Getting licensed as a social worker in Texas

Checked against the Texas State Board of Social Worker Examiners / Behavioral Health Executive Council on .

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

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Your first license

Licensed Master Social Worker (accrues LCSW hours under an LCSW-S)

LMSW

Exam required before the license

The ASWB Masters exam is required before the license.

Known fees

Fees the Texas State Board of Social Worker Examiners / Behavioral Health Executive Council publishes for the LMSW
Texas LMSW application$109
Texas Social Worker Jurisprudence Examination$39
ASWB Masters examination$230
Known total$378

What else it takes

Supervised hours
3,000 hours, 100 supervision, for the LCSW
ASWB exam level
Masters
Licensure compact
Not a memberMultistate licenses are not yet being issued. Last checked against the compact's own site.
Last checked
1

Next step

Meet LMSW education requirements under 22 TAC Chapter 781. Pass ASWB Masters examination.

The ladder

Texas has 4 rungs. 4 need an ASWB exam.

  1. bachelors

    LBSW

    ASWB Bachelors

    Licensed Baccalaureate Social Worker.

  2. masters

    LMSW

    ASWB Masters

    Licensed Master Social Worker (accrues LCSW hours under an LCSW-S). Practice is supervised at this rung.

  3. advanced

    LMSW-AP

    ASWB Advanced Generalist

    LMSW Advanced Practitioner (non-clinical independent).

  4. clinical

    LCSW

    ASWB Clinical

    Licensed Clinical Social Worker.

Requirements change

Nothing on our law calendar changes Texas'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 Texas moves, this page moves with it.

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

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

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

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Programs in Texas

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 42 programs in Texas

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.

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