (Residential) Licensing

States Licensed

48

of 50 states and D.C.

×

Burden Rank

67th

for average burdens 1st is worst

=

Combined Rank

20th

for states licensed x average burdens 1st is worst

VT NH MA CT RI NJ DE DC MD
Change from 2017 to 2022, if any:
↑
Burden increased
↓
Burden decreased
↕
Mixed burden change
N
New license
E
Eliminated license
2022 Licensing Burden Rank
Lower Burden Rank
Higher Burden Rank
No state license

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Definition

Landscape contractors contract with clients to landscape or maintain grounds of property using hand or power tools or equipment. Work may involve any of the following: sod laying, mowing, trimming, planting, watering, fertilizing, digging, raking, and installing sprinklers or mortarless segmental concrete masonry wall units. See Appendix B for details on how we observed contractor occupations.

2022 Snapshot

  • 3 unlicensed states
  • Days lost range from 0 (39 states) to 1,460 (4 states)
  • Fees range from $0 (Connecticut, Delaware, Mississippi) to $1,215 (Nevada)
  • 13 states require 1+ exam
  • 10 states set minimum age
  • 1 state sets minimum grade

Changes Since 2017

  • No licenses created or removed
  • Fees changed most often and usually increased; Utah reduced experience
  • Burden rank stayed the same because similarly ranked occupations shifted; combined rank improved 1 spot, largely because of experience reductions

2022 Licensing Burden in Detail

N New License
E Eliminated License
Increase
Decrease

Data Notes: 2022 data collected between February 3, 2020, and March 18, 2022. Fees include charges for application review and license issuance; exams; background checks, credit reports and fingerprinting; recovery fund contributions; third-party certification; and certain fees for training courses. Calendar days lost were estimated based on required education and experience; except for amounts smaller than one day, days lost are rounded to whole days and thus may not reflect very small changes between 2017 and 2022. Appendix A details methods for estimating days lost and calculating burden ranks. Complete data, including revised 2017 data, are available at https://ij.org/report/license-to-work-3/ltw3-data/.

Additional Resources