Social Work Continuing Education Requirements by State
Research publicationLast updated / verified: September 15, 2026
Find your state and license below for normal active-license continuing education (CE) renewal requirements. Hours apply to the listed credentials and a full CE cycle; selected topic notes are not an exhaustive checklist, and first renewals, associate/provisional credentials and inactive status can work differently.
Find your state's social work CE requirements
Showing 51 of 51 states.
Social work continuing education requirements by state: credential hours, CE period, selected conditions, and source links
State
Credential and required hours
CE period
Selected required topics and conditions
Board guidance or legal text
Alabama
LBSW, LMSW, LICSW: 30
2 years
At least 10 live/interactive hours; 3 ethics. LICSW adds 6 clinical hours, 3 of them on the current DSM. LMSW with clinical designation: 3 clinical. Supervisors: 3 supervision. The rule defines one CEU as 10 contact hours — check which unit your certificate uses.
Includes 6 substance abuse, 6 cross-cultural, 3 ethics, 3 teletherapy, 3 suicide education. At least 10 hours live/synchronous. First renewal is 21 hours if you have been licensed under 12 months. Alaska Native content has a first-renewal distinction.
Includes 3 ethics/mental health law, 3 cultural considerations, and the 3-hour Arizona statutes and rules tutorial. Coming, not current: 3 technology hours begin January 1, 2027.
Includes 3 ethics hours. No more than 15 hours may be independent study. First-renewal and extension provisions are separate from this full-cycle total.
6 hours law and ethics every renewal, including your first. Separate one-time courses — 3-hour telehealth and 6-hour suicide risk assessment — are not repeated every cycle; the suicide requirement also has an accepted supervised-experience route. LCSWs also need 7 hours of HIV/AIDS training before first renewal unless the Board accepts equivalent coursework or experience. ASW registrants have their own 3-hour annual law and ethics requirement. Teaching credit caps at 18 hours.
LSW, LCSW: 40 professional development hours (PDH)
Each license-renewal period
The continuing professional competency program also requires a professional practice assessment and learning plan. One PDH is one clock hour. Coursework may supply all 40 hours; other activity categories have limits. The initial shortened cycle has separate proration provisions.
1 cultural competency hour each year. At least 5 hours live, in person or synchronous; at most 10 asynchronous. The 2-hour veterans training runs on an initial-then-every-six-years schedule, not annually.
At least 6 ethics and 1 mandatory reporting. At most 10 hours from self-directed activity — that is a limit on activity type, not a blanket cap on online courses. First renewals follow separate proration tables.
The Board’s 2025 renewal guidance specifies 28 live hours, including 6 ethics and 2 LGBTQ hours. Public-health-priority training must make up 10% of required CE. Under the birth-month transition, a licensee receiving less than a two-year renewal period completes 50% of the usual CE total; the 2 LGBTQ hours and public-health percentage still apply. Use the period and instructions on your renewal notice.
2 hours medical errors every renewal. 3 hours ethics and boundaries or telehealth, alternating between biennia. Laws and rules, and domestic violence, recur every third biennium. First biennium is exempt. The agency renewal pages state no home-study cap.
Includes 5 ethics hours through synchronous instruction. At least 15 of the remaining 30 hours must be core hours. The rule caps asynchronous activities at 10 hours and independent study at 5; independent study does not satisfy core or ethics hours.
24 months before the expiration date printed on your license
3 ethics, 3 cultural competence, 1 sexual harassment prevention, 1 implicit bias. Dementia training runs on a three-renewal-period schedule. LCSW clinical supervision training carries a second-renewal condition. First renewal is exempt.
At least 20 hours in each year, including at least 10 Category I hours and 1 ethics hour each year. Doing all 40 in the second year does not satisfy the annual distribution. Initial licenses held 12–24 months: 20 hours; under 12 months: exempt.
Includes 3 ethics hours. The first renewal has a 6-hour safety requirement, with an exception when already completed at an earlier license level. For LMSW/LSCSW diagnosis-and-treatment training, K.S.A. 65-6313 sets a 3-hour minimum from July 1, 2025; the older published regulation still says 6. Do not treat the statutory minimum alone as confirmation that a 3-hour plan meets the Board’s current instructions.
Includes 3 hours on the Kentucky Code of Ethical Conduct. Suicide assessment, treatment and management training is 6 hours every 6 years. Pediatric abusive head trauma training is 1.5 hours every 6 years. A 3-hour domestic-violence/elder-abuse course applies at the first renewal. Supervisors have separate training provisions.
