Respiratory Therapist License Requirements by State

49 states and DC require a respiratory therapist to hold the state's own license, by each state's official rules read 9 Nov 2026: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. By their own rules, Alaska issues no license of its own, though the employer or the rules for its agencies may still set training. Each state's respiratory therapist page says what its rule asks for.

In 40 of the 49 states and DC that license respiratory therapists, the state's own rule names the NBRC's CRT or RRT credential or its exam. Each state's page says what its rule asks for.

Apply to that state's licensing board, named on the state's respiratory therapist page, for its own license before you start. The Respiratory Care Interstate Compact has been enacted in 13 states (its commission: "The Respiratory Care Interstate Compact reached activation status in April 2026.") and its commission says it will first write its rules and build its data system, so it issues no privileges yet and each state's own license is the way in for now. Therapy job statistics show what respiratory therapy postings state.

5,025 respiratory therapist jobs are open on this board today, 5,013 of them in the states that require a license, each read from the employer's own careers site. A state in the table opens its respiratory therapist jobs.