How to get a social work license in Hawaii

Hawaii licenses Licensed Bachelor Social Workers (LBSW), Licensed Social Workers (LSW, the master's license) and Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW) through DCCA's Professional and Vocational Licensing Division. Everything below comes from the board's own pages and rules, checked October 18, 2026. Fees and rules change, so confirm on the linked pages before you pay.

Check with your board. Social Work Ticket is a study aid. Not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB), the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) or any state social work board; ASWB is their mark, used here only to name the exam. Laws on confidentiality, reporting and licensing differ by state; follow your state's law, your agency and your supervisor.

Hawaii at a glance

LicenseASWB examWhat it takes
LBSW (Licensed Bachelor Social Worker)BachelorsA social work bachelor's.
LSW (Licensed Social Worker)Masters (or Advanced or Clinical)An MSW. $60 application; license fees depend on when in the three-year cycle you apply.
LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker)Clinical3,000 hours of supervised clinical social work in an agency over 2 to 5 years, 2,000 in assessment, diagnosis and psychotherapy, 100 hours of face-to-face supervision.

Hawaii, step by step

Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Professional and Vocational Licensing (Social Worker program)

  1. Approval first: the department must approve your application before you take the exam; then you register and pay with ASWB and schedule. The LSW eligibility letter is valid two years. Applications are abandoned if you do not finish within a year of filing or do not take and pass the exam once eligible.
  2. LSW: pass the ASWB Masters, Advanced or Clinical exam (the Masters exam fee is $230 to ASWB). The application fee is $60, non-refundable; once you pass, the license fees for a first-year-of-the-triennium applicant come to $374.
  3. LCSW experience: at least 3,000 hours of post-graduate supervised clinical social work in an agency setting, in no fewer than two and no more than five years, including at least 2,000 hours of assessment, clinical diagnosis and psychotherapy, no more than 900 hours of advocacy, consultation and evaluation, and at least 100 hours of direct face-to-face supervision. Your supervisor completes the Verification of Supervised Clinical Social Work Experience.
  4. LCSW exam and fees: the ASWB Clinical exam; $60 application, and the form lists $478 in all for a first-year-of-the-triennium applicant.

Sources: Hawaii PVL: Social worker application forms, LSW requirements and application, LCSW requirements and application. Checked October 18, 2026.

Practice for the Masters exam, freeVignette questions on the 2026 Masters outline, every answer sourced. Practice for the Clinical exam, freeDSM-5-TR diagnosis, psychotherapy models, clinical ethics and supervision, on the 2026 Clinical outline. Practice for the Bachelors exam, freeThe Bachelors level: generalist practice, benefits programs and task-centered work, on the 2026 Bachelors outline.

The national steps, briefly

The steps that hold nearly everywhere: a CSWE-accredited degree, your board's approval (or ASWB's, in a few states), the ASWB exam at the level your license needs, then the license. Every ASWB level has 122 questions (110 scored) in 4 hours; Bachelors and Masters cost $230, Advanced Generalist and Clinical $260, and you wait at least 90 days to retake (ASWB Examination Guidebook, August 2026). A passing score counts in every state for the same exam level. The full walk-through: How to get your social work license.

Official pages