LCSW: at least 10 clinical hours annually. At most 10 hours asynchronous. Live interactive distance learning counts in the live/classroom category under the board's updated guidance (effective October 20, 2025). Ethics runs on a separate two-year schedule.
Standard licenses include 4 ethics hours. The conditional LSX pathway instead requires 6 ethics and 6 psychosocial assessment hours within the total. Family and intimate partner violence training is a separate one-time condition.
At least 15 Category I hours for LBSW, 20 for the others. 3 ethics/professional conduct hours may be either Category I or II. 3 anti-oppressive practice hours must be Category I. Approved supervisors have additional supervision requirements.
The regulation has a separate one-time domestic-violence and sexual-violence training condition and special provisions for first renewals. Board policies can add required-topic conditions; the total is not a statement that every hour is elective.
Includes 5 ethics, 2 human trafficking, and 2 pain and symptom management. Half the hours must meet the live/synchronous requirement. Implicit bias is 1 hour for each year of the license cycle. Limited licenses follow a different pathway.
Includes 2 ethics and 4 cultural responsiveness. LICSW: 12 clinical hours. Licensing supervisors: 6 supervision hours. Independent learning, including asynchronous study, is capped at 20 hours. An initial shortened renewal is prorated.
Includes 4 ethics, 2 cultural competency awareness, and 1 mandated reporting. The guide defines one CE credit as 60 minutes. Up to 20 hours may be approved distance learning; the remaining 20 must meet the Board’s live/interactive requirements.
Includes 3 ethics, 2 suicide assessment/referral/treatment/management, and 3 hours devoted to explicit or implicit bias, diversity, inclusion, or cultural awareness/competency/humility. Self-study is capped at 15 hours. Initial shortened cycles have separate proration.
Under the newly adopted rule, 2 hours of suicide risk assessment and safety planning are required in every odd-numbered year. Older wording describing a first-renewal-then-every-two-years schedule has been superseded.
Nonprovisional social work and mental health credentials: 32
2 years, renewal September 1 of even years
Includes 4 ethics. LIMHP holders need 6 hours on diagnosis and treatment of major mental disorders. Nebraska combines social work certification with mental health licensure — use your actual credential name.
2-year CE collection cycle; the license renews annually
4 ethics, 2 suicide prevention, and 6 cultural diversity, equity and inclusion hours at every level. Practice-field content has a license-specific minimum. Check whether your license sits on an odd-year or even-year collection cycle.
Includes 6 ethics and 3 suicide-prevention hours. This row is for the independent clinical credential, not the separate licensed-social-worker or social-worker-associate credentials. Use the current Mhp 400 rules for your license-specific activity categories and collaboration obligations.
Includes 5 ethics, 3 social/cultural competence, and 1 hour on prescription opioid drugs, including risks and signs of abuse, addiction and diversion. LCSWs also need 20 clinical hours. The rule restricts overlapping credit across these specified content categories; do not count the same hour twice without checking the rule.
At most 12 hours may be self-study. Providers must be approved by the New York State Education Department — a national provider approval is not a substitute.
Certified and licensed social workers, including LCSWA: 40
2 years
Includes 4 ethics. At most 20 hours of asynchronous/distance education under the board's specified approval routes. Live interactive distance learning is treated differently from self-paced study. Shortened cycles are prorated.
Includes 2 ethics hours. Independent learning without live interaction is capped at 10 hours. New licensees have separate first-cycle reductions; a course cannot be reused for a later reporting cycle.
The assistant requirement is half the LSW/LISW total, not 30 hours. Required-topic, supervisor and acceptable-activity rules are separate from this statutory total; a number alone does not establish that every selected course qualifies.
Includes 3 ethics. Live interactive webinars can meet Category I. Two specialties under one board is 22, not double 16 — that rule does not extend to two licenses in different states.
Ethics and cultural competence: RBSW 3 and 3; LMSW 4 and 4; LCSW 6 and 6. CSWA has no CE requirement on the board page. First-renewal and semi-retired provisions differ.
Bachelor, social worker and clinical social worker licenses: 30
2 years
Includes 3 professional ethics, 2 approved child abuse recognition and reporting, and 1 suicide prevention. The Board removed the live-CE requirement permanently in 2019. The 2025 renewal guide granted a first-renewal general-hours exemption to its specified new-license cohort but still required child abuse training; use the guide for your own renewal year before claiming that exception.
