Licensing Data
State Licensing Cost, Timeline & Requirements Index
A privacy-safe, state-by-state reference for what it takes to get licensed and stay licensed: government fees, surety bond and net-worth requirements, processing timelines, and renewal cadence. Built from public regulator rules and our own completed engagements.
Last updated June 26, 2026.
Browse by license type
Mortgage licensing
State mortgage lender, broker, and servicer licensing, including NMLS surety bond and net-worth requirements.
- States covered
- 52
- Government fees
- $100 to $3,000
- Timeline
- 14 to 28 weeks
Money transmitter licensing
State money transmitter and money services business licensing, including surety bond and tangible net-worth floors.
- States covered
- 52
- Government fees
- $300 to $5,000
- Timeline
- 21 to 54 weeks
Debt collection licensing
State debt collection agency licensing, including surety bond requirements and registration rules.
- States covered
- 52
- Government fees
- $25 to $1,000
- Timeline
- 10 to 27 weeks
Interactive tools
Put the data to work for your own footprint.
How we built this index
Government fees, surety bond amounts, net-worth floors, processing timelines, and renewal cadence come straight from each state regulator's published requirements, the same dataset that powers our state law reference pages. Each row links to the regulator source.
Engagement-cost ranges, where shown, are aggregated from our own completed licensing engagements. We only publish a numeric range for a state and license type once we have enough completed records to do so without exposing any single client. Below that threshold we describe relative cost as a band (lower, moderate, or higher than other states) drawn only from the public regulator figures.
The index recomputes on a recurring schedule. The freshness date below reflects the last recompute.
Numeric engagement-cost ranges appear only where our completed-engagement sample is large enough to aggregate safely. Everywhere else you will see a relative band built from public regulator figures.
Every figure here is an indicative aggregate, not a quote. What you actually pay and how long you wait depends on your business profile, the states you operate in, and the license type, and requires our review of your specifics.
Cite or embed this data
This dataset is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0. Copy the snippet below to cite it with a link back.