Where can you
investigate?

The Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection licenses private detectives and private detective agencies through the State Police Special Licensing and Firearms Unit, and licensees must register each investigator they employ.

The Chief of the Maine State Police licenses individual professional investigators and sponsored investigative assistants.

The Colonel of the Massachusetts State Police licenses the private detective business; agents and employees of a licensee do not need their own licence.

New Hampshire State Police (Permits and Licensing Unit) licenses individual private investigators, agencies and agency employees under RSA 106-F.

The New Jersey State Police Private Detective Unit licenses private detective businesses (individuals, firms or corporations), and employees are registered under the licence rather than licensed themselves.

The New York Department of State licenses private investigators, and the licence holder must be a principal of the business.

Pennsylvania has no state licensing board.

Rhode Island requires private detectives to hold a licence under state law, but there is no state licensing office: you apply to the town council or city licensing authority where your principal place of business is located, and the local police department carries out the background check.

Vermont's Office of Professional Regulation licenses private investigative agencies and licensed private investigators, who act as the qualifying agent for an agency or practise independently, and agencies must register their investigative employees.

IDFPR licenses individual private detectives, and a licensed private detective is needed to register a private detective agency.

Indiana licenses private investigator firms, not individual investigators; a sole trader also needs a firm licence, and employees work under the firm's licence.

The Iowa Department of Public Safety licenses private investigation businesses, and each employee doing investigative work needs a state-issued identification card through the licensed agency.

The Kansas Attorney General licenses individual private detectives and private detective agencies, and every licence runs for two years.

LARA licenses professional investigator agencies, each run through a qualifying officer who holds the licence, and investigative employees work under that agency licence.

The Board of Private Detective and Protective Agent Services licenses private detective businesses run by an individual or a corporation, which names a qualified representative; since 2026 partnerships can no longer hold a licence.

Missouri has licensed private investigators and agencies statewide since 2007 through a board in the Division of Professional Registration.

The Nebraska Secretary of State licenses private detectives, private detective agencies and plain-clothes investigators, and the State Patrol runs a character investigation on every applicant.

The North Dakota Private Investigative and Security Board licenses individual investigators and detective agencies, and registers agency employees.

Ohio's Department of Public Safety, through its Private Investigator Security Guard Services unit (PISGS), issues Class B (private investigation) or Class A (investigation plus security) licences to individuals, or to companies through a qualifying agent, and licensees register their employees each year.

South Dakota has no state licence for private investigators.

DSPS issues individual private detective credentials and separate private detective/security agency licences, and an individual detective must be employed by a licensed agency; anyone working for themselves also needs an agency licence.

The Alabama Private Investigation Board licenses individual private investigators, and since 1 January 2024 any business that employs or contracts with investigators also needs a private investigation agency licence.

The Arkansas State Police licenses private investigation companies (Class A, or Class D for a one-person company) and issues Credentialed Private Investigator (CPI) credentials to individuals, who must work under the qualified manager of a licensed Class A company.

Delaware's Board of Examiners, administered by the State Police Professional Licensing Section, licenses private investigative agencies and issues five-year licences or ID cards to individual investigators.

Private detectives in DC are licensed by the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection's Security Program, with fingerprinting by the Metropolitan Police Department.

FDACS licenses individual private investigators (Class C), interns (Class CC), agencies (Class A) and agency managers.

Georgia licenses private detective companies rather than individuals; the company licence is held by a qualified owner, partner or officer, and investigators working for it must be registered by the company.

Kentucky's Board of Licensure for Private Investigators licenses individual investigators and investigating companies on a two-year cycle.

The LSBPIE issues agency, individual, journeyman and apprentice licences; an individual private investigator may work only for a licensed agency, so anyone working independently needs an agency licence.

The Maryland State Police license private detective agencies and certify the individual private detectives who work for them; a certificate is valid only for its sponsoring agency.

Mississippi has no state licence for private investigators and no state board, exam or experience rule.

The North Carolina Private Protective Services Board licenses individual private investigators.

CLEET licenses individual private investigators and investigative agencies in Oklahoma, and self-employed investigators also need an agency licence.

SLED licenses private investigation businesses, and investigators employed by those businesses must be registered with SLED.

Tennessee licenses individual private investigators and private investigation companies through a programme run directly by the Commissioner of Commerce & Insurance.

Texas DPS licenses investigations companies (Class A licence) and individual private investigators, and every individual PI must be affiliated with a licensed company.

DCJS registers individual private investigators and licenses private security services businesses, which must name a compliance agent.

The West Virginia Secretary of State licenses individual private investigators and private investigation firms; an individual licensee works under their own name and needs a firm licence to employ anyone.

Alaska has no statewide private investigator licence; bills to create one (HB 158 in 2007, HB 9 in 2015) died in committee.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety licenses private investigation agencies, each run by a qualifying party, and registers every investigator who works for a licensed agency; nobody may work as a PI outside a licensed agency.

The Bureau of Security and Investigative Services licenses private investigators; the licence can be held by an individual or by a business entity through a qualified manager.

Colorado no longer licenses private investigators at state level.

The Board of Private Detectives and Guards licenses detective agencies and their principal detectives, as well as sole proprietors, and agencies must register the investigators they employ.

Idaho has no state licence for private investigators or investigation firms; a 1998 bill (H0770) proposing a licensing board was not enacted.

Montana licenses private investigators individually through the Private Security Program in the Department of Labor and Industry, with a separate trainee licence for people building experience under a supervising investigator.

The Nevada Private Investigators Licensing Board licenses individual investigators and corporations (through a qualifying agent), and employees of a licensee need a registered work card instead.

The New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department licenses individual private investigators and private investigation companies, advised by the Private Investigations Advisory Board.

Oregon's DPSST licenses private investigators individually, with a provisional investigator licence for those still building experience.

Since 1 September 2026 Utah PIs are licensed by the Division of Professional Licensing (DOPL) under the new Private Investigation Licensing Act, replacing licensing by the Department of Public Safety's Bureau of Criminal Identification (BCI).

Washington's Department of Licensing licenses private investigative agencies and the individual investigators they employ; an unarmed PI must be at least 18, a US citizen or resident noncitizen, and employed by (or have a job offer from) a licensed agency.

Wyoming has no state licence for private investigators; the Division of Criminal Investigation says some municipalities regulate PIs by city ordinance and that investigators should check with each city where they will do business.