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How to check an insurance agent's license

Every state's insurance department keeps a public record of who may sell insurance there. This is how to read one, and where each state's search is.

The steps

  1. Ask the agent for their full name and their national producer number (NPN).
  2. Open the insurance department's search for the state you live in, or where your business is based. Every state's search is listed below.
  3. Search by NPN if you have it, otherwise by name, and open the record.
  4. Read the license type and its lines of authority, whether it is active, and the expiration date.
  5. Check that the name and NPN on the record are the ones the agent gave you.

What an NPN is

The national producer number is assigned by the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR), one per producer. It stays the same across every state the producer is licensed in, so it finds the right person where a common name would not.

What lines of authority mean

A license lists the kinds of insurance it covers, called lines of authority. The NAIC's Producer Licensing Model Act, which states use as the pattern for their own rules, names these: life; accident and health or sickness; property; casualty; variable life and variable annuity products; personal lines; credit; and any other line a state sets. Personal lines is property and casualty insurance sold to individuals and families for mainly noncommercial purposes, such as car and home insurance.

A state's own license names can differ. Texas, for example, prints property and casualty as a qualification on a General Lines Agent license. How to read a Texas record.

When a record does not match

These are the differences between a record and what you were told that are worth noticing:

  • The name on the record is not the name the person gave you.
  • The NPN you were given finds nobody, or finds somebody else.
  • The license is not active, or its expiration date has passed.
  • The lines of authority do not include the kind of insurance being discussed.
  • There is no license in the state you live in, or where your business is based.

Searches that cover more than one state

Every state's license search

The department that licenses producers in each state and the District of Columbia, a guide to its record, and its own search. Each link was last tested on 2026-10-12.

* Our automated link test was blocked by that department's site. The page opens normally in a browser.

Questions

What is an NPN?

The national producer number, a unique number the National Insurance Producer Registry assigns to each licensed producer. It stays the same in every state, which makes it a steadier search than a name.

Does a license in one state let an agent sell in another?

No. A producer is licensed state by state: many hold a resident license in their home state and nonresident licenses elsewhere. Check the license issued by the state you live in, or where your business is based.

Can I check an agent's license in every state at once?

Not in one official place for every state. Each state's insurance department is the record for its own licenses. The NAIC State Based Systems lookup covers the departments that use it, and the list on this page links every department's own search.

Where does InsuranceAgentPick check licenses?

On the state insurance department's own records: its public lookup, or in Texas the department's published license file. An agent is only shown to a buyer if that check is at most 7 days old.

Looking for an agent rather than checking one? How to find an insurance agent.

Want licensed agents to contact you?

Tell us what you need insured. Published rules draft a list of up to three agents whose license in your state was checked on the state's own records within the last 7 days, a person checks and sends it, and only the agents you tick get your details. Health insurance is a waitlist only.

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