New Jersey, New York and Connecticut are the three states with the highest number of wedding photographers licenses.
New Jersey and Connecticut also have the highest numbers of licensed wedding photographers, according to a new report from The Associated Press.
The AP found that more than 7,600 wedding photographers licensees in New York, New Jersey (7,854) and Connecticut (7.1, according for those licenses) had been issued in the last five years.
The highest number was found in New Hampshire, which had 1,081 licensees, followed by Florida (1,023), Virginia (839), New Jersey at 623 and Massachusetts at 595.
New York was the only state with fewer than 50 licensees.
The number of licenses in New England fell by more than half to 1,837, while the number of licensed photographers in Alaska dropped by nearly 70%.
The number also dropped in Washington State, where only 3,823 licensees had been granted licenses, according the AP.
The AP also found that licensees were issuing fewer wedding photography certificates in New Mexico, California and Colorado.
The AP found fewer than 2,500 wedding photographers certificates issued in California, 2,200 in New South Wales, 463 in Massachusetts and more than 2.1 million in Maine.
The number of licensees issuing wedding certificates fell in Connecticut, where fewer than 200 issued certificates, but the number in Maine dropped by 50%.
The AP says the number fell by almost 80% in California and by about 80% nationally.
The New York City Department of Financial Services issued the most licenses.
The city has more than 8,000 licensees with licenses to issue certificates, the AP reported.
The licenses also varied in other states.
California’s number fell to 4,700 from 6,200, while Nevada’s fell to 5,600 from 6 and Connecticut’s fell by nearly 90%.
The lowest number of permits issued was in Oklahoma, where just 645 issued certificates.
In New Jersey the highest percentage of license holders were in the state’s two largest counties, New Brunswick and Middlesex, the report found.
The report said the counties with the most licensees are the towns of New Brunswick, Burlington and Trenton, with about 8,500 licenses issued each.
The Associated Press has a more detailed story on licensees on the AP website.