License to Work: A National Study of Burdens from Occupational Licensing
Highlights
License required in 46 states
3rd most burdensome licensing requirements
2nd most heavily regulated occupation
(Last updated April 24, 2012)
Definition
Athletic trainers, also known as sports medicine coordinators, evaluate, advise and treat athletes to assist recovery from injury, avoid injury or maintain peak physical fitness.
Summary
Forty-five states and the District of Columbia require a license to work as an athletic trainer. On average, these laws cost aspiring trainers four years in education and training and $443 in fees and require them to take one exam -- the 3rd most burdensome requirements of the 102 occupations studied.
All licensed states require a four-year education and a national written exam to become an athletic trainer. The number of exams varies from three -- one national written, one oral practical and one written simulation exam -- in Texas and Alabama to none in Colorado, the only state that does not require the national written exam. Fees also vary widely from $1,050 in Montana to nothing in Colorado.
