Guides · Reciprocity

Plumbing license reciprocity by state: the map

Searchers type “plumbing license reciprocity by state map” because they expect a system. What exists is five handshakes, a review process, and a lot of closed doors. Here is the honest map.

The agreements that exist

How to read the map

Texas ↔ Louisiana & Arkansas — with fine print both ways (Louisiana journeymen need their natural gas fitter license for gas work; Arkansas journeymen must have held the license 4 years). Washington ↔ Idaho, journey level only; everyone else is “for consideration.” Oregon ↔ Idaho & Montana. Minnesota ↔ North & South Dakota, exam-free only if you were licensed by exam, held it a year, are in good standing, and have never failed a Minnesota exam.

The closed doors

Indiana endorses nobody — board review plus the exam for every out-of-state plumber. Georgia endorses nobody. California and Florida have no journeyman license to endorse into; your license becomes experience credit. New York has no state license at all — New York City's system, with its year-in-NYC requirement, is effectively a closed door with a local key.

For any pair not on this page, the transfer checker computes it — all 2,550 of them.