If you want to know how to get a life insurance license and become a life insurance agent, the path is shorter than most people expect: no degree requirement, state fees measured in tens of dollars, and in 31 of the 51 US jurisdictions no mandatory course before the exam. This guide walks through every step - who qualifies, prelicensing rules, scheduling and passing the exam, fingerprints, the application itself, and what happens after approval - plus the requirements in the ten biggest states and how adding the health line works. Every number here comes from the official candidate handbooks and state bulletins we verify for our state exam pages.
How to become a life insurance agent: the short version
Becoming a life insurance agent comes down to two things: earning a state producer license with the life line of authority, then getting appointed by at least one insurer. Everything below - prelicensing, the exam, fingerprints, the application - is how you earn that license. If you're weighing the career first, see how much life insurance agents make and the all-lines guide to how to become an insurance agent.
What a life insurance license actually is
A life insurance license - formally a producer license with a life line of authority - is issued by your state's insurance department and lets you solicit, sell, and negotiate life insurance policies (and in most states, annuities) for insurers that appoint you. There is no national license: each state licenses its own producers, though reciprocity makes adding non-resident states straightforward later.
Many candidates earn life and health together. Some states test the lines separately; others, like Texas with its General Lines - Life, Accident & Health exam, combine them in one sitting. If you plan to sell both, check how your state structures it on your state's page before booking anything - one exam instead of two can save weeks.
How to get a life and health insurance license
Most new agents add health to life, because the two sell together. How you earn both depends on your state:
- One combined exam. Texas tests both lines in its General Lines - Life, Accident & Health exam: 145 questions (130 scored) in 150 minutes for a $49 fee, versus 90 questions (80 scored) in 120 minutes and $39 for Life alone. New York offers a combined Life, Accident & Health exam (Series 17-55) of 150 items in 2.5 hours, and Ohio, Georgia, Florida and Michigan also offer a combined sitting.
- Two separate exams. Other states test each line on its own, so you sit and pay for two exams.
- Prelicensing adds up. Where a course is required, a combined license usually needs more hours - New York requires 40 hours for Life, Accident & Health versus 20 for Life alone; Georgia 16 hours versus 8; Michigan and Ohio 40 hours for both lines versus 20 for one.
Our guide to combined vs separate insurance exams by state lists how every state structures it, and the life and health practice exam covers both halves at full length. If you are in Texas, start with the Texas life insurance practice exam or the Texas life and health practice exam.
How to get a health insurance license on its own
The health line (called accident and health, or accident and sickness, in many states) follows exactly the same process as life: the same age and residency rules, the same background check, a separate exam built from the health content outline, and the same application. Where a prelicensing course is required it is usually the same hours as life - 20 hours per line in New York, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois, 8 hours in Georgia - and the states that require no course for life require none for health either. The health exam leans on Medicare, disability income, long-term care, policy provisions and the Affordable Care Act rather than annuities and taxation; the free health insurance practice exam mirrors each state's format.
Step 1: Confirm you qualify
The baseline requirements are consistent across states:
- Be at least 18 years old
- Be able to pass the state's background review (most states run fingerprints; answer every application question truthfully - undisclosed history causes far more denials than disclosed history)
- Reside in the state for a resident license (non-resident licenses come later, after your home state)
No state requires a college degree or prior experience; the Bureau of Labor Statistics lists the typical entry-level education for insurance sales agents as a high school diploma or equivalent.
Step 2: Prelicensing education - required in 19 states, skipped in 31
This is where states differ most, and where bad information wastes the most money. From our verified state data:
- 31 jurisdictions require no prelicensing course at all for the life exam - you can study on your own and book the exam immediately. The list has grown: Washington dropped its requirement in 2023, Alabama and Maryland in 2024, North Carolina on October 1, 2025.
- 19 states require pre-exam education, from 8 hours in Georgia to 20 hours per line in states such as Ohio and New York (New York requires 40 hours if you take Life and Accident & Health together) and 50 hours per line in Colorado. California repealed its 20-hour course on January 1, 2026 but still requires 12 hours of ethics and California Insurance Code study.
- Massachusetts does not publish the requirement clearly - confirm with the Division of Insurance.
The full breakdown with citations is in our prelicensing requirements by state guide. Where a course is required, the completion certificate can expire - Georgia's, for example, must have been earned within the last 12 months - so schedule your exam soon after finishing.
