There is no single number.
Each board that issues plumbing licenses sets its own continuing education requirement, and in the states our research verified they run from none — Maryland, North Carolina, and Michigan outside code-change years — to 24 hours per renewal cycle in Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin.
Between those ends sit totals of 3, 3.5, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12 and 16 hours, on clocks that run yearly, every two years and every three.
Which states require plumbing CE?
Nothing our research read sets a national plumbing CE rule — continuing education is a renewal condition, attached license by license by the board that issued yours.
Whether you owe hours depends on the license you hold, and how each rung of the ladder is earned is our plumbing license requirements guide; the calendar the hours hang on — cycles, fees, late windows — is our plumbing license renewal guide.
Three states stand out in our research.
Maryland's State Board of Plumbing reserves its continuing education — 8 hours a year — for plumbing inspectors, not plumbers.
North Carolina eliminated CE as a condition of renewal on December 31, 2012, replacing it with Disciplinary Education imposed after complaints.
Michigan requires no routine CE from journey or master plumbers; they take a code-update course only within one year of a new plumbing code being adopted, which the state notes does not happen every year.
Elsewhere, the pages we read split into states with a verified hour rule — the table in the next section — and states where our research could not confirm the requirement or its hours, among them Arkansas, the District of Columbia, Idaho, Indiana, Maine, Rhode Island and West Virginia.
That is a statement about our notes, not about those states: a requirement we did not find is not proof there is none.
Ask the board.
Check whether the rule binds your level, too.
Massachusetts exempts apprentices from its CE outright, while South Dakota requires at least 4 hours of plumbing CE even from third-year apprentices licensed by exam.
And several boards soften the first cycle: Montana exempts new licensees at their first renewal, Illinois starts its 4-hour rule after the first license, Connecticut requires no CE before the first renewal, and New Jersey's first master-plumber renewal is exempt.
CE rules are board rules — and boards change them
How many CE hours, and on what topics?
The states our research verified run from none to 24 hours per cycle, and the tiers in between include 3, 3.5, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12 and 16 hours; the renewal clocks behind them run yearly, every two years and every three in the cycles our research captured.
The verified rules, state by state:
| State | CE rule we verified |
|---|---|
| Maryland | None for plumbers — the board's 8 hours a year applies to plumbing inspectors |
| North Carolina | None — mandatory CE ended December 31, 2012 |
| Michigan | None routinely — a code-update course within one year of a new code adoption |
| Alabama | 4 hours a year; holders of two certifications take 2 hours per certification |
| Illinois | 4 hours for each annual renewal, starting after the first license |
| Montana | 4 hours each license year; first renewal exempt |
| South Dakota | At least 4 hours each license period (contractors, plumbers, restricted licensees and third-year apprentices licensed by exam) |
| Louisiana | Active masters 5 hours a year; journeymen and residential plumbers 3.5 hours |
| Kentucky | At least 6 hours in the 12 months before each annual renewal; up to 12 excess hours carry forward |
| Texas | 6 hours of continuing professional education to renew — licenses renew annually |
| Oklahoma | 6 hours every 3 years |
| Georgia | 8 hours within the 24 months before expiration (master and journeyman) |
| Vermont | 8 hours of board-approved training in the previous 24 months |
| Colorado | 8 hours in each year of the two-year license period (March 1–February 28) |
| Iowa | At least 8 classroom hours per three-year term |
| Virginia | 3 hours per two-year term, on the current International Plumbing/Mechanical Code; backflow workers exempt |
| New Jersey | 5 credit hours per two-year period for master plumbers; first renewal exempt |
| Connecticut | 5 credit hours every two years for unlimited and limited contractors and unlimited journeypersons, 3 for limited journeypersons; P-6, P-7, PP-1 and PP-2 holders currently none |
| New Hampshire | 6 hours of board-approved CE per endorsement each two-year cycle — described by OPLC as 3 hours of code update each year |
| Massachusetts | 12 clock hours per two-year cycle with an approved provider; gas fitters and LP installers 6 hours; apprentices exempt |
| Utah | 12 hours per licensing cycle, at least 8 of them core |
| Minnesota | 16 hours per two-year period, at least 8 on the State Plumbing Code |
| New Mexico | Journeyman certificate renewal: 16 hours, at least 8 on the current code for the classification (the state heard rule amendments in 2026) |
| Alaska | Plumber journeyman COF: 16 hours in the prior 24 months, at least 8 on Uniform Plumbing Code changes |
| Oregon | Journeyman plumbers: 24 hours to renew — 4 of rules and law, 4 of code change, 16 of other required study |
| Washington | 24 hours per 3-year cycle (renews on your birthday) — at least 12 of plumbing code and 4 of industry-related electrical for PL01, PL02 and PL04 |
| Wisconsin | 24 hours, for journeyman and master plumbers alike |
| Hawaii | A course on Uniform Plumbing Code updates at each 3-year renewal (Honolulu Community College is an approved source) |
| Nevada | NBOPE journeyman and master certificates: 8 hours of approved CE every 3 years — or a 40-question open-book online exam (75% to pass), instead |
Read the cadence, not just the digits.
