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Licensing Data

State Licensing Burden Index

How heavy is each state's licensing load for regulated financial services? This index ranks every state we track by a transparent 0 to 100 composite of regulator-published requirements: government fees, surety bond amounts, net-worth floors, processing timelines, and renewal cadence. New York, California, and Massachusetts currently carry the heaviest published requirements.

Last updated July 10, 2026. Built from the same public dataset as the licensing cost and timeline index.

Heaviest requirements

States with the weightiest published requirements across the license types they regulate.

  1. 1. New York 86
  2. 2. California 77
  3. 3. Massachusetts 62
  4. 4. Illinois 61
  5. 5. Connecticut 58
  6. 6. Florida 58
  7. 7. Ohio 56
  8. 8. Delaware 54
  9. 9. Texas 54
  10. 10. District of Columbia 53

Lightest requirements

States where the published requirements sit at the low end of the national range.

  1. 52. Wyoming 41
  2. 51. Wisconsin 42
  3. 50. Rhode Island 42
  4. 49. North Dakota 42
  5. 48. New Mexico 42
  6. 47. Nebraska 43
  7. 46. Iowa 43
  8. 45. Maryland 44
  9. 44. Alabama 44
  10. 43. Vermont 45

Full ranking

Every state we track, ranked. The license types column shows which datasets feed each state's composite.

Rank State Burden score Heaviest requirements License types
1 New York 86 Government fees, Processing timeline Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
2 California 77 Net-worth floor, Processing timeline Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
3 Massachusetts 62 Surety bond amount, Processing timeline Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
4 Illinois 61 Surety bond amount, Government fees Money transmitter, Mortgage, Debt collection
5 Connecticut 58 Surety bond amount, Government fees Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
6 Florida 58 Surety bond amount, Renewal frequency Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
7 Ohio 56 Surety bond amount, Government fees Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
8 Delaware 54 Government fees, Surety bond amount Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
9 Texas 54 Net-worth floor, Surety bond amount Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
10 District of Columbia 53 Government fees, Surety bond amount Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
11 New Jersey 53 Surety bond amount, Government fees Money transmitter, Mortgage, Debt collection
12 Oregon 53 Surety bond amount, Government fees Mortgage, Debt collection, Money transmitter
13 Georgia 52 Surety bond amount, Renewal frequency Money transmitter, Mortgage
14 Alaska 51 Government fees, Renewal frequency Money transmitter, Debt collection, Mortgage
15 Hawaii 51 Surety bond amount, Renewal frequency Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
16 Minnesota 51 Government fees, Surety bond amount Mortgage, Debt collection, Money transmitter
17 Washington 51 Processing timeline, Government fees Money transmitter, Debt collection, Mortgage
18 Arizona 50 Government fees, Renewal frequency Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
19 Michigan 49 Government fees, Renewal frequency Mortgage, Debt collection, Money transmitter
20 Nevada 49 Surety bond amount, Renewal frequency Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
21 North Carolina 49 Government fees, Renewal frequency Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
22 Tennessee 49 Government fees, Renewal frequency Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
23 Mississippi 48 Renewal frequency, Government fees Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
24 Arkansas 47 Renewal frequency, Government fees Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
25 Idaho 47 Renewal frequency, Government fees Mortgage, Debt collection, Money transmitter
26 Indiana 47 Renewal frequency, Government fees Money transmitter, Debt collection, Mortgage
27 Kansas 47 Renewal frequency, Government fees Mortgage, Money transmitter
28 Kentucky 47 Renewal frequency, Government fees Money transmitter, Mortgage
29 Louisiana 47 Renewal frequency, Government fees Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
30 Missouri 47 Renewal frequency, Government fees Mortgage, Money transmitter
31 Montana 47 Renewal frequency, Government fees Mortgage
32 Oklahoma 47 Renewal frequency, Government fees Mortgage, Money transmitter
33 Pennsylvania 47 Renewal frequency, Government fees Mortgage, Debt collection, Money transmitter
34 Puerto Rico 47 Renewal frequency, Government fees Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
35 South Dakota 47 Renewal frequency, Government fees Mortgage, Money transmitter
36 Virginia 47 Renewal frequency, Government fees Mortgage, Money transmitter
37 West Virginia 47 Renewal frequency, Government fees Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
38 Colorado 46 Surety bond amount, Renewal frequency Money transmitter, Mortgage, Debt collection
39 Maine 45 Renewal frequency, Processing timeline Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
40 New Hampshire 45 Renewal frequency, Processing timeline Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
41 South Carolina 45 Renewal frequency, Processing timeline Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
42 Utah 45 Renewal frequency, Processing timeline Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
43 Vermont 45 Renewal frequency, Processing timeline Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
44 Alabama 44 Renewal frequency, Government fees Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
45 Maryland 44 Renewal frequency, Government fees Money transmitter, Debt collection, Mortgage
46 Iowa 43 Renewal frequency, Processing timeline Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
47 Nebraska 43 Renewal frequency, Processing timeline Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
48 New Mexico 42 Renewal frequency, Processing timeline Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
49 North Dakota 42 Renewal frequency, Processing timeline Mortgage, Debt collection, Money transmitter
50 Rhode Island 42 Renewal frequency, Processing timeline Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
51 Wisconsin 42 Renewal frequency, Processing timeline Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection
52 Wyoming 41 Renewal frequency, Processing timeline Mortgage, Money transmitter, Debt collection

How the burden score works

Every input is a public fact: government filing fees, surety bond amounts, net-worth floors, indicative processing timelines, and renewal cadence, drawn from each state regulator's published requirements, the same dataset behind our state law reference pages and the cost index.

For each license type, each requirement is percentile-ranked against the other states that publish one. A state's score for that license type is the average of its available percentiles, and its composite is the average across the license types it appears in. 100 means the heaviest requirements across the board; 0 means the lightest.

The score compares regulatory requirements only. It does not measure how strict a regulator's review is, how long the queue runs in a given season, or your own cost of compliance. No client or engagement data is used anywhere in this ranking.

Questions people ask

What is the State Licensing Burden Index?
A ranked composite of how heavy each state's licensing requirements are for regulated financial services, scored 0 to 100 from regulator-published figures: government fees, surety bond amounts, net-worth floors, processing timelines, and renewal cadence. New York, California, and Massachusetts currently carry the heaviest published requirements.
What data goes into the score?
Only public regulator requirements: filing fees, surety bond amounts, net-worth floors, indicative processing timelines, and renewal cadence, across mortgage, money transmitter, and debt collection licensing. No client or engagement data is used.
Does a high score mean I should avoid that state?
No. The score measures the weight of the published requirements, not whether a state is worth entering. High-burden states are often high-value markets; the score tells you where to budget more time and capital, not where to skip.
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