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Research

State Licensing Data Report

Which states make licensing hardest for regulated financial services? This report ranks every state we track across mortgage, money transmitter, and debt collection licensing using regulator-published requirements only: government fees, surety bond amounts, net-worth floors, processing timelines, and renewal cadence.

Data as of October 23, 2026. Every figure is computed live from the same dataset behind our state-law libraryand licensing data index, so the report never goes stale.

By Cornerstone Staff, Financial Services State Licensing Specialists

Headline findings

New York

heaviest published licensing requirements overall

Burden score 84 of 100, driven by government fees and processing timeline.

$1,000,000

highest statutory surety bond (Pennsylvania, money transmitter)

State regulator statutes compiled in our state-law index.

up to 54 weeks

longest indicative processing timeline (California, money transmitter)

Regulator-published processing windows in the licensing data index.

452

state-by-state licensing summaries maintained across 52 jurisdictions

Cornerstone state-law library, verified on an ongoing cadence.

Hardest states to get licensed

Composite burden score across the license types each state regulates. 100 means the heaviest published requirements across the board.

  1. 1.New York84
  2. 2.California72
  3. 3.Massachusetts62
  4. 4.Ohio62
  5. 5.Connecticut61
  6. 6.Illinois58
  7. 7.Kentucky57
  8. 8.North Carolina54
  9. 9.Pennsylvania54
  10. 10.Florida53

Easiest states to get licensed

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

  1. 52.Wyoming38
  2. 51.Rhode Island41
  3. 50.Idaho42
  4. 49.Alabama42
  5. 48.Wisconsin43
  6. 47.North Dakota43
  7. 46.Nebraska44
  8. 45.Iowa44
  9. 44.Vermont45
  10. 43.South Carolina45

The full 0 to 100 ranking of every tracked state lives on theState Licensing Burden Index.

Findings by license type

Mortgage licensing

  • 52 of 52 US jurisdictions require a mortgage license.
  • Statutory surety bond requirements span $10,000 to $50,000 across licensing states.

Highest surety bonds

  1. New York$50,000
  2. Texas$50,000
  3. California$50,000
  4. Florida$50,000
  5. Illinois$50,000

Longest timelines

  1. Californiaup to 28 weeks
  2. New Yorkup to 28 weeks
  3. Alabamaup to 24 weeks
  4. Alaskaup to 24 weeks
  5. Arizonaup to 24 weeks

Highest filing fees

  1. New York$3,000
  2. Alabama$1,000
  3. Alaska$1,000
  4. Arizona$1,000
  5. Arkansas$1,000
Mortgage license state lawsStart a mortgage license application

Money transmitter licensing

  • 51 of 52 US jurisdictions require a money transmitter license.
  • Statutory surety bond requirements span $10,000 to $1,000,000 across licensing states.
  • Dataset last verified September 2026.

Highest surety bonds

  1. Pennsylvania$1,000,000
  2. Michigan$500,000
  3. Puerto Rico$500,000
  4. Kentucky$500,000
  5. Ohio$300,000

Longest timelines

  1. Californiaup to 54 weeks
  2. New Yorkup to 54 weeks
  3. Alabamaup to 42 weeks
  4. Alaskaup to 42 weeks
  5. Arizonaup to 42 weeks

Highest filing fees

  1. Alabama$5,000
  2. Alaska$5,000
  3. Arizona$5,000
  4. Arkansas$5,000
  5. California$5,000
Money transmitter license state lawsStart a money transmitter license application

Debt collection licensing

  • 38 of 52 US jurisdictions require a debt collection license.
  • Statutory surety bond requirements span $5,000 to $50,000 across licensing states.
  • Dataset last verified September 2026.

Highest surety bonds

  1. Florida$50,000
  2. Delaware$25,000
  3. California$25,000
  4. Massachusetts$25,000
  5. Connecticut$25,000

Longest timelines

  1. New Yorkup to 27 weeks
  2. Californiaup to 25 weeks
  3. Massachusettsup to 24 weeks
  4. Washingtonup to 23 weeks
  5. Alabamaup to 21 weeks

Highest filing fees

  1. New York$1,000
  2. Connecticut$800
  3. Illinois$600
  4. Massachusetts$600
  5. California$562
Collection agency license state lawsStart a debt collection license application

Methodology and sourcing

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.

Bond amounts, license requirements, and verification dates come from our state-law library. Timelines and government fees come from the licensing data index, which recomputes on a recurring schedule. A license type only appears in this report when its dataset is substantially complete, and any state missing a published figure is excluded from that ranking rather than estimated.

Browse the underlying dataDownload JSONPress and data requestsTalk to our licensing team