PE license requirements
To become a licensed Professional Engineer you typically need an engineering degree (usually ABET-accredited), a passing score on the FE exam, about four years of engineering experience under a licensed PE, and a passing score on the PE exam. Licensing is run by each state’s board, and many now let you take the PE before finishing your experience: you still need the experience before you’re licensed.
Sources: NCEES, NSPE and state licensing boards (including Washington’s August 2026 rule change), checked October 11, 2026. Requirements vary by state; see your state’s page.
The usual path
- 1. Education: an engineering degree, usually from an ABET-accredited program; some states allow longer experience instead.
- 2. FE exam: the Fundamentals of Engineering exam, often taken near graduation (see our FE guide).
- 3. Experience: typically four years of progressive engineering experience, verified by licensed PEs.
- 4. PE exam: the Principles and Practice of Engineering exam in your discipline.
- 5. State requirements: some boards add their own exams, such as an ethics or law exam, or California’s seismic and surveying exams.
Taking the PE before your experience (decoupling)
NCEES amended its Model Law in 2013 to allow the PE to be taken before the experience is complete, and states have followed: an engineering education paper counted 33 states by 2024, and Washington joined from August 1, 2026. Decoupling changes when you can sit the exam, not what you need for a license. If you might seek licenses in several states, check whether each accepts a PE taken early.
Board approval or direct registration
In some states you register directly with NCEES; in others the board must approve you first, which can take months. NCEES’s PE page links to each board’s rules.