Independent adjusting has its charms and misery but when it comes to working as an adjuster, working independently offers a lot of opportunities if you dedicate yourself to being the best adjuster out there. From an administrative perspective, adjusting requires you to obtain licenses to operate in certain states. While there are 16 states in the USA that do not require an adjuster license, there are certain states whose licenses can prove to be extremely rewarding.

The first part of the process is to obtain your resident state license if your state requires you to have a license in order to work as an adjuster. This license will not only help you start your career in your area but will also help you get access to other licenses via reciprocity in the later stages of your career.

On the other hand, if your state does not provide an independent adjuster license, you can apply for a Designated Home State License from states such as Texas, Florida, Indiana and Alabama. This opens doors for you to work as an adjuster in other states where a local or reciprocal licensing is mandatory.

Reciprocity is an important part of obtaining licenses as one can apply for a reciprocal independent adjuster license based on the regulations that are in place between the applicant’s resident/designated home state and the state for which he/she is applying for. In order to check your state’s reciprocity, you can use this reciprocity map.

Let’s have a look at the top 10 states for getting an independent adjuster license:

1. Florida:

Barring New York and California, Florida’s independent adjuster license works like an all-access pass across the country. Having a Florida independent adjuster license will get you assignments all across the country and working in Florida which is notoriously famous for its hurricane season will leave you with more claims than you can handle.

2. Texas:

Given its history of tackling hurricanes and tropical storms over the decades, Texas offers a large number of opportunities for people looking to work as an independent adjuster. Getting the Texas independent adjuster license will also help you with reciprocity as the regulations permit one to apply for all the other states except New York, California, and Hawaii.

3. Indiana:

Indiana is another great state to obtain an independent adjuster license from. Just like Texas, it has reciprocity with all the states barring New York, California, and Hawaii, making it a good option for those who do not wish to obtain their license from Texas or Florida.

4. New York:

New York does not offer reciprocity with any other state in the USA. While its exclusivity may be seen as a downside to obtaining the license, it actually is a very valuable one. Getting your hands on a New York independent adjuster license is no joke and adjusters who obtain this license increase their value in the market.

5. Minnesota:

While Minnesota’s hurricane season may not be as devastating as Florida, it surely holds enough potential to cause major destruction. Getting a Minnesota license is also good for reciprocity since it gives you access to all the states that a Texas or Indiana independent adjuster license would give.

6. Oklahoma:

Famous for its tropical storm and hail season, Oklahoma offers a lot of opportunities for independent adjusters. When it comes to reciprocity, it has certain restrictions but is still a good investment.

7. Georgia:

Its spring season brings a certain number of minor tropical storms its way and the large population means more claims for adjusters who wish to work here. Georgia also has a reciprocity index for independent adjusters who have a license from the state.

8. Kentucky:

Kentucky has had a busy hail season almost every year and its busy cities offer a lot of claims for independent adjusters to work on.

9. Michigan:

Michigan’s potential winter season offers a huge volume of claims to independent adjusters and its sizeable urban spaces throughout the state make way for better navigation and faster claims handling.

10. Pennsylvania:

Our last pick is Pennsylvania which showcases a similar winter season as Michigan does. Being a populated state, independent adjusters can find themselves with a large number of claims in this region.

These are our picks as the top-performing states when it came to independent adjusting. So if you are planning to invest in obtaining licenses for multiple states to increase your bandwidth as an independent adjuster, these are the states to look out for.