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FreedomRankings

Occupational Licensing in Tennessee

Tennessee requires a licence for 136 of the 246 occupations the Archbridge Institute tracks, against a national median of 124. It ranks 3 of 51 on their index, where 1 is the most burdensome.

Licensed occupations
136
With any entry barrier
175
National rank
#3
In the East South Central
#1

Moving to Tennessee with a licence

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

Every licensed occupation in Tennessee

All 136, alphabetically. Archbridge tracks 246 occupations in total, so anything absent here is either unlicensed in Tennessee 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 Tennessee board before acting on any of it.

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