Step 3: Pass the licensing exam
Every state contracts a testing vendor - PSI, Pearson VUE, Prometric, or in a few cases the state itself (Alabama uses the University of Alabama; Kentucky administers its own). Our guide to who runs the exam in each state lists every vendor, and the PSI life insurance exam guide covers registration and test-day rules in the 17 PSI states.
What to expect, from the official outlines we track:
- Length: from 60 questions (55 scored) in North Carolina up to 150 on some exams; 38 of 51 jurisdictions' life exams run 90-110 questions, most in about 2 hours.
- Fees: $32 to $96 per attempt depending on the state.
- Passing: typically 70%, though several states use a scaled score of 70 that is not a raw percentage; California requires 60%, Michigan 72%.
- Content: national product knowledge plus a state-law section drawn from your state's insurance code - in Georgia and Texas it is 30 of the 80 scored life questions, and it is the section candidates most often underestimate.
Preparation is the whole game here. Washington, one of the few states that publishes results, passed only 38.9% of Life producer exams (1,666 passed, 2,612 failed) between October 2025 and September 2026, counting every attempt, and 46.1% of its combined Life and Disability exams. Take a free life insurance practice exam for your state until you clear your state's passing bar comfortably on consecutive attempts; our mock exams mirror each state's real question count and time limit. For what the exam covers topic by topic, see what's actually on the insurance exam, and for where candidates lose marks, is the life insurance exam hard?.
Step 4: Fingerprints and background check
Most states require electronic fingerprinting for a criminal background check, typically through vendors like IdentoGO, either before the application or triggered by it - commonly $30 to $75, paid to the fingerprint vendor. Georgia requires registration and fingerprinting after applying through Sircon; Texas requires a fingerprint receipt as part of its general requirements; Pennsylvania requires every applicant for a new resident producer license to be fingerprinted at an IdentoGO enrollment center. Your state's candidate handbook, linked from your state page, spells out the exact process.
Step 5: Apply for the license
Applications go through your state's portal or, in most states, the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR) - the industry's shared licensing system - or Sircon. You'll need your exam pass on file, identifying information (Social Security number, date of birth), and an electronic payment for the state's license fee. NIPR states that states typically take 7 to 10 days to review applications; many are faster when fingerprints are already processed. Do not sit on a pass: Texas, for example, requires the application within one year of the exam.
Step 6: Get appointed and start selling
A license alone doesn't let you sell - an insurer must appoint you (file a certificate of authority for you) before you can write its policies. If you're joining an agency or carrier, they handle appointments; independent agents secure appointments carrier by carrier. Expect contracting paperwork, errors-and-omissions insurance requirements from some carriers, and possibly anti-money-laundering training.
Life insurance license requirements in the ten biggest states
Verified from each state's current candidate handbook; every state page carries the full figures and the handbook link.
| State | Prelicensing course | Life exam | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | None | 90 questions (80 scored), 120 min, Pearson VUE, scaled 70 | $39 |
| Florida | Required for some license types (hours set by statute) | 95 questions (85 scored), 120 min, Pearson VUE, 70% | $44 |
| California | 20-hour course repealed 2026; 12 hours ethics and code study | 75 questions, 90 min, PSI, 60% | $55 |
| New York | 20 hours (40 for life, accident and health) | 100 questions, 120 min, PSI, 70% | $40 |
| Georgia | 8 hours (16 combined), within 12 months | 90 questions (80 scored), 120 min, Pearson VUE, 70% | $67 |
| North Carolina | None since October 1, 2025 | 60 questions (55 scored), 75 min, Pearson VUE, scaled 70 | $45 |
| Ohio | 20 hours (40 for both lines) | 100 questions, 120 min, PSI, 70% | $49 |
| Michigan | 20 hours (40 combined) | 100 questions, 120 min, PSI, 72% | $41 |
| Pennsylvania | None | 100 questions, 120 min, PSI, 70% | $45 |
| Illinois | 20 hours per line (7.5 in a classroom) | Two exams: 55 general + 36 state, 135 min, Pearson VUE, scaled 70 | $92 for both |
Is a life insurance license hard to get?
The requirements are easy to meet; the exam is the hard part. Nothing else in the process has a failure rate - age, residency, fingerprints and the application are administrative - but in Washington, the state with the clearest published results, more life exam sittings fail than pass. The exam tests precise vocabulary and your state's insurance code, and its passing standard is fixed at 70% or higher almost everywhere. Candidates who take a full-length practice exam first, study the official outline in weight order, and drill the topics they miss pass at far higher rates than those who read a manual once and book.
