Licensure · professional counselor · checked Oct 30, 2026
How to become an LPC, step by step
To get an LPC license your state board checks four things: a graduate degree in counseling, a passing score on the national exam it accepts, supervised experience after the degree, and an application, often with a state law exam. The order of the steps and the hour totals are set by each state, so the examples below are examples, not a national rule.
Updated Oct 30, 2026 · Not affiliated with NBCC, CCE, AMFTRB, CRCC, ACA or AAMFT.
- Texas LPC experience3,000 h / ≥18 months
- California LPCC experience3,000 h / ≥104 weeks
- Florida LMHC experience1,500 h / 2 years
The path to a counseling license
Degree
A master's or higher in counseling, with coursework in the eight CACREP areas.
Exam
The NCE, the NCMHCE or either, by state; in 11 states one per tier.
Associate
Practice under an associate or intern title with an approved supervisor.
Hours
Supervised experience: the total and the minimum time are set by the board.
License
Apply with signed-off hours; some states add a law exam.
Step 1: a counseling degree, and what CACREP means
CACREP, the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, accredits counseling master's and doctoral programs. It writes the standards; it does not license anyone and does not own an exam. Its eight core content areas, from human growth and development to research and program evaluation, are the frame the NCE is mapped to, which is why boards and NBCC ask for coursework across them.
A CACREP degree is not required by every board, but it saves work later. For the NCC (National Certified Counselor), NBCC waives its 3,000-hour experience rule for CACREP graduates (NBCC policy, April 2026 revision); the coursework rule still applies to everyone.
In your final term the school may give you the CPCE, an exit exam used by more than 400 counseling programs. It decides graduation, not licensure: NCE vs CPCE.
Step 2: the licensing exam your state accepts
Which exam you sit depends only on the state. On our state cards (Oct 30, 2026), 21 states accept either NBCC exam, 11 use the NCE for the first tier and the NCMHCE for the clinical one, 8 accept only the NCE, 8 only the NCMHCE, and West Virginia lists both. Pennsylvania, Illinois and North Carolina also accept the CRC exam. Find your row on requirements by state.
Both NBCC exams change on July 1, 2027: the knowledge exam drops to 170 questions, the case exam to 10 cases, and both move to a pass mark of 360 on one scale. Choosing between them in an either-exam state: NCE vs NCMHCE.
A few boards add their own law exam: Texas (its LPC jurisprudence exam), California (the Law and Ethics Exam) and North Carolina (its jurisprudence exam) require one of every applicant, and Florida requires a laws and rules course instead.
Registration normally runs through your board: NBCC's licensure route expects the board's approval before you book. Texas lets you register for either exam without it, and Florida does the same for the NCMHCE.
Step 3: the associate stage
With the degree done, many boards license you under an associate or intern title so you can see clients while you build hours: LPCA in Texas, APC in Georgia, RMHI in Florida, LGPC in Maryland. You practice under a supervisor the board approves, and you cannot practice independently until the full license.
Find the supervisor before you accept a job. Boards set who qualifies as a supervisor and how supervision hours are logged, and hours under a supervisor the board has not approved may not count. All associate titles by state: counseling license types.
Step 4: supervised hours, five state examples
| State | License titles | Supervised experience | Exam(s) | Source (board) | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | LPCC | 3,000 h / ≥104 weeks |
| Board of Behavioral Sciences [1] | |
| Florida | LMHC | 1,500 h / 2 years | Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy, and Mental Health Counseling [2] | ||
| Illinois | LPC / LCPC | 3,360 h (LCPC) | Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation (IDFPR) [3] | ||
| New York | LMHC | 3,000 h | NYSED Office of the Professions: mental health counselor license requirements [4] | ||
| Texas | LPC | 3,000 h / ≥18 months | Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors [5] |
Table checked Oct 30, 2026 against each state board; confirm the current rule with your board before you register. Only these five cards carry a verified hour rule, so we print no national range.
Even these five count differently. Texas sets a floor on time as well as hours, and part of its total must be direct client contact; California counts weeks; Florida's rule is two years plus a supervision minimum; the Illinois card gives the total for the clinical LCPC; New York counts clock hours after the master's. Line up the whole rule side by side, not the headline number.
Step 5: the full license, and other states
Once the hours are signed off, you apply for the full license with the exam score, the supervisor's verification and the board's fee; in a two-tier state this is also when the clinical exam comes in. Renewal and continuing education follow the state's cycle from then on.
Working in a second state takes one of two routes: a license there by endorsement, or a privilege to practice if both states are in the Counseling Compact and the other state is already issuing privileges. National certification is optional at every stage: NCC (National Certified Counselor).
How long it takes to become a licensed therapist
"Therapist" covers several licenses: the counseling license on this page, the LMFT, the LCSW and the psychologist's license. On the counseling route the clock is the degree plus the board's minimum supervised period. In our examples that minimum is 18 months in Texas and about two years in California and Florida (table above), and part-time work stretches it. The exam itself is a single sitting of about four and a quarter hours; the waiting is in the hours.
The exit exam is not the license exam
Passing the CPCE in your program does not count toward a license or the NCC. Plan for the NCE or NCMHCE separately, even if your school calls the CPCE "the comps".
Prepare for the licensing exam
NCE app
NCE practice questions with every answer explained, in a study app.
Not affiliated with NBCC, CCE, AMFTRB, CRCC, ACA or AAMFT.
NCMHCE app
NCMHCE practice questions with every answer explained, in a study app.
Not affiliated with NBCC, CCE, AMFTRB, CRCC, ACA or AAMFT.
Source notes
- [1]Board of Behavioral Sciences bbs.ca.gov · checked Oct 30, 2026
- [2]Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy, and Mental Health Counseling floridasmentalhealthprofessions.gov · checked Oct 30, 2026
- [3]Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation (IDFPR) idfpr.illinois.gov · checked Oct 30, 2026
- [4]NYSED Office of the Professions: mental health counselor license requirements op.nysed.gov · checked Oct 30, 2026
- [5]Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors bhec.texas.gov · checked Oct 30, 2026
Licensing questions
Can I take the NCE before I finish my degree?
Sometimes: some boards let advanced graduate students sit before graduating. Your board decides, so ask before you register.
Do I need a CACREP-accredited degree?
Not in every state, but it is the safest choice: boards and NBCC both measure a degree against the CACREP content areas, and NBCC waives its experience rule for the NCC if your program was accredited.
Do I need the NCC to get licensed?
No. The NCC is a national certification you can add at any point. What a board needs is its own exam route, hours and application.
Is a licensed professional counselor a therapist?
Yes. Once fully licensed, an LPC provides psychotherapy within the scope set by state law. "Therapist" describes the work; LPC is the licensed title.