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FreedomRankings

Occupational Licensing in Colorado

Colorado requires a licence for 102 of the 246 occupations the Archbridge Institute tracks, against a national median of 124. It ranks 47 of 51 on their index, where 1 is the most burdensome.

Licensed occupations
102
With any entry barrier
132
National rank
#47
In the Mountain
#8

Moving to Colorado with a licence

Colorado recognises out-of-state licences broadly — Archbridge grades its reform gold. Universal recognition is the reform that lets someone already licensed elsewhere practise after moving, instead of repeating the training; 28 of the 51 jurisdictions have some version of it.

Licensed here, rarely elsewhere

These are the occupations Colorado licenses that few other jurisdictions do — the clearest sign of where its rules go further than the national norm.

Every licensed occupation in Colorado

All 102, alphabetically. Archbridge tracks 246 occupations in total, so anything absent here is either unlicensed in Colorado or outside their list.

Where this comes from

The Archbridge Institute's State Occupational Licensing Index 2026, retrieved 2026-09-16. The index records whether an occupation needs a licence — it does not record fees or training hours, so nothing here says what a licence costs or how long it takes. The rank is Archbridge's own and is not part of the FreedomRankings score. Check the relevant Colorado board before acting on any of it.

More on Colorado: its freedom score and rank · school choice · homeschool laws