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Occupational Licensing in North Carolina

North Carolina requires a licence for 137 of the 246 occupations the Archbridge Institute tracks, against a national median of 124. It ranks 7 of 51 on their index, where 1 is the most burdensome.

Licensed occupations
137
With any entry barrier
170
National rank
#7
In the South Atlantic
#1

Moving to North Carolina with a licence

North Carolina has no universal-recognition law, so an out-of-state licence generally has to be earned again. 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 North Carolina licenses that few other jurisdictions do — the clearest sign of where its rules go further than the national norm.

Every licensed occupation in North Carolina

All 137, alphabetically. Archbridge tracks 246 occupations in total, so anything absent here is either unlicensed in North Carolina 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 North Carolina board before acting on any of it.

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