Minnesota's licensed contractors by county: 14,814 active licenses, a sixth of them in Hennepin

The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) licenses residential building contractors and the electrical and plumbing trades, and it publishes license data that anyone can look up. This site loaded DLI's data for five contractor license types to start its Minnesota directory: 14,814 active licenses with Minnesota addresses matched to a county.

By license type

• Residential building contractor: 10,457
• Class A electrical contractor: 2,193
• Plumbing contractor: 1,376
• Technology systems contractor: 643
• Restricted plumbing contractor: 145

By county

• Hennepin: 2,433 (1,866 residential building contractors)
• Anoka: 1,059
• Dakota: 970
• Ramsey: 821
• Washington: 638
• St. Louis: 520
• Wright: 501
• Stearns: 453

The five core Twin Cities counties, Hennepin, Anoka, Dakota, Ramsey and Washington, account for 5,921 of the 14,814, or 40%. Hennepin alone has about one in six. Outside the metro, St. Louis County (Duluth), Wright County and Stearns County (St. Cloud) have the most.

Who needs a license

Under Minn. Stat. § 326B.805, a person who meets the statutory definition of a residential building contractor or residential remodeler must be licensed by the commissioner. The statute lists exemptions. They include:

• owners who build or improve a home they occupy or will keep as a rental, though an owner who builds or improves more than one property within 24 months is presumed to be building for speculation unless the properties are kept as rentals;
• plumbers, electricians and others licensed statewide, when doing that licensed work;
• specialty contractors who provide only one special skill; and
• people whose gross annual receipts from work requiring a license do not exceed $15,000.

That last group must get a certificate of exemption from DLI by affidavit. Anyone who goes over $15,000 in a calendar year must immediately surrender the certificate and apply for a license.

What is not here yet

The directory does not yet include commercial general contractors, which Minnesota does not license as a class at the state level, or firms holding only MnDOT prequalification. It also leaves out individual journeyworker and master licenses, since the directory lists businesses. Any Minnesota contractor can add or claim a free listing.

Check before you hire

Homeowners can confirm a license on DLI's license and registration lookup. The data here was retrieved Oct. 30, 2026; licenses expire and renew, so DLI's lookup is the authoritative source.

Use the directory

Every licensed firm has a basic listing on its county hub, with license type and number. Claiming a listing is free and lets a firm add trades, service areas and contact details. General contractors looking for licensed electrical, plumbing or technology systems subcontractors can search the Sub Finder by county.

Public bidders can pair the directory with MnDOT's lettings on our bids page.

By MnDOT district

Grouped by MnDOT district, the 14,814 licensees break down this way:

• Metro District: 6,814
• District 3 (Baxter): 2,575
• District 6 (Rochester): 1,329
• District 1 (Duluth): 1,115
• District 4 (Detroit Lakes): 881
• District 7 (Mankato): 868
• District 8 (Willmar): 725
• District 2 (Bemidji): 507

The Metro District has 46%. District 3, based in Baxter, is second; it covers a large part of central Minnesota, including Stearns, Wright, Sherburne and Crow Wing counties.

By city

By mailing address, Minneapolis has the most licensees (622), followed by St. Paul (418), Duluth (285) and Rochester (260).

The trades by county

Hennepin County leads every license type. For Class A electrical contractors it has 234, followed by Anoka (139), St. Louis (91) and Dakota (88). For plumbing contractors it has 165, followed by Dakota (91) and Anoka (89). For technology systems contractors it has 166, followed by Dakota (57).

Get listed

Listings built from public lists show only what the source publishes: name, city, county and the license or prequalification entry. A firm that claims its free listing can add trades, service areas, a description and contact details.