{"id":272,"date":"2026-09-22T00:58:49","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T04:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/passcontractorexam.com\/articles\/?p=272"},"modified":"2026-09-24T01:04:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T05:04:22","slug":"nascla-states-covered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/passcontractorexam.com\/articles\/nascla-states-covered\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCLA States Covered: The Real Count, and Florida’s Catch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NASCLA states covered, counted from NASCLA’s own list on 22 September 2026: the commercial exam is accepted by 20 licensing agencies in 17 states plus the US Virgin Islands. The electrical exams have a separate list of 19 agencies in 16 states, Washington DC and one Indiana county. Florida is on both lists, with conditions.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone ranking for this question is selling you a box of tabbed books, and they cannot agree on how many states the box unlocks. One page says 15, one says 16 and 17 on the same screen, one says 18. The awarding body publishes the list for free, so this page just counts it, dates the count, and then gets to the part the sellers skip: what a NASCLA pass does and does not do for a Florida licence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many states does the NASCLA exam actually cover?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

NASCLA lists 20 participating agencies for the commercial exam<\/a>, the Accredited Examination for Commercial General Building Contractors. Those 20 agencies sit in 17 states and one territory. The numbers differ because Alabama and South Carolina each have two agencies on the list, one for commercial or general contractors and one for residential builders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 17 states, as listed on 22 September 2026, are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia. The territory is the US Virgin Islands. NASCLA’s own wording is that all of them accept the exam, and that some also administer it, meaning a candidate there can choose the NASCLA exam or the state’s own trade exam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two of those entries carry conditions big enough to change the count depending on who you are. California<\/a> accepts it, as of 25 April 2025, only from out of state applicants who have held a licence in good standing elsewhere for at least five years; a California resident still sits the California trade exam. New Mexico<\/a>, as of 13 January 2023, wants a letter showing at least one year licensed and in good standing in another state. For a first licence with no history anywhere, the useful list is shorter than 17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing no list changes: the NASCLA exam replaces a state’s trade exam and nothing else. Every state on the list still runs its own application, experience check and business and law exam. It is a transcript you carry, not a licence. NASCLA also runs its own front end before any of that, which is why the testing locations only appear after the pre-application clears<\/a>. The content outline for the commercial exam, section by section<\/a> shows what that transcript actually tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do prep sellers say 15, 16, 17 or 18 states?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Because the list grows, and seller pages do not. The drift is easy to reconstruct. A Contractor Talk forum post from January 2021<\/a> listed 15 states plus the Virgin Islands. New Mexico joined in January 2023 and California in April 2025, which gives today’s 17. A page written in 2021 and never touched still says 15, and a page that counts the Virgin Islands as a state says one more than it should. Here is what each page said when read on 22 September 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source<\/th>What it says<\/th>Why it differs<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Contractor Training Center answer page<\/a><\/td>Page headed “What 15 states are covered”; the answer, dated 28 April 2026, says 17 states and lists 16 plus the Virgin Islands<\/td>Counts a territory as a state and leaves out California<\/td><\/tr>
MyContractorsLicense NASCLA page<\/a><\/td>“17-State Reciprocity” in the page title, “Accepted in 16 States” on the course listing, “17+ jurisdictions” in its FAQ<\/td>Three figures on one page, and NASCLA is not reciprocity<\/td><\/tr>
NASCLA Prep states page<\/a><\/td>“18 States”<\/td>Appears to count the Virgin Islands as a state; the real figure is 17 states plus one territory<\/td><\/tr>
Pass the NASCLA Exam states page<\/a><\/td>17 states plus the Virgin Islands, 20 agencies, marked updated August 2026<\/td>Matches NASCLA<\/td><\/tr>
NASCLA’s own list<\/a><\/td>20 agencies: 17 states, 2 of them with two agencies each, plus the Virgin Islands<\/td>The source; checked 22 September 2026<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>
Each page read on 22 September 2026. Seller pages are linked as evidence of the claim, not as recommendations.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

