Getting licensed as a social worker in District of Columbia

Checked against the District of Columbia Board of Social Work on .

Get your District of Columbia licensing checklist

Your board, the portal you apply in, the fees, the supervised hours, and the order to do them in.

Your email, no account, unsubscribe anytime.

Your first license

Licensed Graduate Social Worker (no exam for initial license; exam OR 1,500 hrs before first renewal)

LGSW

Exam comes after the first credential

No exam to register. The Clinical exam comes after your hours.

Known fees

Fees the District of Columbia Board of Social Work publishes for the LGSW
Application and license fee$230
Criminal background check$50
ASWB Masters examination, if examination pathway is used$230
Known total$510

What else it takes

Supervised hours
3,000 hours, 100 supervision, for the LICSW
ASWB exam level
None for this credential
Licensure compact
Not a member (legislation pending)Multistate licenses are not yet being issued. Last checked against the compact's own site.
Last checked
1

Next step

Earn a master's or doctoral degree from a CSWE-accredited social work program. Apply for initial LGSW licensure through the education pathway; the national examination is not required for initial LGSW licensure.

The ladder

District of Columbia has 4 rungs. 3 need an ASWB exam.

  1. bachelors

    LSWA

    ASWB Bachelors

    Licensed Social Work Associate. Practice is supervised at this rung.

  2. masters

    LGSW

    No ASWB exam

    Licensed Graduate Social Worker (no exam for initial license; exam OR 1,500 hrs before first renewal). Practice is supervised at this rung.

  3. advanced

    LISW

    ASWB Advanced Generalist

    Licensed Independent Social Worker (non-clinical independent).

  4. clinical

    LICSW

    ASWB Clinical

    Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker.

Requirements change

The initial LGSW no longer requires the national exam. Before your first renewal you must either pass it or complete 1,500 supervised-practice hours, so the exam is a renewal decision here rather than an entry gate. Read the source. 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 District of Columbia moves, this page moves with it.

Already passed? Track your supervised hours toward your clinical license.

District of Columbia asks for 3,000 hours of supervised experience and 100 hours of supervision.

Checked against the published rule. Last checked September 6, 2026.

Join the Hours waitlist

Programs in District of Columbia

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.

See all 4 programs in District of Columbia

Sources

We read the board's own pages. Nothing here is a guess.

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.

See your path inside the app

Pick your state once. We keep the fees, the hours and the next step in front of you while you study.

See your path inside the appStart the free diagnostic