Social work licensure by state: which ASWB exam you need

Find your state’s social work board and look up a license

Social work licenses come from the state, not from ASWB. ASWB says you apply with the social work board in the state where you’ll practice, and that in the United States licenses are issued by state or territorial governments, in most cases through a licensing board. Some boards regulate more than one profession, and some states run their license lookup through one system for every licensed profession.

The boards behind the rules on this page are the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council (BHEC) and its State Board of Social Worker Examiners, California’s Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS), the Colorado Board of Social Work Examiners, the Maine State Board of Social Worker Licensure, Utah’s Division of Professional Licensing, New York’s Office of the Professions, the North Carolina Social Work Certification and Licensure Board and the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Social Workers. For any other state, ASWB’s jurisdiction online resources page points you to the state’s own website for its statutes and rules.

To check someone’s license, use the state’s public lookup. ASWB says every state and province keeps a public list of licensed social workers, and its Look up a license page links to each one.

Texas social work licensing and the jurisprudence exam

Texas wants a pass on its own jurisprudence exam for the LBSW, LMSW and LCSW, on top of the ASWB exam. BHEC runs it online as a no-fail, open-book exam on the state’s social work laws and rules. BHEC estimates about two hours, with no time limit, and your certificate must be dated no earlier than six months before you submit your license application.

Once you’ve passed the ASWB exam and graduated, you apply for the license in BHEC’s online licensing system, send your official transcript and complete fingerprinting. If you already hold a social work license in another state, apply to BHEC directly instead of through ASWB.

New York: your degree and experience come first

New York’s Office of the Professions won’t admit you to the Masters exam until you’ve received your master’s degree in social work (MSW). For the LCSW, it has to approve your education and your experience, at least 36 months of supervised experience in diagnosis, psychotherapy and assessment-based treatment planning, before you can register for the Clinical exam. If you passed in another state, ASWB has to send the score: New York doesn’t accept scores from candidates or other states.