Includes 3 professional ethics and 3 cross-cultural practice. At least 22 contact hours; at most 8 noncontact hours, using the rule's own definitions rather than assuming every internet course is noncontact.
Includes 1 hour of suicide-prevention training for the January 1, 2025–December 31, 2026 CE period. The Board permits virtual delivery for this requirement. Use the Board’s CE categories and approval rules for the rest of your courses.
The two full calendar years preceding your renewal year
Includes 6 ethics and 1 hour on Tennessee social work laws and rules within the two-year period. A 2-hour suicide-prevention course runs on a separate four-year schedule. The lookback uses calendar years, not simply the 24 months before your renewal date.
Includes 6 ethics and 3 hours for competency with a distinct population of your choosing. Supervisors add 6 supervision hours inside the 30. Since January 1, 2024 at least half must come from a provider listed in the rule. HHSC-approved human trafficking training is a separate renewal condition. Keep records 3 years.
6 hours professional ethics, law or technology and 2 hours suicide prevention at every level. CSW and LCSW: at most 10 hours online self-study; at least 30 hours in person or live interactive webinar. No classroom split is stated for SSW.
Includes 1.5 ethics hours. LICSW: at least 15 hours of formal education; LMSW: all 10 must be formal. State law also requires education in systematic oppression and anti-oppressive practice under the applicable guidance; do not treat the ethics minimum as the only topic condition.
LCSW: 6 hours ethics, standards of practice or Virginia social work law, and at least 20 Category I hours. LBSW/LMSW: 3 ethics-related hours and at least 10 Category I. CE reporting and license renewal are separate clocks here.
6 hours ethics and law plus 2 hours professional roles and boundaries, separate from those 6. Health equity: 2 hours every 4 years. Suicide assessment, treatment and management: 6 hours every 6 years from the department's model list. No distance-learning cap; asynchronous courses must include a comprehension test. Employer-sponsored training caps at 26 hours; other professional activities at 6. Associates renew annually at 16 hours under their own rule.
At least 20 Category I hours, including at least 10 synchronous. Includes 1 ethics and 2 veterans-related hours. The 30-hour regular-license figure took effect July 1, 2022 — older 40-hour summaries are out of date. Provisional and registration pathways differ.
Includes 4 hours ethics and professional boundaries, which must come through the approved interactive routes. First renewal is exempt. "Interactive" is defined by approval route, not by whether you attend in person.
Includes 3 professional ethics and 3 suicide assessment and intervention. Ordinary workplace or compliance training is not automatically qualifying CE.
How to read this table. Topic hours are usually inside the total, not added to it — don't sum them unless your board says to. A topic omitted from this selected summary is not proof that it is optional. And the CE reporting period is not always the same thing as how often your license renews.
What an hour total doesn't tell you
Four planning checks matter alongside the number of hours.
1. Your credential, not your job title. Delaware asks a LBSW for 20 hours and a LCSW for 40. Oregon runs 20, 30 and 40 across three levels. Tennessee runs 18, 24 and 30. Use the credential printed on your renewal record. Delaware · Oregon · Tennessee
2. Which clock each requirement runs on. Mandated topics don't all repeat every renewal. There are five patterns:
What an hour total doesn't tell you
Pattern
What it means
Example
Every cycle
Due each normal cycle, subject to any applicable exemption
California's 6 hours of law and ethics
Every N years, on its own calendar
Runs on a clock that doesn't line up with your renewal
Washington: health equity every 4 years, suicide training every 6 years — on a 2-year renewal
Every Nth renewal
Counted in renewals, not years
Illinois dementia training every third renewal period; Florida laws and rules every third biennium
Scaled to the length of your cycle
Hours per year of the license period
Michigan: 1 hour of implicit bias for each year of the cycle
Once, or at one specific renewal
Fires a single time
California's one-time telehealth and suicide risk courses; Illinois clinical supervision at second renewal
3. Which period the courses have to fall in. A license that renews annually does not always report CE annually. Nevada renews every year but collects CE over two. Idaho counts the 24 months before your renewal. Tennessee counts the two full calendar years before your renewal year — not a rolling 24 months. Virginia reports CE biennially in even-numbered years. Write down your actual start and end dates before you buy anything. Nevada · Idaho · Tennessee · Virginia
4. Which unit your board uses. Alabama's rule defines one CEU as ten contact hours. If a certificate says "3.0 CEUs," that is not automatically three hours. Match the unit on the certificate to the unit in the rule.
