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How Verifiable Are Well Driller Licenses? An 11-State Audit
We checked 477 well drilling companies in our own directory against the public license or registration register in each of the 11 states where one exists and is searchable. 61.2% matched a record on that state's register (60.2% currently active/on-register, the rest matched but lapsed). The match rate varied enormously by state - from 26.7% in Kentucky to 90.9% in Missouri - which says as much about how usable each state's public register is as it does about licensing itself.
What "matched" means - and doesn't. A match means we found this business (by phone number, or by business/owner name and city) on that state's public license or registration register. It is not a legal determination of licensure. A "no match" can mean the company isn't licensed, or it can mean the company is licensed under a different name, an individual's name, or simply wasn't findable by our matching method. Treat this as a data-quality and register-transparency finding, not a claim about which specific companies are or aren't licensed. Individual businesses' match status is shown, with this same caveat, on their own directory profile.
Why this is hard to check nationally
49 of the 51 states/territories we've researched require a water-well driller license or registration to operate (see our full license requirements by state table). But requiring a license is not the same as publishing a way to check one. There is no federal well-driller license database. Verifying a license means going state by state, and each state publishes something different: some post a searchable roster with a license number and forward expiry date; others post a name-only list with no ID number and no way to tell when a registration lapses. Among the 11 states we could search at all, 2 don't publish an individual license number (you can confirm a name is on the register, but not match a specific number), and 9 don't publish a forward expiration date at all (you can see current status, but not how long it's guaranteed to hold).
State-by-state match rate
"Checked" is every listing we have in that state; "matched" is how many we could tie to a register record (active or lapsed); "phone-matched" is the share matched via the highest-confidence method (a direct phone number match) rather than a fuzzy name/city match.
| State | Checked | Matched | Match rate | Phone-matched | Register publishes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 24 | 17 | 70.8% | 0% | License #, no forward expiry Geological Survey of Alabama Water We… |
| Arkansas | 6 | 3 | 50.0% | 0% | License #, no forward expiry Arkansas Water Well Construction Comm… |
| Florida | 65 | 26 | 40.0% | 0% | License #, no forward expiry FDEP |
| Indiana | 60 | 41 | 68.3% | 88% | Name only, no forward expiry Indiana DNR |
| Kentucky | 30 | 8 | 26.7% | 100% | License #, no forward expiry KY Division of Water |
| Michigan | 39 | 29 | 74.4% | 86% | License # + expiry date EGLE |
| Missouri | 11 | 10 (2 lapsed) | 90.9% | 80% | Name only, no forward expiry Missouri DNR - Well Installation Sect… |
| North Carolina | 66 | 52 | 78.8% | 85% | License #, no forward expiry NCWCC |
| Ohio | 29 | 22 (1 lapsed) | 75.9% | 0% | License #, no forward expiry Ohio DNR (Division of Geological Surv… |
| Tennessee | 40 | 25 | 62.5% | 84% | License #, no forward expiry TDEC |
| Texas | 107 | 59 (2 lapsed) | 55.1% | 92% | License # + expiry date TDLR |
Small sample sizes move a lot on one or two matches - Arkansas (6) and Missouri (11) are the smallest samples here and their match rates should be read with that in mind. Weigh the "Match rate" column alongside "Checked," not on its own.
Downloadable data
The state-level summary table above is available as JSON for reuse: /license-verification-audit/data.json. It contains only the aggregated per-state counts shown on this page - not individual business names or match details, which stay on each listing's own directory profile where the context and caveats above travel with them.
Methodology
- Sample: 533 well drilling businesses sourced from public Google Business listings across 20 states. This is a convenience sample built for a business directory, not a random or exhaustive survey of the well-drilling industry. It should not be read as "X% of well drillers nationally are licensed." See our note on what this directory is and isn't.
- Register selection: we searched for a public, searchable license or registration register in every state represented in the directory. We found and used one in 11 of them (AL, AR, FL, IN, KY, MI, MO, NC, OH, TN, TX); the others either don't publish one, or we haven't located a usable one yet.
- Matching: automated first pass by phone number (highest confidence, 67% of all matches), falling back to business name, owner/contractor surname, and city where phone matching failed, with manual spot review. Full match-method definitions are documented alongside the source data in the codebase.
- Status: "verified" means the match is active/current on the register as published; "expired" (lapsed) means the match exists but the license/registration is past its published expiry, or the state's own record marked it inactive.
- Collected: business roster 2026-07-08; license register cross-check 2026-07-14. State registers change; treat this as a snapshot, not a live feed.
- Not legal advice: check a specific contractor's license with the state board. See our guide to hiring a licensed well driller.
How to cite this
Well Drilling Directory, "How Verifiable Are Well Driller Licenses? An 11-State Audit," accessed 2026-07-18, https://welldrillingcompanies.com/license-verification-audit/. Journalists and researchers: for comment or the source-level breakdown, contact team@welldrillingcompanies.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does "no match" mean a well drilling company is unlicensed?
No, and we want to be explicit about that. "No match" means our automated check (by phone number first, then by business or owner name and city) could not find a corresponding entry in that state's public license or registration register. It does not mean the company lacks a license. A company can be legitimately licensed and still not match if it operates under a different registered (DBA) name, is licensed under an individual's name rather than the business name, the register isn't fully text-searchable, or our match method simply missed it. Ask for the contractor's license number and check it with the state board.
Why did you only check 11 of the states in your directory?
We only ran a match where we found a public register we could actually search -- by license/registration number, business name, or contractor name. That existed for Texas, North Carolina, Indiana, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Alabama, Missouri, and Arkansas as of this audit. Several other states require a license but don't publish a public, searchable roster we could cross-reference this way. We'll extend this audit to more states as we find or confirm a usable public register.
What is the difference between a state license and NGWA certification?
A state license (or registration) is a legal requirement to operate as a well-drilling contractor in that state, issued by a state agency. NGWA (National Ground Water Association) certification, such as Certified Well Driller (CWD), is a separate, voluntary national industry credential. Only 21 of the 533 listed companies (3.9%) matched the public NGWA Certified Members Directory -- expected, since it's optional, but it means NGWA certification and a state license should never be treated as interchangeable.
Can I cite or reuse this data?
Yes -- this page and the underlying state-level summary (linked below as JSON) are free to cite with attribution to Well Drilling Directory and a link back to this page. We do not publish the underlying individual business-level match data (only the aggregated state counts shown here), to avoid the page functioning as a public callout of specific companies over an automated, imperfect match process.
See also: license requirements by state · how our trust rating works · how to hire a licensed well driller.
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