The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) has announced that the number of architects in the United States rose by 2 percent in 2018, bringing the total amount to 115,316 practitioners across the 55 U.S. jurisdictions: all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Through its annual Survey of Architectural Registration Boards, NCARB found that California leads the country with the highest number of total architects (both resident and reciprocal licensure-holders) with 21,828 people. New York and Texas take the following top spots with 19,582 and 13,229 respectively, while the smallest number of architects practicing today work in Guam (104) and the Northern Mariana Islands (38).
Here’s a further breakdown:
States with the most license-holders (after Texas):
Illinois: 10,310
Florida: 11,169
Virginia: 7, 412
Massachusetts: 7,507
Colorado: 7,804
States with the fewest license-holders (before Guam):
Alaska: 570
Puerto Rico: 887
South Dakota: 929
U.S. Virginia Islands: 1,111
North Dakota: 1,214
See more on each state here.
The survey also revealed that the number of architects in the 55 U.S. jurisdictions has risen over 13 percent in the last decade, which is 6 percent more than the total population increased since 2008, and there are currently 5,000 individuals finishing up their final core licensure requirements and nearly 41,000 candidates total on the road to licensure through NCARB.
So far, diversity data on the number of architects practicing per state has not been released, but NCARB will provide more information on the path to licensure in its upcoming annual NCARB by the Numbers. Due out next month, the report comes as NCARB celebrates its centennial. Founded in 1919, the licensure organization began with a group of architects representing just 13 states.