Worked example: a Washington LICSW
The total is 32 hours over two years. Of those, 6 must be ethics and law, and a further 2 must be professional roles and boundaries — those 2 are separate from the 6, not part of them. That leaves 24 hours after those two allocations — not necessarily 24 unrestricted electives. Health-equity or suicide training that is due must also fit your plan.
Two more questions matter, and the hour total can't answer either:
When did you last complete 2 hours of health equity? That requirement recurs every four years.
When did you last complete the 6-hour suicide assessment, treatment and management training from the department's model list? That recurs every six years.
Use the completion dates on your certificates, together with the rule’s initial-training provisions and applicable exceptions. Completing a course in the previous renewal cycle does not, by itself, establish its next due date. WAC 246-809-630 sets the recurring schedules; WAC 246-809-615 addresses the suicide-training requirements and exceptions.
Worked example: Idaho's 24-month lookback
Idaho asks for 30 contact hours, including 2 hours of ethics, completed in the 24 months before you renew. That is the lookback in IDAPA 24.14.01.100.05; a certificate from three years before renewal is outside that 24-month window. It does not qualify merely because you did not need it at the previous renewal.
So "when is my deadline" and "what window do the hours have to sit in" are two different questions in Idaho. Check both before counting a certificate.
Will the course you're about to buy actually count?
Six checks. They're worth doing before you pay, not after.
Match the credential. Use the license or certificate name on your renewal record, not the letters after a colleague's name. The same acronym can mean different things in different states.
Write down the actual CE period. Start date and end date. Confirm whether it matches your renewal frequency or runs on its own clock.
List the required topics with their clocks. Separate every-cycle subjects from one-time training and longer-cycle requirements. Note which topic hours count inside the total.
Check approval. Confirm the provider or course is accepted by your board, and that any special-topic requirement has its own approval route.
Check the format category. A live interactive webinar and an on-demand recording often sit in different categories with different caps.
Keep the evidence. Save the certificate and the approval details, and follow your board's retention instructions before you attest at renewal.
Running the list doesn't guarantee compliance — your board applies its rules to your renewal. But it catches the mistakes that cost money.
Who has to approve the course: five models
"Is it board-approved?" doesn't have one answer, because boards use different gates. Knowing which model your state uses tells you what to look for.
Who has to approve the course: five models
Model
How it works
Example
The board approves providers itself
An outside approval isn't the gate
New York requires providers approved by the State Education Department
The rule names acceptable provider categories; no course approval
Check your provider against the categories in the rule
California — the Board does not approve individual courses
A minimum share must come from a listed provider type
Part of your hours are constrained, part aren't
Texas — at least half from a provider listed in the rule, since January 1, 2024
No advance Board approval of each course
Check the activity against the rule rather than assuming a course has been individually approved
Texas — §781.501 states that the Council does not preapprove CE programs or providers
Categories with caps
Check both approval and the category in which the hours count
Online is a delivery channel, not proof of approval. In states that distinguish live and interactive instruction from asynchronous self-study, that distinction changes which limit applies.
Some states set no overall distance-learning cap — Washington’s rule allows qualifying distance learning, though asynchronous courses must include a comprehension test. Others split the total. Connecticut’s requirements specify 15 hours, with at least 5 live, in person or synchronous, and at most 10 asynchronous: 5 + 10 = 15, but those same 15 hours must also meet the applicable topic requirements. In Utah, a CSW or LCSW may use at most 10 self-study hours out of 40, with 30 in person or live interactive.
Two things to avoid: assuming a recorded webinar counts as live, and assuming "online allowed" means "unlimited online."
Are CEUs and contact hours the same thing?
Not always. Use the unit your board states and the unit printed on your certificate. Alabama's rule defines one CEU as ten contact hours. A mismatch between a "CEU" label and a board's hour requirement can leave you short. Under Alabama’s definition, 3.0 CEUs would mean 30 contact hours, not 3.
Can one course count toward two licenses?
Check acceptance, dates, topics and category limits for each license on its own. A course accepted by one board is not automatically accepted by another, and the hours are counted separately even when the same course satisfies both.
