Florida Contractor Licensing Report 2026
Published 29 July 2026 · Based on 86,931 active licences from Florida DBPR public records (data as of 2026-08-11) · Methodology & limitations
Journalists and researchers are welcome to reproduce these figures with attribution to Florida Licensed Pros and a link to this page. Underlying source data is public record from the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation. Questions or a custom cut of the data for your county: edinzukic.zenica@gmail.com
Key findings
- More than a quarter of Florida's licensed contractor workforce is new. Across all trades and metros, 27.2% of currently active licences were first issued within the last three years.
- Fort Myers & Cape Coral has the newest workforce in the state — 33.4% of its active licences date from the last three years, and the median licence there was issued in 2019.
- Tallahassee has the most established — just 16.9% newly licensed, with a median licence year of 2010, a full 9 years earlier than Fort Myers & Cape Coral.
- Roofing and pool work draw the newest entrants. Among active licences, 32.4% of roofing contractors and 33.2% of pool/spa contractors were licensed in the last three years, against 23.3% of general contractors.
- Storm-hit metros show licensing surges in the following year. New roofing licences in Fort Myers & Cape Coral rose from 35 in 2022 to 57 in 2023, the year after Hurricane Ian. Naples recorded 30 new roofing licences in 2024 against 9 the year before.
Which Florida metro has the newest contractor workforce?
The chart below shows the share of each metro's currently active licences that were first issued within the last three years. A high share is not automatically bad — it reflects growth and demand — but it does mean a homeowner comparing three quotes in that market is more likely to be speaking with contractors who have not yet worked through a full storm cycle.
Share of active licences first issued 2023–2026. n = 86,931.
Full metro table
| Metro area | Active licences | Licensed ≤3 yrs | Licensed ≥20 yrs | Median licence year | Roofing | Mold remediation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miami | 10,948 | 32.1% | 20.2% | 2019 | 1,105 | 351 |
| Fort Lauderdale | 8,541 | 28.2% | 23.6% | 2017 | 894 | 400 |
| Orlando | 8,087 | 27.8% | 27.3% | 2017 | 1,022 | 254 |
| West Palm Beach | 6,793 | 25.5% | 28.9% | 2015 | 610 | 249 |
| Tampa | 6,503 | 27.5% | 26.3% | 2017 | 600 | 164 |
| Fort Myers & Cape Coral | 5,556 | 33.4% | 21.8% | 2019 | 449 | 124 |
| Jacksonville | 5,552 | 21.8% | 32.7% | 2013 | 719 | 118 |
| St. Petersburg & Clearwater | 4,857 | 28.4% | 26.6% | 2017 | 397 | 147 |
| Sarasota & Bradenton | 4,747 | 28.9% | 26.9% | 2017 | 388 | 82 |
| Port St. Lucie & Treasure Coast | 3,644 | 23.1% | 32.8% | 2014 | 370 | 96 |
| Naples | 2,882 | 30% | 23.9% | 2018 | 192 | 50 |
| Daytona Beach & Volusia | 2,579 | 21.8% | 34.7% | 2012 | 310 | 51 |
| Melbourne & Space Coast | 2,199 | 22.3% | 31% | 2014 | 281 | 55 |
| Pensacola | 1,904 | 26.8% | 27.4% | 2017 | 227 | 32 |
| Lakeland & Winter Haven | 1,661 | 25.1% | 28.7% | 2015 | 221 | 31 |
| Spring Hill & Nature Coast | 1,505 | 22.6% | 34.4% | 2013 | 119 | 30 |
| Destin & Fort Walton Beach | 1,492 | 23.6% | 30.5% | 2015 | 137 | 30 |
| Ocala & The Villages | 1,467 | 22.6% | 35.4% | 2012 | 133 | 29 |
| Port Charlotte & Punta Gorda | 1,367 | 29.3% | 25.6% | 2018 | 121 | 33 |
| Gainesville | 1,337 | 20.6% | 35.6% | 2011 | 139 | 30 |
| Tallahassee | 1,315 | 16.9% | 36.4% | 2010 | 146 | 24 |
| Panama City | 1,301 | 25.5% | 25.4% | 2018 | 151 | 31 |
| Key West & The Keys | 694 | 22.2% | 32.7% | 2014 | 37 | 6 |
By trade
| Trade | Active licences | Licensed ≤3 yrs | Median licence year |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Contractors | 27,735 | 23.3% | 2013 |
| Home Building & Remodeling Contractors | 21,112 | 26.1% | 2016 |
| HVAC & Air Conditioning Contractors | 11,983 | 27.3% | 2017 |
| Roofing Contractors | 8,768 | 32.4% | 2019 |
| Plumbing Contractors | 7,671 | 32.1% | 2018 |
| Pool & Spa Contractors | 4,333 | 33.2% | 2019 |
| Mold Assessors & Inspectors | 2,539 | 31.8% | 2020 |
| Mold Remediation & Water Damage Companies | 2,417 | 30.7% | 2019 |
| Solar Contractors | 373 | 26% | 2018 |
Roofing licences after the storms
Roofing is the trade most exposed to hurricane demand. The table tracks new roofing licences by the year they were first issued, in three metros hit hard in recent seasons. The pattern is consistent with a demand response in the year after a major storm rather than during it — licensing takes months, so the surge lags the damage.
| Metro | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Myers & Cape Coral | 26 | 19 | 24 | 35 | 57 | 47 | 58 |
| Naples | 14 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 9 | 30 | 23 |
| Tampa | 26 | 22 | 20 | 41 | 44 | 59 | 55 |
New roofing licences by first-issue year, active licences only. Hurricane Ian struck south-west Florida in September 2022; Helene and Milton struck the Gulf coast in autumn 2024.
Methodology and limitations
Source. Public record extracts published by the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation, covering construction industry and mold-related licences, downloaded and processed on 2026-08-11. Only licences with a primary status of Current and a secondary status of Active, with a Florida address, were included. Records were grouped into 23 metro areas by the licensee's city of record.
What "licensed since" means. The year shown is the first date the licence was issued, as recorded by DBPR. Where that field was absent, the effective date was used.
Three limitations worth stating plainly:
- This is a snapshot of active licences, not a history of licences ever issued. Contractors who retired, moved away or let a licence lapse are absent. That means year-over-year counts for earlier years are systematically understated, and the apparent long-run "growth" in new licences partly reflects that attrition. Comparisons of recent years, and comparisons between metros in the same year, are far more reliable than long-run trend claims.
- Location is the licensee's address of record, not their service area. A contractor based in Tampa may work across several counties, and after a storm many work far from home.
- Storm timing is correlation, not proof of causation. Licensing volume also responds to construction demand, population growth and regulatory changes.
Reproducing this. The processing pipeline is deterministic: anyone can download the same DBPR extracts and reach the same numbers. We are happy to share the county-level or trade-level breakdown behind any figure here on request.
How to cite
Florida Licensed Pros (2026). Florida Contractor Licensing Report 2026. Analysis of 86,931 active Florida DBPR contractor licences. https://www.floridalicensedpros.com/research/florida-contractor-licensing-report/
Related: how to verify any Florida licence · risks of hiring unlicensed · search the full directory