As of 28 August 2026, 37 of 55 US jurisdictions have an alternative CPA licensure pathway in force.
A dated, sourced count of where the 150-hour rule still stands, and the jurisdictions where the published trackers are behind. Verified 19 August 2026 against statutes and boards of accountancy. Take the whole table as JSON.
How many states have dropped the 150-hour rule for CPA licensure?
As of 28 August 2026, 37 of 55 US jurisdictions have an alternative CPA licensure pathway in force. A further 9 have enacted one that has not yet taken effect, and 9 have not enacted one at all. In force means a candidate can use the route today, not that a legislature has passed something.
- In force today
- 37 of 55
- Enacted, not yet effective
- 9
- No pathway enacted
- 9
- Independently challenged
- 46 of 55
- Last verified
- 19 August 2026
Where the published trackers are behind
The disagreement runs one way: every tracker lists fewer jurisdictions as having a pathway than this data does, none more. 300hours covers 54 of the 55 jurisdictions and contradicts this data on 19, 13 of which have routes already in force; Becker covers 44 of the 55 jurisdictions and contradicts this data on none of them, and does not mention 2 more; CPA Credits covers 9 of the 55 jurisdictions and contradicts this data on 8, 6 of which have routes already in force, and does not mention 37 more. Every difference below names the statute, so it can be checked without taking anyone's word for it.
300hours
Read at https://300hours.com/cpa-requirements-by-state/ on 26 August 2026. The page dates itself July 2026. It covers 54 of the 55 jurisdictions. Separates active from enacted-but-not-yet-effective, which most do not, and then files everything else under one heading.
Its own words: “No new pathway enacted (150 hours still required for licensure)”
It contradicts this data on 13 whose route is already in force and 6 that have been enacted with a dated start.
Becker
Read at https://www.becker.com/blog/cpa/150-credit-hours-cpa-a-tale-of-courses-and-creative-counting on 26 August 2026. It covers 44 of the 55 jurisdictions. One alphabetical list that mixes routes already in force with routes dated into 2027, so a reader cannot tell which of the 44 they can use today.
Its own words: “Currently, several states have laws that are already in effect or go into effect in the future, which eliminate or provide an alternative to the standard 150 hour CPA requirement.”
It does not mention 2 that have one.
| Jurisdiction | What this data says | Statute or rule |
|---|---|---|
| District of Columbia | In force since 10 August 2026 | D.C. Act 26-399 (emergency, Bill 26-730) and D.C. Act 26-412 (permanent, Bill 26-494), both amending D.C. Official Code § 47-2853.42 |
| Wisconsin | In force since 4 April 2026 | 2025 Wisconsin Act 166 (Assembly Bill 696), creating Wis. Stat. § 442.04 (5) (b) 3. c. |
CPA Credits
Read at https://www.cpacredits.com/resources/tracking-changes-to-the-150-rule-state-by-state/ on 26 August 2026. The page dates itself March 20, 2025. It covers 9 of the 55 jurisdictions. Nine jurisdictions, carrying its own March 2025 date, still describing Utah, Minnesota, South Carolina and New Jersey as proposed or exploratory and Texas, California and New York as no change.
Its own words: “If you are looking to get your CPA in the near future, we wouldn't bank on these changes happening too soon. We suggest you get your 150 credit hours quickly and affordably and get moving on your career.”
It contradicts this data on 6 whose route is already in force and 2 that have been enacted with a dated start, and it does not mention 37 that have one.
How to check thisEvery row above links the statute or the board page the claim was read from, and every jurisdiction links to its own page carrying the full record. If a tracker has caught up since 26 August 2026, that is a correction worth sending to support@pocketcpa.ai, and it will be recorded in the change log below rather than quietly edited away.
Why do the published CPA pathway trackers disagree with each other?
Because a pathway takes effect on a date, and a page written before that date is correct when it is published and becomes incorrect only afterwards. Nobody goes back. CPA Credits's list still reads as it did when it was written, and the effective dates have kept arriving since. That is not a research problem, it is a maintenance problem, which is why this page carries the date it was last verified and a log of what changed.
Which state drops the 150-hour requirement next?
The next jurisdiction to flip is Maryland on 1 October 2026, which takes the total in force to 38. After that: Alabama on 15 October 2026, Oklahoma on 1 November 2026, New York on 21 November 2026, Arizona on 1 January 2027, California on 1 January 2027, Colorado on 1 January 2027, Illinois on 1 January 2027, Indiana on 1 January 2027.
Can an alternative CPA licensure pathway expire?
District of Columbia is the one jurisdiction whose alternative pathway has an END date: it lapses on 8 November 2026 unless the permanent act clears its review. The route in force rests on an emergency act, and D.C. Official Code § 1-204.12(a) caps an emergency act at 90 days. The permanent version, D.C. Act 26-412, was transmitted to Congress on August 13, 2026 but the 30-legislative-day review is not finished, so it has no effective date yet. If the permanent act completes review before that date the route continues; if it does not, D.C. reverts to requiring 150 hours. No published tracker models this at all, so on 8 November 2026 every list that currently counts District of Columbia will be counting a route that has stopped.
What has changed since this was last checked
1 change has been recorded since this log opened on 26 August 2026: 28 August 2026, Missouri moved from enacted to in force: the bachelor's degree plus two years of experience route under SB 1233 reached its effective date.
Every US jurisdiction, with its statute
Traditional retained records whether the 150-hour route still exists alongside the new one.
Where it reads No, replaced the requirement was removed rather than supplemented, which changes what a
candidate part-way through a fifth year should do. No other published tracker carries that column.
How was this CPA licensure pathway data checked?
Each jurisdiction was researched against its state board, statute or state CPA society, then every claim of an alternative pathway was handed to a second independent pass whose instruction was to refute it rather than confirm it. 46 of the 55 were challenged that way and 10 came back with a correction, which is why several dates here differ from the lists published by the review courses. Each record carries the statute or board page it was read from, the date it was verified, and whether it was challenged, so a disagreement can be settled against the source rather than against an opinion.
Machine-readable copy of this table: /cpa-requirements/150-hour-rule.json. Reuse it with attribution to https://pocketcpa.ai/cpa-requirements/150-hour-rule/. Requirements change; confirm with the board before applying.
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