Pharmacy Technician Licensing

States Licensed

44

of 50 states and D.C.

×

Burden Rank

68th

for average burdens 1st is worst

=

Combined Rank

26th

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

Pharmacy technicians prepare medications under the direction of a pharmacist. They may measure, mix, count out, label and record amounts and dosages of medications. See Appendix B for details of how we estimated experience for this occupation.

2022 Snapshot

  • 7 unlicensed states
  • Days lost range from 0 (15 states) to 222 (Nevada)
  • Fees range from $25 (Kentucky, Rhode Island) to $326 (Arizona)
  • 25 states require 1+ exam
  • 23 states set minimum age
  • 29 states set minimum grade

Changes Since 2017

  • No licenses created or removed
  • Fees changed most often and usually increased; 16 states increased days lost to education and experience, while West Virginia and New Hampshire reduced them
  • Burden rank worsened 5 spots, largely because of education and experience increases; combined rank stayed the same because of burden changes in similarly ranked occupations

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