None of this is sinister. It is what happens when the page that answers the question is also the page that sells the bundle, and nobody’s job is to recount. The only number worth planning on is the one on NASCLA’s page on the day you apply, confirmed with the board of the state you are actually applying to. The practice material is sold the same way, which is why a dated count of who publishes NASCLA test questions and what each charges<\/a> is worth reading before you buy a question bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which jurisdictions are on the commercial and electrical lists?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The electrical exams run on a separate NASCLA list of 19 agencies<\/a>. It is not a shorter copy of the commercial list; it is a different set. Four states, Washington DC and one Indiana county appear only on the electrical list, while five states and the Virgin Islands appear only on the commercial one. The table puts both lists side by side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
The commercial and electrical lists overlap, but they are not the same list.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Jurisdiction<\/th>Commercial exam<\/th>Electrical exams<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Alabama<\/td>Yes (2 agencies: general contractors, home builders)<\/td>Yes<\/td><\/tr>
Arizona<\/td>Yes<\/td>Yes<\/td><\/tr>
Arkansas<\/td>Yes<\/td>No<\/td><\/tr>
California<\/td>Yes, limited: out of state applicants with 5 years licensed elsewhere<\/td>No<\/td><\/tr>
District of Columbia<\/td>No<\/td>Yes<\/td><\/tr>
Florida<\/td>Yes, by endorsement for General, Building and Residential only<\/td>Yes, endorsement for one specialty only<\/td><\/tr>
Georgia<\/td>Yes<\/td>No<\/td><\/tr>
Idaho<\/td>No<\/td>Yes<\/td><\/tr>
Indiana<\/td>No<\/td>Vanderburgh County only<\/td><\/tr>
Kentucky<\/td>No<\/td>Yes<\/td><\/tr>
Louisiana<\/td>Yes<\/td>Yes<\/td><\/tr>
Mississippi<\/td>Yes<\/td>Yes<\/td><\/tr>
Missouri<\/td>No<\/td>Yes<\/td><\/tr>
Nebraska<\/td>No<\/td>Yes<\/td><\/tr>
Nevada<\/td>Yes<\/td>No<\/td><\/tr>
New Mexico<\/td>Yes, with 1 year licensed in another state<\/td>Yes<\/td><\/tr>
North Carolina<\/td>Yes<\/td>Yes<\/td><\/tr>
Oregon<\/td>Yes<\/td>No<\/td><\/tr>
South Carolina<\/td>Yes (2 agencies)<\/td>Yes (2 agencies)<\/td><\/tr>
Tennessee<\/td>Yes<\/td>Yes<\/td><\/tr>
Utah<\/td>Yes<\/td>Yes<\/td><\/tr>
US Virgin Islands<\/td>Yes<\/td>No<\/td><\/tr>
Virginia<\/td>Yes<\/td>Yes<\/td><\/tr>
West Virginia<\/td>Yes<\/td>Yes<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>
Compiled from NASCLA’s commercial<\/a> and electrical<\/a> participating agency pages, read 22 September 2026. Conditions from each agency’s NASCLA entry.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

NASCLA offers three electrical exams, and its list page tells you to open each state’s entry to see which of the three that state takes. So a state being on the electrical list does not mean it takes the exam you sat. The seller figures are further behind here: a Contractor Training Center answer from August 2022<\/a> names six accepting jurisdictions and five more that administer the exam. NASCLA now lists 19 agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does a NASCLA pass actually get you in Florida?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Less than the word reciprocity suggests. NASCLA says the Florida Construction Industry Licensing Board<\/a> has accepted the commercial exam in lieu of the Florida trade examination since 1 March 2019, and that a Florida Business and Finance portion and a Florida Building Code portion are still required. The DBPR endorsement form dates the start to 10 March 2019, so the two sources are nine days apart on it, which matters to nobody applying today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
In Florida a NASCLA pass stands in for the trade exam, not for Business and Finance.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The detail is in the Florida endorsement application, form DBPR CILB 10<\/a>, as filed with the Florida rules register. Read on 22 September 2026, it says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n