An MFT degree does not let you call yourself a family therapist. A license does, and every state issues its own marriage and family therapist license under its own rules. The route to an MFT license is the same in outline wherever you live: a master's degree, a stretch of supervised work, a licensing exam. The hours and the paperwork are where states part company, and that is where most people lose a year.
How do you become a licensed marriage and family therapist?
You become a licensed marriage and family therapist by finishing a qualifying graduate degree, accruing supervised clinical hours under a board-approved supervisor, and passing the test your state board requires for the LMFT license. Each stage is judged by the state, not by the school, and the therapist license is granted by the board of the state where you will practice.
Most MFT candidates work through the stages in a fixed order. You finish the degree, which already contains a clinical placement. You register with the MFT board as a pre-licensed clinician and start logging hours. When the hours are complete, you sit the national test, and the board issues the family therapist license. A few states let you take the exam earlier, so the order is a convention rather than a law.
The state boards that grant these licenses share a membership body, the Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards, which develops the national exam and publishes a state-by-state licensure chart. Treat that MFT chart as a map of the license rules and your own board's website as the territory.
What degree do you need for a marriage and family therapist license?
The degree you need for a marriage and family therapist license is a master's or doctorate in marriage and family therapy (MFT), or a related mental health field with equivalent coursework. Some boards also accept a degree from an allied field, usually after you add the missing courses.
An accredited program is the cleanest route to the license, and accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education is what most boards look for first. Ohio's board automatically approves programs that held COAMFTE accreditation when you graduated, and Alabama requires a degree from a COAMFTE or CACREP program or the content equivalent. Texas and Illinois both accept degrees from programs outside the accredited list when the coursework matches, and Florida's chart entry points to CACREP accreditation and board-approved coursework. Each state's rule is in the AMFTRB chart.
This site lists 98 accredited master's programs across 35 jurisdictions. Our master's rankings order them on published graduation, placement and licensure rates, and the online master's rankings do the same for programs you can attend at a distance. The median program that publishes a licensure rate reports 92% of graduates reaching licensure, measured on the program's own published cohort tables.
How many supervised hours does a marriage and family therapist license require?
A marriage and family therapist license requires between 1,000 and 3,000 post-degree hours in the seven states tabled here, usually split into total supervised experience, direct client contact and supervision itself. California and Texas sit at the top with 3,000, while Illinois, Ohio and Washington frame their minimums around 1,000 direct hours.
Read the columns separately. A total-hours rule counts everything you do under supervision, including paperwork and consultation. A direct-hours rule counts only time in the room with clients, and some states require a share of it with couples or families. Supervision is a third count again: Texas, Ohio and Washington each ask for 200 hours of it, at least 100 individual, while Florida's entry names 100 hours.
| State | Supervised experience | Direct client contact | Exam |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 3,000 supervised hours over at least 104 weeks | 1,750 direct counseling, 500 with couples, families or children | California Law and Ethics Exam and LMFT Clinical Exam |
| Texas | 3,000 supervised hours over at least two years | 1,500 direct, 500 with couples or families | AMFTRB or the California exams, plus a state jurisprudence test |
| Washington | 3,000 hours in total | 1,000 direct, 500 with couples or families | AMFTRB |
| Ohio | Two years of supervised training | 1,000 direct client hours | AMFTRB |
| Florida | Two years post-master’s, 100 supervision hours over at least 100 weeks | 1,500 face-to-face | AMFTRB |
| Illinois | Supervised throughout the clinical experience | 1,000 face-to-face, 350 individual and 350 conjoint | AMFTRB |
| New York | Supervised experience under a limited permit | 1,500 client contact hours | AMFTRB only; California’s exams are not accepted |
The California row deserves its own read. The Board of Behavioral Sciences sets 3,000 supervised hours over a minimum of 104 weeks, so the clock is as binding as the count. Registrations run six years with five renewals, and someone who has not finished the hours by then applies for a subsequent registration number, which the board will not issue until the Law and Ethics Exam is passed.
