Getting licensed as a social worker in Wisconsin

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Checked against the Wisconsin Marriage and Family Therapy, Professional Counseling, and Social Work Examining Board (DSPS) 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

Advanced Practice Social Worker (accrues LCSW hours under an approved supervisor)

APSW

Exam required before the license

The ASWB Masters exam is required before the license.

Known fees

Fees the Wisconsin Marriage and Family Therapy, Professional Counseling, and Social Work Examining Board (DSPS) publishes for the APSW
APSW initial credential fee$62
ASWB Masters examination$230
Known total$292

What else it takes

Supervised hours
3,000 hours, 1,000 client contact, supervision: no single total, for the LCSW
ASWB exam level
Masters
Licensure compact
Member jurisdictionMultistate licenses are not yet being issued. Last checked against the compact's own site.
Last checked
1

Next step

Hold a master's or higher degree in social work from a CSWE-accredited program (Wis. Admin. Code MPSW 3.05). Complete the LicensE online application and pay the applicable fees.

The ladder

Wisconsin has 4 rungs. 4 need an ASWB exam.

  1. bachelors

    CSW

    ASWB Bachelors

    Social Worker (Basic-Level).

  2. masters

    APSW

    ASWB Masters

    Advanced Practice Social Worker (accrues LCSW hours under an approved supervisor). Practice is supervised at this rung.

  3. advanced

    ISW

    ASWB Advanced Generalist

    Independent Social Worker.

  4. clinical

    LCSW

    ASWB Clinical

    Licensed Clinical Social Worker.

Requirements change

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

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

Wisconsin asks for 3,000 hours of supervised experience. Supervision hours: no single total (1 hour per week).

Checked against the published rule. Last checked September 29, 2026.

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Programs in Wisconsin

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 19 programs in Wisconsin

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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