Guide · License

Do you need a license to start a non-medical home care agency?

Three species of state

States sort into three kinds. License states approve you before you open and survey you after — California's Home Care Organization license ($5,603) and Illinois's Home Services Agency license are the type. Registration states put you on a list with a narrower scope — Florida's $50 homemaker/companion registration and New Jersey's Health Care Service Firm registration are the type. No-license states — Arizona is the cleanest example — do not license non-medical home care at all.

'No license' never means 'no rules'

In a no-license state you still form a business, still need insurance to win referrals, still run caregiver background checks, and still meet a completely separate gate if you want Medicaid clients. And the moment you offer a skilled service — wound care, therapy — you are in home health, which every state licenses. The verdict checker sorts your state and your services in one pass.

The mistake this prevents

Founders routinely buy a national 'startup package' built for the wrong species: a binder written for a license state filed in a registration state, insurance bound to the wrong entity, marketing that promises services their scope excludes. State first, services second, paperwork third — in that order.

Dataset pages behind this guide: Arizona state page · California state page · Florida state page · New Jersey state page · the full 50-state dataset (checked October 22, 2026).