Getting licensed as a social worker in California
Checked against the California Board of Behavioral Sciences on .
Get your California licensing checklist
Your board, the portal you apply in, the fees, the supervised hours, and the order to do them in.
Your first license
Associate Clinical Social Worker (registration held while the 3,000 LCSW hours accrue)
ASWExam comes after the first credential
No exam for this one. California registers you first, then you test.
Known fees
| ASW initial registration | $75 |
|---|---|
| California Law and Ethics Exam | $75 |
| Known total | $150 |
What else it takes
- Supervised hours
- 3,000 hours, 750 client contact, supervision: no single total, for the LCSW
- ASWB exam level
- None for this credential
- Licensure compact
- Not a memberMultistate licenses are not yet being issued. Last checked against the compact's own site.
- Last checked
Next step
Earn a master's degree in Social Work from a program accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Register as an Associate Clinical Social Worker (ASW) with the Board before accruing postdegree supervised experience in California (except under the 90-day rule).
The ladder
California has 2 rungs. 1 needs an ASWB exam.
limited
ASW
No ASWB exam
Associate Clinical Social Worker (registration held while the 3,000 LCSW hours accrue). Practice is supervised at this rung.
clinical
LCSW
ASWB Clinical
Licensed Clinical Social Worker.
Requirements change
Nothing on our law calendar changes California's exam requirement today. The change that does touch you is national: ASWB launched the 2026 exams on August 3, 2026 with three content areas and 122 items, and held fees at $230 Masters and $260 Clinical. ASWB's announcement.
Law calendar read . If California moves, this page moves with it.
Already passed? Track your supervised hours toward your clinical license.
California asks for 3,000 hours of supervised experience. Supervision hours: no single total.
Checked against the published rule. Last checked September 6, 2026.
Join the Hours waitlistPrograms in California
How first-timers from each accredited program here did on the ASWB exam. A rate built on fewer than 10 first-time exams is one or two people, so those programs show how close they are to that floor instead of a percent. Source: ASWB, 2025 report.
Azusa Pacific University
California
- Clinical first-time
- 65.6% of 64national 75.7%
- Masters first-time
- Too few to rate so farnational 73.9%
65.6% of Clinical first-timers from here passed in 2025. National rate 75.7%.
Cal Poly Humboldt
California
- Clinical first-time
- 72.7% of 22national 75.7%
- Masters first-time
- Too few to rate so farnational 73.9%
72.7% of Clinical first-timers from here passed in 2025. National rate 75.7%.
California Baptist University
California
- Clinical first-time
- 65.8% of 38national 75.7%
- Masters first-time
- Too few to rate so farnational 73.9%
65.8% of Clinical first-timers from here passed in 2025. National rate 75.7%.
California State Polytechnic University
California
- Clinical first-time
- Too few to rate so farnational 75.7%
- Masters first-time
- No exams reportednational 73.9%
Too few first-time Clinical exams in 2025 to rate so far.
California State University - Bakersfield
California
- Clinical first-time
- 60.3% of 68national 75.7%
- Masters first-time
- Too few to rate so farnational 73.9%
60.3% of Clinical first-timers from here passed in 2025. National rate 75.7%.
California State University - Chico
California
- Clinical first-time
- 73.1% of 52national 75.7%
- Masters first-time
- No exams reportednational 73.9%
73.1% of Clinical first-timers from here passed in 2025. National rate 75.7%.
California State University - Dominguez Hills
California
- Clinical first-time
- 71.7% of 60national 75.7%
- Masters first-time
- No exams reportednational 73.9%
71.7% of Clinical first-timers from here passed in 2025. National rate 75.7%.
California State University - East Bay
California
- Clinical first-time
- 64.7% of 51national 75.7%
- Masters first-time
- Too few to rate so farnational 73.9%
64.7% of Clinical first-timers from here passed in 2025. National rate 75.7%.
California State University - Fullerton
California
- Clinical first-time
- 78.6% of 70national 75.7%
- Masters first-time
- No exams reportednational 73.9%
78.6% of Clinical first-timers from here passed in 2025. National rate 75.7%.
California State University - Long Beach
California
- Clinical first-time
- 76.5% of 183national 75.7%
- Masters first-time
- Too few to rate so farnational 73.9%
76.5% of Clinical first-timers from here passed in 2025. National rate 75.7%.
California State University - Los Angeles
California
- Clinical first-time
- 64.1% of 92national 75.7%
- Masters first-time
- Too few to rate so farnational 73.9%
64.1% of Clinical first-timers from here passed in 2025. National rate 75.7%.
California State University - Monterey Bay
California
- Clinical first-time
- 60.7% of 28national 75.7%
- Masters first-time
- No exams reportednational 73.9%
60.7% of Clinical first-timers from here passed in 2025. National rate 75.7%.
Sources
We read the board's own pages. Nothing here is a guess.
- California Board of Behavioral Sciences · ASW applicant resourceswww.bbs.ca.gov · Last checked
- BBS Final Statement of Reasons - Fee Reductions, 16 CCR 1816, 1816.1, 1816.2, 1816.4 (Jan 30, 2026)www.bbs.ca.gov · Last checked
- BBS Initial Statement of Reasons - Fee Reductionswww.bbs.ca.gov · Last checked
- OAL Notice of Approval of Regulatory Action - effective 7/1/2026 (OAL Matter Number 2025-1222-02)www.bbs.ca.gov · Last checked
- BBS Fee Increase Notice, effective 1/1/2021 (superseded fee levels, kept for history)www.bbs.ca.gov · Last checked
- ASW Answers to Frequently Asked Questionswww.bbs.ca.gov · Last checked
- Social Work Licensure Compact · member jurisdictionsswcompact.org · Last checked
- BBS - LCSW Summary of Experience Requirements chart (revised 10/2023)www.bbs.ca.gov · Last checked
- BBS - Summary of Supervisor Qualifications for Supervisors of ASWs (revised 06/2023)www.bbs.ca.gov · Last checked
- BBS - Guide to Licensure Requirements, LCSW Out-of-State and Out-of-Country Applicantswww.bbs.ca.gov · Last checked
- ASWB Exam feeswww.aswb.org · Last checked
SWTPA is not affiliated with any state board or with ASWB. Requirements change; the board's page is the source of record. This record is also available as JSON.
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