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How to Get Your Pennsylvania Insurance License in 2026

A complete step-by-step guide to becoming a licensed insurance producer in Pennsylvania. Big news up front: as of April 29, 2025, Pennsylvania no longer requires pre-licensing education — the old 24-hour course mandate is gone, and you can go straight to exam prep and be licensed in about a month.

Pennsylvania insurance license — quick facts

The six steps

1. 1

   Skip pre-licensing education — Pennsylvania no longer requires it

   This is the biggest change in PA licensing in decades: effective April 29, 2025, Act 142 of 2024 repealed Pennsylvania's old 24-hour pre-examination course requirement. You can now go straight to focused exam prep. Our $49.99 Pennsylvania course — from an approved Pennsylvania education provider (#159973) — gets you exam-ready in 2-4 weeks.

2. 2

   Schedule your PSI exam

   Pennsylvania contracts with PSI for producer license exams. Create an account at test-takers.psiexams.com/pain, choose a Pennsylvania test center (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Allentown, Erie, and more) or PSI's remote-proctored option, and pay the exam fee: $55 for the combined Property & Casualty exam (Series 16-06), or $45 for a single-line Property, Casualty, Life, or Personal Lines exam.

3. 3

   Pass the exam at 70%

   The combined P&C exam has 150 scored questions and a 170-minute time limit; you need 70% to pass. Your score appears on screen immediately, and PSI reports results to the PA Insurance Department electronically. There's no limit on retakes — you can rebook as soon as two days after a failed attempt — but each retake costs the full exam fee again.

4. 4

   Apply for your license through NIPR or Sircon

   Apply online at nipr.com or sircon.com/pennsylvania — you can even use the kiosk at the PSI test site right after passing. The resident producer application fee is $55, plus an online service fee of roughly $12.50. You must submit your application within one year of passing the exam.

5. 5

   Get fingerprinted at IdentoGO — after you apply

   Pennsylvania requires a fingerprint-based FBI background check for all new resident producers (Act 147 of 2002, 40 P.S. § 310.5). Register with IdentoGO using the Insurance Department's service code 1KGBGJ and pay roughly $25-$30 at your appointment. Important sequencing quirk: don't get printed until after you've passed the exam and submitted your license application — the Department destroys fingerprint results that arrive without a matching application, and you'd have to pay and print again.

6. 6

   Get appointed by an insurance carrier

   A producer license alone doesn't authorize you to sell — you need at least one carrier appointment. The insurer reports the appointment to the PA Insurance Department; if you're joining an agency, they'll typically handle this for you. Once issued, your license is available to print from insurance.pa.gov (the Department no longer mails licenses).

What's on the Pennsylvania P&C exam

The Pennsylvania Producer's Examination for Property and Casualty Insurance (PSI Series 16-06) has 150 questions, a 170-minute time limit, and a 70% passing score. It covers the standard NAIC framework plus a heavy dose of Pennsylvania-specific statute — including the PA Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law and its full/limited tort election. Section weights from the official PSI content outline:

• Insurance regulation (40 P.S. licensing law, unfair practices) — 20%
• General insurance concepts — 8%
• Property & casualty basics — 14%
• Dwelling policy — 4%
• Homeowners policy — 7%
• Personal auto (incl. PA financial responsibility law & tort election) — 10%
• Commercial auto — 5%
• Commercial property (incl. inland marine, farm) — 7%
• Commercial general liability — 7%
• Commercial crime — 2%
• Businessowners policy — 3%
• Workers' compensation (incl. PA WC Act, SWIF) — 5%
• Other P&C coverages (surety, umbrella, flood, ocean marine) — 8%

Insurance regulation is the single heaviest section at a full 20% — 30 questions of Pennsylvania statute — so don't treat the law portion as an afterthought. PA's unique full vs. limited tort auto election shows up often too. Try our free Pennsylvania practice exam to see where you stand before booking with PSI.

Pennsylvania just scrapped its 24-hour pre-licensing rule — here's what changed

For decades, Pennsylvania required 24 credit hours of approved pre-examination coursework before you could even sit for the producer exam. Act 142 of 2024 repealed that requirement effective April 29, 2025, making Pennsylvania one of the most recent big states to join the exam-only club (alongside Virginia, Ohio, and others). If you read an older guide telling you to buy a 24-hour course first, it's out of date — you can now register directly with PSI. The trade-off: the same law tightened post-license requirements, adding a 3-hour ethics CE requirement for all resident producers and a 2-hour flood insurance CE requirement for property, casualty, and personal lines licensees each renewal cycle. The exam itself didn't get easier — it still leans hard on Pennsylvania statute — so structured exam prep matters more than ever now that no course is walking you through the material first.

CE requirements after licensing

Pennsylvania producer licenses run on a 2-year cycle, with a $55 renewal fee. Each cycle requires 24 hours of PA-approved continuing education (Act 147 of 2002, 40 P.S. § 310.8), and — effective April 29, 2025 under Act 142 of 2024 — that must include 3 hours of ethics. Property, casualty, and personal lines licensees must also complete 2 hours of flood insurance CE each cycle, whether or not they sell flood coverage. One timing note: don't start CE courses before your license is issued — Pennsylvania won't credit courses completed before your license issue date.

Cost breakdown

• Exam-prep course: $49.99 with Elite Training Academy (approved Pennsylvania education provider #159973)
• PSI exam fee: $55 per attempt for combined P&C ($45 for single-line exams)
• Resident producer application: $55, plus ~$12.50 online service fee via NIPR or Sircon
• IdentoGO fingerprinting: roughly $25-$30, paid at your appointment
• Biennial renewal: $55 + CE course costs ($30-$200 depending on provider)

All-in, plan on roughly $200-$250 to go from zero to licensed. Before April 2025, a mandatory 24-hour pre-licensing course added another $150-$400 on top — Act 142 made Pennsylvania meaningfully cheaper to enter.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

• Free Pennsylvania practice exam
• Pennsylvania insurance CE requirements (renewal, once licensed)
• How to get your New Jersey insurance license
• How to get your Ohio insurance license
• How to get your West Virginia insurance license

This guide is based on PA Insurance Department, PSI, and NIPR published procedures current as of 2026. Fees and procedures change — always verify current requirements at pa.gov/agencies/insurance before relying on any specific number.