Property Management License Courses in States With a PM-Specific License

BLS puts the broad picture in one sentence: in most states, property managers must hold a property management license or a real estate broker's license.

That is BLS's general statement, not a state rule.

Which license a state uses, and who is exempt from it, is set state by state — our property manager license requirements by state guide follows the full map.

Where a state reaches property management through its broker and sales licenses instead, the hours that count are the real estate pre-license courses, not a separate PM class.

The states our research found with a property-management-specific license or permit are:

• South Carolina — a separate property manager license, for supervised licensees who meet the education requirements and pass the property manager exam (state requirements).
• Montana — a standalone property manager license under Montana Code §37-56-105 (state requirements).
• Oregon — a property manager license issued by the Oregon Real Estate Agency (state requirements).
• South Dakota — a property manager license on the Real Estate Commission's list, alongside a residential rental agent license that needs no education or exam.
• Arkansas — property management broker and property management associate classifications, licensed by the Arkansas Real Estate Commission.
• Nevada — no standalone license: a property management permit that requires a real estate broker, broker-salesperson or salesperson license first.
• Washington, DC — a property manager license with exams but no pre-license course required today (state requirements).
• Utah — a new individual property manager license; the Utah Division of Real Estate says applications open January 1, 2027.

A second group sits beside them: the states that license community association managers separately, with pre-license courses of their own.

Florida's CAM license requires a minimum of 16 in-person classroom hours of prelicensure education under Rule 61E14-1.001.

Illinois requires at least 20 classroom hours of Board-approved courses for its community association manager license.

Both are covered below.

For the whole application rather than the class alone, our how to get a property management license walkthrough covers eligibility, exams and timelines.

Hours and completion windows are state by state.

This list lines up the pre-license course each license requires, as the state's statute, rule or commission page states it.

• Oregon, property manager — 60 hours, from an Agency-approved school.
• Arkansas, property management broker — 60 hours within the prior 36 months: 30 of core topics plus 30 of PM supervision best practices.
• Arkansas, property management associate — 30 hours in property management principles and practice.
• South Carolina, property manager — 30 hours of classroom instruction in property management principles and practices.
• Montana, property manager — 30 hours of approved pre-licensing education, completed within the past 24 months.
• South Dakota, property manager — 40 hours of Fundamentals of Property Management.
• Nevada, property management permit — at least 24 classroom hours of property management instruction.
• Utah, property manager from January 1, 2027 — at least 24 hours, with one "hour" meaning 50 minutes of instruction and no more than 8 program hours in a day.
• Florida, community association manager — a minimum of 16 in-person classroom hours of 50 minutes each, within 12 months before the exam.
• Illinois, community association manager — at least 20 classroom hours of Board-approved courses.
• Washington, DC, property manager — no pre-license course currently required.

Two format notes matter if you are planning the course around a job schedule.

Florida treats live online delivery as classroom time: real-time web, video or telephone instruction with real-time interaction counts toward the in-person hours.

The statute sets a ceiling of 24 hours of in-person instruction by a DBPR-approved provider, completed within 12 months before the exam; the 16-hour minimum is the rule's.

Our Florida CAM pre-license course guide follows that class in detail.

Illinois's approved route includes an online edition: CAI's M-100 is an approved 20-hour course in both classroom and online editions.

South Carolina's statute describes classroom instruction, but the statute also accepts, in place of the 30 hours, a JD or LLB, a bachelor's or master's degree with a major in real estate or housing, or another course of study the Commission approves.

Utah's statute sets the 24-hour minimum and the 50-minute hour, while curriculum, providers and exam vendor were still undecided on the Division's page when our research read it.

One role needs more again: a South Carolina property manager-in-charge must complete 7 hours of Commission-approved instruction in property management accounting and record-keeping, on top of an active property manager license.

Nevada's regulation sets required topics for its 24-hour permit course, among them:

• Management contracts, leases and rental applications, plus 4 hours on the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
• 3 hours on trust-account records.
• 5 hours on landlord-tenant law, fair housing and the ADA.
• 3 hours on managing commercial property.

