License Difficulty Explorer

Compare difficulty scores for 137 licensed professions across all 50 states. Scores range from 1 (very easy) to 100 (very hard), based on education hours, apprenticeship requirements, exams, fees, time to complete, and continuing education burden.

Profession	CA	FL	GA	IL	MI	NY	NC	OH	PA	TX	Avg
Geologist	51	50	61	45	82	51	30	82	39	38	60 C
Naturopathic Doctor	42	72	72	72	72	72	72	72	44	72	60 C
Orthotist-Prosthetist	64	33	40	33	64	40	64	31	31	40	56 C
Podiatrist	64	56	50	56	61	61	56	56	54	56	56 C
CPA	53	53	53	57	53	58	49	57	53	57	52 C
Genetic Counselor	34	33	29	34	36	55	55	29	28	55	43 C
Pilot	41	41	41	41	41	41	41	41	41	41	41 C
Interior Designer	27	20	26	26	57	30	28	57	57	26	40 B
Physician	42	40	39	39	39	41	39	39	38	41	40 B
Crna	41	40	39	39	40	37	40	39	40	39	39 B
Cosmetologist	26	31	37	37	37	26	37	37	32	26	38 B
Social Worker	37	36	37	36	38	37	37	36	36	36	38 B
Professional Engineer	42	36	37	38	33	38	35	37	36	35	37 B
Soil Scientist	38	38	32	38	38	38	27	38	38	38	37 B
Surveyor	33	37	37	37	37	39	35	37	37	35	37 B
Barber	26	24	37	37	44	9	38	44	32	26	36 B
Electrician	35	18	33	39	33	68	36	22	50	32	34 B
Landscape Architect	33	35	34	35	34	37	33	34	34	33	34 B
Psychologist	34	35	35	33	33	35	33	33	33	33	34 B
Optometrist	36	34	34	34	34	34	32	36	32	33	33 B
Athletic Trainer	34	28	32	30	35	31	28	32	31	31	31 B
Behavior Analyst	34	34	29	30	34	30	29	29	25	29	30 B
Nurse Midwife	32	32	32	31	32	28	28	32	32	31	30 B
Anesthesiologist Assistant	30	24	23	30	30	30	22	22	30	30	29 B
Art Therapist	30	30	30	30	30	22	30	21	21	20	27 B
Dentist	30	26	28	29	30	31	26	28	26	25	27 B
Architect	24	26	26	26	26	27	25	26	26	24	26 B
Plumber	25	26	26	33	29	18	29	33	18	25	26 B
Veterinarian	27	25	25	26	27	27	23	25	25	23	24 B
Medical Assistant	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23 B
Music Therapist	18	28	17	16	28	16	28	15	28	28	23 B
School Counselor	18	18	18	30	33	27	18	20	18	38	23 B
Teacher	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23 B
LCSW	22	21	22	21	23	22	23	21	21	21	22 B
Pharmacist	23	22	23	22	23	25	21	24	22	23	22 B
Perfusionist	17	21	20	20	21	21	20	21	20	21	21 B
Acupuncturist	22	19	18	19	19	21	19	19	18	19	20 A
Chiropractor	19	22	22	38	20	21	19	21	19	19	20 A
Physician Assistant	20	21	20	20	20	19	20	20	20	20	20 A
Audiologist	20	21	19	19	21	21	18	19	19	19	19 A
Physical Therapist	19	17	18	20	18	19	19	17	18	18	18 A
Clinical Laboratory Scientist	14	14	18	18	18	12	18	18	18	18	17 A
Counselor	17	16	17	16	16	17	18	16	16	16	17 A
Elevator Mechanic	25	23	24	19	19	8	—	4	19	19	17 A
Fire Sprinkler	25	15	18	22	18	—	19	22	—	23	17 A
LMFT	17	16	17	16	14	17	16	17	16	16	17 A
Midwife	19	19	19	12	14	13	19	19	19	12	17 A
Nursing Home Administrator	18	19	18	17	17	18	18	16	18	18	17 A
Dietitian	16	17	16	16	16	17	16	16	16	16	16 A
Speech-Language Pathologist	17	18	16	16	16	19	17	17	16	16	16 A