How to transfer your Social worker licence to Massachusetts (2026)

Social worker work in Massachusetts is licensed at state level, by the Massachusetts social work licensing board. This page says what a social worker licensed or working in another state has to do to work in Massachusetts, in the order to do it, and what goes wrong when the order is reversed.

How the transfer works

Every state licenses social workers and most offer licensure by endorsement to a social worker licensed elsewhere with the same ASWB exam level and, for clinical licences, verified supervised hours. The Social Work Licensure Compact is in law in many states and will issue multistate licences once it is operational; until Massachusetts is live in it, apply to the board with ASWB score transfer, licence verification and supervision records.

Exam: ASWB at the level you hold (bachelor's, master's, clinical).

How long: four to twelve weeks. Fee: $100 to $300; the current figure is on the licensing body's own site.

What to have ready before you move

• ASWB score transfer
• Licence verification
• Supervision documentation for clinical licences
• Transcripts

Start the paperwork before you give notice. Every week the licence is not done is a week you are not paid, and nothing in the process needs you to be in Massachusetts already.

What people get wrong

• Mismatched supervision hours; states count them differently and clinical licences are the ones that stall
• Assuming the compact is live in both states

Who hires social workers in Massachusetts

Social workers in Massachusetts are hired by hospitals, child welfare agencies, schools, community mental health, hospice and private practice. The metros with the most of that work are Boston, Worcester, Springfield and Cambridge. Employers who could not hire locally and have filed with the Department of Labor are on the Massachusetts openings page.

For the money side: the median social worker in Massachusetts earned $67,880 a year ($33 an hour) in May 2024 across 9,830 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Massachusetts has a flat 5% state income tax. What that leaves you after tax is its own page.

Everything about Massachusetts, on one page

The Massachusetts page has the registries and boards, the income tax table, the programs that pay you to come and the openings filed this month. If you know which state you are leaving, the move pages compare the two directly. Creating a free Workmerica profile with your trade and your destination puts you in front of Massachusetts employers hiring from out of state.