Kentucky and Texas both say 6 hours, but Kentucky's come due every 12 months and Texas renews annually, while Oklahoma's 6 can be spread across 3 years.
Colorado's 8 hours are an annual requirement inside a two-year license — 16 hours per license, double Georgia's 8 for the same two years.
The hours are not interchangeable, either; boards dictate what they cover, and code hours recur.
At least 8 of Minnesota's 16 must pertain to the State Plumbing Code, at least 8 of the hours on Alaska's journeyman certificate cover Uniform Plumbing Code changes, Utah's 12 include at least 8 core hours, and Oregon splits its journeyman 24 into rules and law, code change and other required study.
Kentucky approves its 6 hours across business, job safety, codes and trade subjects.
Hawaii ties renewal to a Uniform Plumbing Code update course, and Michigan requires nothing routine — its CE obligation is the code-update course that follows a new code adoption.
Where our research captured both levels, the states split two ways.
Georgia's 8 hours, Wisconsin's 24 and North Dakota's 2–4 credit hours per two-year period apply to masters and journeymen alike.
Louisiana prices the levels differently: 5 hours a year for active masters against 3.5 for journeymen and residential plumbers.
Michigan splits by cycle rather than hours — masters renew every three years to the journeyman's annual clock.
Specialty credentials bring their own CE rules.
Texas medical gas endorsement holders complete at least 2 hours of CPE to renew the endorsement; Florida plumbing contractors who work on medical gas piping must complete, as part of their continuing education, an approved course of at least 6 hours, based on NFPA 99C and brazing, at least once while licensed; and Minnesota's medical gas certification requires 4 CE hours per license period.
Backflow runs the other way in Virginia — its backflow workers are exempt from the state's CE requirement.
Online vs classroom CE
The honest answer first: hour totals are public record, but delivery formats are the part of CE our research verified least.
The pages we read talk in approvals, not formats: Massachusetts requires its 12 clock hours with an approved provider, Vermont requires Board-approved training, Montana requires board-approved CE, and New Hampshire's 6 hours per endorsement are board-approved.
Approval is the word to test, not online.
Two verified data points anchor the formats.
Iowa's continuing education is classroom hours — at least 8 of them per three-year term.
Nevada, at the other end, lets NBOPE certificate holders skip the 8 hours of CE entirely and renew by a 40-question open-book online exam with a 75% pass mark.
The provider market mixes formats.
One Massachusetts provider listing our research captured offers live, virtual and at-home CE — an unverified listing, so read it as the range of formats that exists, not as proof of what any board accepts.
So the practical sequence: confirm with your board that a course is approved for your license class, ask whether the provider reports completion to the board or hands you a certificate to keep, and get the answer before paying.
The same caution applies to pre-license study, which is a different product — our online plumbing courses guide covers that side.
Keeping records of your plumbing CE
The requirement does not end when the course does — several boards want proof, and one names an audit window.
Illinois asks licensees to provide proof of completion of the 4 hours as a condition of each annual renewal, Kentucky requires proof of its 6 hours before renewal, and Connecticut puts its window in writing: plumbing CE records must be kept 4 years for audit.
Connecticut also shows why the CE deadline and the renewal deadline are different things — its CE must be completed 3 months before the renewal deadline, by July 31 of the cycle year.
Alabama pairs its renewal window with its own CE cutoff: certificates renew between October 1 and December 31, and CE completed before November 1 avoids a deficiency fee.
- Find your cycle and deadline on the board's renewal page before you book anything.
- Ask which hours are mandatory core or code hours — 8 of Minnesota's 16, for example.
- Confirm the provider is approved for your license class, and whether it reports completion to the board.
- Keep the completion certificate for the full audit window — 4 years where that is the rule.
- Log hours as you go — some boards let excess hours roll forward, up to 12 in Kentucky.
Hours logged and proof filed, the license stays what it was when you earned it — an asset.
When you are ready to put it to work, browse plumber jobs.
Career information, not legal advice. Continuing education requirements are set by each state licensing board — or the city or county office where licensing is local — and they change. Confirm the current hours, topics and approved providers with the board that issued your license before you renew.