Data sources
Every fact on StateLicensed starts as a line on a state board's own website and ends as a structured, dated record. This page describes that pipeline and the categories of official source it draws from — currently 612 verified requirement records and counting.
How data flows
- 1. Locate the issuing board. For each occupation-state pair, we identify the specific government body that issues that license — not a general licensing portal, the board itself.
- 2. Read the deepest page. Training-hour minimums, fee schedules, exam requirements, and renewal rules are read directly off the board's regulation, fee-schedule, or application-checklist pages — the page that actually states the fact, with its URL and the date it was read recorded alongside it.
- 3. Structure the record. The facts are assembled into a schema- validated record: training, exams, fees, renewal, prerequisites, and reciprocity, each carrying its own source citation, plus a record-level verification date.
- 4. Publish once verified. A record only becomes a live page after it carries a verification date — see methodology for the full verification and re-verification policy.
Source categories
State health departments & registries
Nurse aide registries, EMS certification offices, and other health-agency licensing units. These typically publish training-hour minimums, approved-program lists, and exam vendor information directly.
Occupational licensing boards
Cosmetology boards, barber boards, contractor licensing boards, real estate commissions — single-purpose boards that regulate one occupation and publish its full requirement set (fees, exams, renewal, reciprocity) on their own site.
Secretary of state / professional licensing divisions
In states without a dedicated board for an occupation, licensing sometimes sits inside a broader professional-licensing division under the secretary of state's office.
Interstate compact commissions
Where an occupation participates in a licensure compact (e.g. the Nurse Licensure Compact), we cite the compact commission's own member list rather than inferring participation from a state page.
Boards currently cited
- Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) — Nurse Aide Registry
- Texas Board of Nursing (BON)
- Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR)
- Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) — Nurse Aide Registry
- Alabama Board of Nursing (ABN)
- Alabama Board of Cosmetology and Barbering
A partial list — every occupation hub and requirement page cites its own boards directly. See the full set on each state hub.
What we don't use
We do not cite third-party licensing directories, exam-prep marketing pages, or general "how to get licensed" roundups — however accurate they might be, they are not the source of the rule, and a fact copied from a copy is a fact we can't stand behind. If we can't trace a number to the issuing board (or a dated archive snapshot of it), it doesn't go on the site.
Page last updated 2026-07-10.