California Occupational Licensing
Licenses
75
of 102 lower-income occupations
Burden Rank
3rd
for average burdens 1st is worst
Combined Rank
2nd
for number of licenses x average burdens 1st is worst
How California Compares in 2022
Percent Licensed of 102 Occupations
MIN
25%MAX
75%Average Days Lost to education and experience
Average Fees
Changes Since 2017
- No licenses created; 1 removed for animal trainers
- Fees changed most often and usually increased; education decreased for 4 occupations, including barber, cosmetologist and shampooer, but rose for 4 others
- Burden rank and combined rank stayed the same despite an eliminated license, largely because other states improved more
2022 Licensing Burdens in Detail
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/.