What title do you hold while earning your family therapist license?
While you work toward a family therapist license you hold a pre-license title that the board issues for the supervised-hours period, and the title changes by state. California calls it Associate Marriage and Family Therapist, or AMFT. Texas uses LMFT Associate. Florida registers you as an intern, and New York issues a limited permit.
The MFT title matters for two practical reasons on the way to a full license. In several states, hours count only if you earned them while registered, so start the registration before your first client, not after. And the title tells an employer what you are allowed to do and who must supervise it, which is why job postings for pre-licensed clinicians name it. Our marriage and family therapist career page covers what the work looks like once the license is in hand.
What is on the national MFT exam for an LMFT license?
The national MFT exam for an LMFT license is a four-hour test of 180 multiple-choice items, each with four answer choices and one correct answer. The Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards develops it, and every item is counted toward the score.
A few mechanics are worth knowing before you register. The reported score is simply the number of correct responses, with no deduction for a wrong answer, so a guess never costs you. The passing standard is set by a modified Angoff method and then equated across exam forms, so a harder form does not make the bar higher. Delivery is online through Prometric. And eligibility comes first: you sit the exam only after your jurisdiction has reviewed your credentials, and your board, not the exam body, gives you the fee instructions.
California is the exception. Its LMFT candidates take a Law and Ethics Exam and a Clinical Exam set by the state's own board, and Texas accepts either the national exam or the California one, while New York accepts only the national exam. If you may move later, check which exam your target state accepts before you choose.
Can you transfer a marriage and family therapist license to another state?
You can usually move a family therapist license to another state, but you apply to the new board rather than carrying the old license across. The national exam score travels more easily than the license: AMFTRB runs a score-transfer request for exactly this case, and it also tracks licensure portability through a mobility committee.
What does not travel automatically in an MFT move is the paperwork around the exam. The new board will compare your degree to its coursework rules, your hours to its hour counts and the exam you passed to the ones it accepts. Someone licensed on California's exams, for instance, will find that New York does not accept them. Where you accrue your supervised hours matters for the same reason: they are counted by the board that licenses you, so ask the board in a state you might move to before you start.
What does a licensed marriage and family therapist earn?
A licensed marriage and family therapist earns a median of $66,940 a year, with the middle half of the profession between $50,070 and $93,840, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics count for May 2025. The same release counts 66,740 people in the occupation.
That is the pay for a finished license, which is the reason the supervised hours are worth the wait. Our salary page breaks the figure down by state and by setting, and the careers hub covers the roles an LMFT opens, from private practice to agencies. If you are weighing how far to take your education, our post on online doctoral MFT programs explains why a doctorate is not part of this route, and the explainer on accreditation stipulations covers what a condition on a program's record means for your eligibility.
Common questions
How long does it take to become a licensed marriage and family therapist?
What does LMFT stand for?
Do you need a COAMFTE-accredited degree for an LMFT license?
Can you take the LMFT exam before you finish your supervised hours?
How is the national MFT exam scored?
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from one of the five documents below, and each is linked where it is used.
- AMFTRB State Licensure Information chart Degree, hour, supervision and exam rules for Texas, Washington, Ohio, Florida, Illinois, New York, Alabama and Colorado. Posted September 2025, read October 26, 2026
- AMFTRB examination information Item count, time allowed, scoring, standard setting and delivery of the national MFT exam. Read October 26, 2026
- California Board of Behavioral Sciences, LMFT applicants The 3,000-hour, 104-week requirement, the two California exams, the AMFT title and registration terms. Read October 26, 2026
- California Board of Behavioral Sciences, Handbook for Future LMFTs The 1,750-hour direct counseling minimum and the 500 hours with couples, families and children. Read October 26, 2026
- COAMFTE Directory of Accredited Programs The count of accredited master's programs and the states they sit in. Read 2026-08-21
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Wage percentiles and employment for Marriage and Family Therapists (SOC 21-1013). Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 national release
Licensure rules are set and revised by each state board. Confirm every requirement with the board that will license you before you act on it.