Utah's current licensees get a shortcut: from January 1, 2027, Utah brokers, associate brokers and sales agents may add the property manager license without the PM education or exam, though fees still apply.

None of these courses is an open-market class: each state that requires one routes it through providers it approves, and the agency's list is the starting point.

• Florida — the education must come from a DBPR-approved provider, and the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation publishes the list of approved CAM pre-licensure education providers.
• Illinois — courses must be Board-approved under the CAM Act, which the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation administers. CAI's M-100, classroom and online, is an approved 20-hour course.
• Oregon — the 60-hour course must come from an Agency-approved school; the Oregon Real Estate Agency approves the schools.
• Arkansas — the 60-hour property management broker course must be a Commission-approved pre-license course; the associate applicants' 30-hour course sits in the same AREC rule, 17 CAR §220-401.
• South Carolina — the classroom hours sit under the Commission, which can approve alternative courses of study.
• Nevada — the state's regulation sets the permit course topics, and the Real Estate Division designates the exam that proves completion.
• Montana — the education must be approved under ARM 24.209.501, the rule cited alongside §37-56-105.

Utah had no provider list when the Division's page published in August 2026, so check with the Division before assuming a national school's class will count.

Our research did not evaluate private schools against these lists.

Approval is the state's call, and the agency's own list is where a school's status gets confirmed.

Exams are state requirements in their own right, and in Nevada and Utah the rule ties the exam directly to the course.

Utah's statute requires an exam covering the course topics.

Nevada goes further — completing its 24-hour course means passing a Division-designated exam of at least 50 multiple-choice questions with a score of at least 75 percent, and the permit sits on top of the real estate license the Division requires first.

Where our sources name the testing vendor, it is named.

Oregon's property manager exam runs through PSI, and DC candidates take both the general and DC portions of the Property Manager exam through PSI, then apply within 6 months of passing.

Montana requires the Montana Property Manager Examination within the past 12 months, alongside education completed within the past 24 months.

South Carolina requires passing the property manager exam, and South Dakota's commission lists a 75 percent exam score on the property manager license.

The CAM licenses test separately from their courses.

Florida's CAM exam is a computer-based test given through Pearson VUE, and Illinois applicants pass an exam authorized by IDFPR — CAI also reports that Illinois CAM applicants must pass the CMCA exam.

Our CMCA exam guide covers that test's format and passing standard.

We found no pass rates or prep-course requirements in the state sources for these exams, so each agency's exam page is the source for outlines and scheduling.

Most of the figures our research captured are license and exam fees from the agencies' pages and rules, dated October 2026; the one course price is a provider's, not a state fee.

• Oregon — a $300 nonrefundable application fee, paid in eLicense with the property manager application.
• Montana — a $50 application fee plus a $5 Contingent Litigation Fee, and the same $50 plus $5 to renew.
• Arkansas — AREC rules set the original property management broker license fee at $70.00 and the original property management associate license fee at $50.00 (17 CAR §220, as of October 9, 2026).
• Nevada — a $40 permit application fee, plus a $75 fee for the permit exam.
• Washington, DC — a $170 property manager license fee (up to two years) plus a $65 application fee, and $170 to renew, on DLCP's fee list as of October 9, 2026.
• Illinois — the approved 20-hour M-100 online course was listed at $679, or $579 for CAI members, as of October 9, 2026.

Course tuition for the PM-specific licenses — the 60-hour Oregon class, the Arkansas pair, the rest — did not appear on the state sources our research read; the Illinois M-100 price above is the exception we captured, and it is a provider's price.

The approved-provider lists in the last section name the providers to ask for a current quote.

Utah had published no fees for the new license as of the Division's August 2026 page.

Florida's initial CAM license and exam fees, and the South Carolina and South Dakota fee schedules, were not captured in our research either, so treat those agencies' own fee pages as the current source.

Career information, not legal, tax or licensing advice. Course hours, provider approval, exams and fees change — confirm current requirements and prices with the agency named for your state before you enroll or apply.