How to Find a Licensed Social Worker

Social workers help people solve everyday problems from life changing events like adopting a child to coping with a loss or terminal illness. We know how important it is for people to find the help they need during difficult times, so we created an online resource to help people find social workers in their area. We have compiled a list of health services agencies and other community resources for all 381 metropolitan areas in the United States (over 500 cities). In addition, we have included links to State Health and Human Service Agencies for people who live in rural areas and do not have a local health services agency.

In order to practice in the United States, besides obtaining a relevant social work degree from an accredited school, social workers must be licensed. At the bottom of the page, we have compiled a list of all state specific Social Work Licensing Boards, which are responsible for protecting the public by regulating and licensing social workers. Each state provides a license verification search tool that can be used to confirm a social worker’s license is active and valid. We have included links to the license verification tools for each state in the table.

Local health services agencies provide services to people in need. Depending on the agency, these services could include: helping individuals with child care needs, employment and job training, food assistance programs, family and child services, helping seniors and adults with disabilities, housing and homeless services, community preparedness, veterans services, and more.

Read more on different Social Issues and How Social Workers Help.

State specific Social Work Licensing Boards are responsible for protecting the public by regulating and licensing health services professionals, including social workers. All practicing social workers need to be licensed in their state of practice. The following table contains links to state specific licensing databases that one can use to confirm a social worker is actively licensed. Some of the search tools are specific to social workers, while others can be used to verify all types of healthcare professionals. To make it easy to look up a social worker’s license, we have included the relevant professions in the table below as each state uses a different classification for social workers.

Information for social worker licensing boards and relevant professions last updated in March 2020.