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State of Collision Repair 2026-Q3

Generated 2026-07-26 · every figure computed from public records at generation time · methodology

163,449registry records nationwide (raw union, all sources)
92,049matched to a state license or registration (56.3%)
16,174lapsed shop credentials in licensing states (each state's own status words)
4,521MSO / chain-affiliated locations (2.8%)
149,960body repairers employed nationally (BLS OEWS May 2025)

The licensing patchwork

Most US states do not license auto body shops at all. The registry currently holds body-shop licensing or registration rosters for 9 states: CA, CT, FL, MA, NJ, NV, NY, OH, RI. Everywhere else a shop cannot have a state license record — a pin without one usually means “state with no licensing regime,” not “unlicensed shop.” In those states, corroboration comes from other public records: corporate registrations, EPA/OSHA filings, and OEM certification programs.

StateRoster recordsStatus breakdown (register's own words)
CA43,451current: 35,251 · delinquent: 8,200
CT1,081Licensed: 1,081
FL22,884Licensed: 22,884
MA1,476Registered: 1,476
derived from AIB list, not a state register (D-038 resale HOLD)
NJ1,173Licensed: 1,173
NV344Licensed: 344
NY21,057Licensed: 15,404 · Expired: 5,653
OH2,374Licensed: 1,263 · Inactive: 846 · Closed: 201 · In Review: 60 · Submitted: 4
RI230Licensed: 230

Lapsed credentials: not just a Florida story

Across the licensing states, 16,174 shop credentials are currently lapsed in some form. Each state's register uses its own status word — California's “delinquent” is not New York's “Expired” is not Ohio's “Inactive” — so we report them separately rather than pretending they are one thing. A consumer checking star ratings will see none of this; the state register shows all of it.

StateRegister status (verbatim)ShopsSource
CAdelinquent8,200state register roster
NYExpired5,653state register roster
OHClosed201state register roster
OHInactive846state register roster
FLExpired (separate expired-register file)1,274FDACS expired file

Florida close-up: expired registrations by county

Florida's FDACS register lists 1,274 body-shop registrations with status Expired right now. Top counties:

CountyExpired registrations
Miami-Dade206
Broward125
Hillsborough111
Orange86
Palm Beach76
Duval65
Polk54
Lee47
Pinellas41
Brevard37

Full dataset published open-access: DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21501840 (CC BY 4.0).

All states

License-matched share is a fact about each state's regulatory regime as much as about the shops. OEM-certified counts reflect manufacturer programs matched so far and understate the true footprint.

StateRegistry recordsLicense-matched%OEM-certifiedMSO/chain%
CA46,17042,62492.3%1,0595041.1%
FL24,68422,17889.8%5132881.2%
NY22,28320,66992.8%141230.6%
TX8,35140%04405.3%
OH4,1652,29355.1%01413.4%
PA3,96910%01513.8%
IL3,79640.1%02727.2%
GA2,80800%61956.9%
MI2,76610%01324.8%
NJ2,5771,11043.1%0441.7%
NC2,46300%01978%
MA2,4471,39557%570.3%
MO2,04600%01035%
VA1,92700%11367.1%
MD1,82300%01065.8%
MN1,81600%0814.5%
LA1,74330.2%0452.6%
WA1,69800%017810.5%
CT1,6861,08264.2%76140.8%
TN1,67210.1%01257.5%
CO1,65120.1%01639.9%
IN1,65120.1%01026.2%
WI1,57100%01247.9%
AZ1,34700%11997.3%
AL1,29510.1%2947.3%
IA1,25800%0221.7%
SC1,24400%01078.6%
KY1,22220.2%0423.4%
OK1,07810.1%0645.9%
OR1,03400%2716.9%
KS84900%0424.9%
AR84720.2%0495.8%
NV82944553.7%68465.5%
NH65500%040.6%
UT63000%0386%
MS62400%0335.3%
NE56600%0234.1%
WV52100%071.3%
ID46010.2%0327%
RI43822852.1%000%
NM41200%0174.1%
MT38000%0225.8%
ME37300%000%
SD29300%020.7%
ND26600%000%
DE21700%0167.4%
VT20400%000%
WY16200%074.3%
AK13200%0107.6%
HI9000%000%
DC5300%035.7%

What the work pays

A registry of shops says nothing about the people inside them, so this edition adds the labour side from a second public source: the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS estimates for SOC 49-3021, Automotive Body and Related Repairers (May 2025). Across 52 jurisdictions BLS estimates 149,960 body repairers employed, and the median of the jurisdiction medians is $52,030 a year.

These are BLS estimates of workers; every other figure in this report counts records. We publish them side by side and never divide one by the other — a “technicians per shop” number built that way would be an invention, not a measurement.

Highest median annual wage

AreaMedianMeanEmployment
Rhode Island$72,490$66,140800
California$66,860$69,28014,050
District of Columbia$62,640$67,99030
New Jersey$62,400$65,9803,720
Alaska$61,680$64,240270
Minnesota$60,970$65,5302,910
Hawaii$60,540$61,460450
Missouri$60,540$61,5504,350
Nevada$60,520$72,5301,020
Oregon$60,000$64,3501,660

Lowest median annual wage

AreaMedianMeanEmployment
Puerto Rico$30,260$37,280650
Kentucky$46,080$50,8901,680
West Virginia$47,090$50,600670
Louisiana$47,150$54,2101,660
Tennessee$47,460$51,2003,970
New York$47,670$55,5008,530
New Mexico$48,260$53,940810
Florida$48,600$56,4109,220
Delaware$48,780$54,340340
Oklahoma$48,810$51,4302,330

The 9 licensing states

The states that license or register body shops, ranked by what the work pays there.

StateMedianMeanEmployment
Rhode Island$72,490$66,140800
California$66,860$69,28014,050
New Jersey$62,400$65,9803,720
Nevada$60,520$72,5301,020
Massachusetts$59,300$59,2903,060
Connecticut$58,220$59,7501,850
Ohio$49,080$56,6405,950
Florida$48,600$56,4109,220
New York$47,670$55,5008,530

Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 · US federal public domain (BLS) · retrieved 2026-07-23.

Methodology & reconciliation

All figures computed at generation time from the live registry union (mergeShops over licensed+national+curated, state via ZIP3) plus data/licensed/*.json rosters, data/expired/fl.json, and BLS OEWS wage estimates in data/econ/. No hand-entered numbers.

Reconciliation against the live consumer map at generation time: raw union 163,449 records; the map's canonical cross-tier dedupe serves 155,625; delta 7,824 = duplicate records merged on the map. Live site totals at generation: 155,625 business records, 93,597 license-matched, 64,846 collision-classified (strict segment).

Cite this report

The Autobody Directory (Quorum Industries LLC), “State of Collision Repair 2026-Q3,” 2026-07-26. https://theautobodydirectory.com/reports/state-of-collision-repair-2026-q3.html — data compiled entirely from public records; free to cite with attribution. Press & data cuts: contact@theautobodydirectory.com

© Quorum Industries LLC · theautobodydirectory.com · registry statistics & methodology