Contractor licensing in Washington and Oregon, by the numbers

The register skews sharply recent. Most businesses carrying a contractor credential in these two states got it within the last decade, which is worth knowing when a homeowner treats “licensed” as a proxy for “long-established”. It is not one.

The final year is partial. The snapshot stops at 17 July 2026, so that bar is a part-year figure and should not be read as a decline.

23 July 1936

Tice Electric Co in Portland, Washington L&I

24 March 1937

Hochstatter Electric Inc in Moses Lake, Washington L&I

31 December 1937

Ramsay Signs Inc in Portland, Washington L&I

31 December 1944

Service Electric Co Inc in Snohomish, Washington L&I

1 February 1945

Hoydar-Buck Inc in Selah, Washington L&I

15 June 1945

Ford Electric Co Inc in Long Beach, Washington L&I

The two agencies put different things in the same field. Washington records a legal entity type such as limited liability company, corporation, individual, partnership. Oregon records a CCB endorsement code in that column instead, so RGC, CGC2 and RSC are license classes rather than company structures. Charting them together would present an endorsement code as though it were a form of incorporation, so this counts Washington registrations only.

Each figure counts records in this snapshot, not licenses currently valid in the state system. The state column is the issuing agency, not the business address. Firms based in Vancouver, Washington hold Oregon licenses and the reverse is also true, so a count by state is a count by regulator. Method and known limits are on the sources page.