How long does the whole process take?
Fastest realistic path in a no-prelicensing state: study one to two weeks with practice exams, pass, fingerprint the same week, application approved in about a week - 2 to 3 weeks total. Most people take three to six weeks, and course states add their required hours up front. Our licensing timeline guide breaks this down step by step.
Can you take the insurance exam online?
In some states, yes, and the answer has changed recently. From the current candidate bulletins: Arizona, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania let you choose between a PSI test center and a remote proctored exam on your own computer; Michigan withdrew remote testing in June 2025 and tests only at PSI locations; Texas exams are reserved at a physical Pearson VUE test center. Remote exams come with strict rules - no breaks, no scratch paper, no leaving the camera's view - so read the scheduling section of your state's bulletin before booking. Online and test-center exams use the same questions, timing, and passing standard.
What disqualifies you from getting a life insurance license?
The common statutory grounds: felony convictions - under federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1033), anyone convicted of a felony involving dishonesty or breach of trust needs the state regulator's written consent before working in insurance - along with lying on the license application, misappropriating client or insurer money, and having had a license revoked in another state. States list their exact grounds in statute, and most run fingerprint background checks that surface your record.
A record is not always the end of the road: consent and waiver procedures exist, and states weigh the offense, its age, and the evidence of rehabilitation. What is fatal is concealment - failing to disclose is itself a ground for refusal. If you have a record, answer the application honestly and contact your state's licensing division before paying for prelicensing or exams.
Is a life insurance license worth it?
The entry cost is a $32 to $96 exam and, in most states, no course. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median pay for insurance sales agents at $62,280 (May 2025) with the top 10% above $138,140, and projects 3% growth to 2035 with about 43,100 openings a year. The first year is commission-heavy and slow, which is why the agents who stay are the ones who built a client base through service and referrals rather than treating the license as the finish line.
Start with your state
Every state's exact numbers - question count, time limit, passing standard, exam fee, prelicensing hours, and the official handbook they come from - are on your state's exam page, verified against primary sources and dated. Pick your state, read its quick facts, and take a free mock exam today; it is the single best predictor of whether you're ready to book the real thing.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to get a life insurance license?
In the 31 jurisdictions with no prelicensing course, motivated candidates often finish in two to three weeks: one to two weeks of practice, the exam, fingerprints where required, and a state application that NIPR says typically takes 7 to 10 days to review. Most people take three to six weeks, and states that require a course add its hours up front.
Is a life insurance license hard to get?
The paperwork is not; the exam is. Age, residency, fingerprints and the application are administrative, but Washington's published results show 38.9% of Life producer exam sittings passed between October 2025 and September 2026, counting every attempt. Full-length practice at your state's exact format is what separates first-time passes from retakes.
Do I need a college degree to sell life insurance?
No. Every state licenses producers without a degree, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics lists the typical entry-level education as a high school diploma or equivalent with no prior work experience. The requirements are being at least 18, completing any state-required prelicensing education, passing the licensing exam, and clearing the state's background review.
What is the difference between a life license and a life and health license?
A life license covers life insurance and usually annuities. A life and health license adds the accident and health line - medical, disability and long-term care policies. Texas, New York, Ohio, Georgia, Florida and Michigan offer a combined exam so one sitting earns both lines; other states test each line separately. Where a course is required, the combined license usually needs more hours - 40 in New York, Ohio and Michigan versus 20 for life alone.
How many hours of prelicensing do you need for a life insurance license?
None in 31 jurisdictions. Where a course is required it is usually 20 hours per line - New York, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky and others - with Georgia at 8 hours, Colorado at 50 hours per line, and California requiring 12 hours of ethics and insurance code study after repealing its 20-hour course in 2026. Combined life and health licenses typically need double the single-line hours.
How much does it cost to get a life insurance license?
Exam fees in our verified state data run from $32 to $96 per attempt, paid again for every retake. Add the state's license application fee (collected through NIPR or your state portal), fingerprinting of about $30 to $75 where required, and a prelicensing course only in the 19 states that require one.
Can I take the life insurance exam online?
In some states. Arizona, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania offer a remote proctored option through PSI alongside test centers; Michigan withdrew remote testing in 2025 and Texas requires a physical Pearson VUE test center. Your state's candidate handbook - linked with its source on every state page here - says which applies to you, and remote exams allow no breaks or scratch paper.