How hard is it to get a claims adjuster license?

Difficulty depends on the state. Some states have few requirements — 16 jurisdictions, including Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, do not license adjusters at all — while licensing states typically require a state exam, a background check, and sometimes prelicensing education. Most candidates complete the process within a few weeks of focused study.

The adjuster exam is the main hurdle: Alabama offers four adjuster exams, all with a 70% passing score and a $75 fee per attempt. The combined All Lines exam has 150 questions in 3 hours, and the other adjuster exams run shorter. No prelicensing course is required. After passing, you must get fingerprinted, apply through NIPR for the $110 license fee, and submit within 30 days of fingerprinting, because results stay in the state system only 30 days.

Delaware keeps the entry requirements modest because it requires no prelicensing education for an adjuster license. You must pass the Pearson VUE exam for your line of authority (for example, the Property Adjuster exam runs 1 hour 15 minutes with 50 scored questions and costs $90) and submit a State Criminal Background Report. The $125 license fee is paid through the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR), and you must wait 24 hours before rescheduling a retake.

It depends on the path you choose. Florida all-lines adjuster applicants either pass the state adjuster exam or hold an approved designation (such as ACA, AIC, or CCA) from a department-approved provider, which exempts the examination but still requires designation coursework. All applicants must be fingerprinted and pass the background review. Passing the exam requires preparation, but the designation route lets many candidates qualify without sitting for the state test.

Georgia sets limited requirements: a 16-hour Property and Casualty adjuster course (taken within the last 12 months) and a Pearson VUE exam with a 70% passing score. Retakes are unlimited, but you wait 14 days after failed attempts one and two, and 60 days after the third and any later attempt. After passing, apply through sircon.com/georgia with a $100 license fee plus a $20 processing fee, and complete electronic fingerprints.

Illinois does not license company adjusters, so there is no state adjuster exam or course required to handle claims for insurers there; many Illinois adjusters instead obtain a Florida or Texas designated home state all-lines adjuster license to adjust claims in other states. Illinois does license public adjusters, and that path involves more: a Pearson VUE exam with a passing score of 70 and a $92 fee (which includes a $50 Illinois administrative fee), a $250 license fee, fingerprinting by an approved live scan vendor, and a $50,000 surety bond or letter of credit.

Kansas licenses only one kind of adjuster: the public adjuster, and only to assist insureds with first-party claims under commercial insurance contracts. There is no pre-licensing education requirement, and the Kansas Public Adjuster Examination has 50 scored questions with a 70% passing score set by the Kansas Department of Insurance. A passing score is valid for two years.

The main hurdle is the exam, since Louisiana requires no prelicensing education for claims adjusters. You pass the adjuster exam for your line of authority (the fee is $19 per line, or $36 for the Property and Casualty adjuster exam), then submit the license application through the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR) and complete fingerprinting through IdentoGo.

The requirements are modest. Resident independent adjuster candidates complete 20 hours of prelicensing education, or submit written proof of claims-handling experience instead, then pass the state adjuster exam with at least 70% and pay a $100 license fee. Adjuster exams are not offered online, so you must test at a Pearson VUE center.

New Jersey does not issue a claims, staff, or independent adjuster license. The only adjuster license the state offers is the Public Adjuster license, which requires passing a PSI licensing exam, paying a $70 fee, and posting a $10,000 bond.

In New York, an independent adjuster license requires no prelicensing course, but you must pass a line-specific PSI exam (60 questions, 1 hour, 70% to pass), and New York grants no reciprocity to adjusters licensed in other states. The public adjuster license is more demanding: a 40-hour Department-approved course, the PSI exam, a $1,000 bond, and five certificates of character from community members who have personally known you for at least five years.

Rhode Island requires company, independent, and public adjusters to pass a licensing exam, which is the main hurdle. The Property/Casualty adjuster exam has 35 scoreable questions in 1 hour, with a passing scaled score of 70. The license fee is $250, residents must provide a background check (BCI) no older than 30 days, and adjusters must complete 24 hours of continuing education, including 3 hours of ethics, every two years.

Getting a Vermont adjuster license is more involved than a producer license because of the experience requirement. You must be at least 18, pass the Adjuster's Property and Casualty exam ($67.60), and show two years of loss-claims experience, special training of sufficient duration and scope, or immediate supervision by a Vermont-licensed adjuster with 3 or more years. The paper application carries a $30 application fee and a $120 license fee, and adjusters must keep transaction records for at least 3 years.

Virginia licenses adjusters only in the public adjuster capacity, so there is no Virginia company or independent adjuster license to earn. A resident public adjuster must pass the 60-minute Prometric exam and pay the $35 exam fee, then apply with a $15 fee. Virginia residents seeking an independent or company adjuster license commonly obtain one from another state that licenses adjusters and accepts nonresident applicants.