Two licenses in two states is a different situation from two specialties under one board. Oklahoma sets 22 hours for a licensee holding two specialties rather than doubling to 32 — that's an Oklahoma rule about Oklahoma specialties, not a general principle about holding licenses in two states.
If you're licensed in more than one state, plan around the most restrictive rule first. That may be a live/synchronous minimum, a board-specific provider requirement, a topic obligation or the hour total.
First renewal, inactive status, or already past the deadline
First renewal. Check your issue date, your credential, and your state's first-cycle rule. "First renewal is always exempt" is false. Illinois, Florida, Hawaii and Wisconsin exempt it. California requires the full 36 hours at the first renewal. Alaska requires 21 hours if you've been licensed under 12 months. And an hours exemption doesn't always remove a training condition — Pennsylvania’s 2025 renewal guide retained child abuse training for its specified first-renewal cohort. Do not assume that guide determines a later cycle’s exemption.
Associate, provisional, inactive or retired. Open the specific status pathway on your board's page. Don't reuse a full active license total. Washington associates renew annually at 16 hours under a separate rule; Oregon’s CSWA has no CE requirement on the Board page.
Past the deadline or short on hours. Use your board's renewal, reinstatement, extension or waiver instructions for your actual license. Don't assume a grace period, and don't assume hours earned after the deadline can be applied backward. Alabama’s FAQ specifically says its renewal grace period cannot be used to obtain the missing CE hours.
Your board's published instructions are the answer here. If your situation is unusual, that's a question for the board, not for a table.
What to keep, and for how long
Reporting methods differ. Illinois generally requires an attestation rather than sending certificates with the renewal. Oregon requires CE documentation uploads, and Texas requires CE tracking and reporting through CE Broker. Keep the evidence even when you do not submit it with your application.
For your own records, save the participant name, provider, course title, completion date, number and unit of credits, delivery format, and any approval or required-topic designation. This is a recordkeeping checklist, not a claim that every board requires the same certificate fields. If a certificate omits information your board requires, ask the provider to reissue it while you still can.
Why by-state CE tables disagree with each other
If you've checked two or three sites and gotten different numbers, you're not imagining it. Here's what actually causes it, and what it means for how you use any table — including this one.
Multi-cycle requirements get flattened. A table with one column for "required topics" has nowhere to put "every fourth year" or "every third renewal," so those requirements get listed as if they were annual. That's how someone finishes a cycle having done everything on the list except the one thing that was actually due.
Format caps get simplified into a yes/no. "Unlimited online" is genuinely true in some states. In Utah it isn't — the board caps self-study at 10 of 40 hours for CSWs and LCSWs. A table that prints "online allowed" for both can hide the difference between a qualifying live webinar and a recording.
Documents outlive their accuracy. Check the issuer, rule number, effective date and any later amendment, not just the website hosting a copy. A regulation may appear on an official legislative site or in a legal-text reproduction; an older copy can miss a later change even when its original publisher was the board.
Which is why each row here carries a source. Read its date and scope alongside the applicable current law and your board’s renewal instructions; an old FAQ is not automatically controlling merely because a board still hosts it.
Not licensed yet?
These rules are for keeping a license, not getting one. Pre-licensure education, supervised experience, examinations and application requirements are separate from renewal CE.
If you're still working toward licensure, your questions about eligibility, the exam and application are for your board and for ASWB. ASWB’s licensing overview explains the licensing-authority role and initial-licensure pathway.
Sources, coverage, and how we checked
This lookup uses state board guidance, statutes and regulations. Some linked legal texts are reproduced by Cornell’s Legal Information Institute or Justia rather than hosted by the issuing agency. Each row links to the source behind it. We separate CE reporting periods from renewal frequency, and we label credential, delivery-format and topic-cadence differences instead of averaging them away.
A source-check date does not make an older document a newly issued rule. This lookup covers the listed credentials in all 50 states and the District of Columbia; selected topic notes do not replace the complete rules. Requirements that depend on your issue date, license status, or the instructions in your own renewal notice are answered by the licensing authority, not by this page.
Sources last checked: September 15, 2026. Dated guidance and document-specific limits remain as described beside the relevant requirements.
Written by the Castleport Test Prep Editorial Team.
Castleport Test Prep is an independent publisher, not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by the Association of Social Work Boards or any state licensing authority. Organization and credential names identify their subjects; trademarks belong to their respective owners. This guide is not a continuing education course and does not award CE credit. Your licensing authority applies its rules to your renewal.