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How Many Licensed Assisted Living Managers Does Maryland Have? A Running Count
Maryland has 1,163 active Assisted Living Manager licenses as of October 18, 2026, against 1,617 licensed assisted living programs. Counted from the state Board's public verification portal. Updated monthly.
By Aaron Payne · October 18, 2026 · Updated October 18, 2026
Since July 1, 2026, nobody may practice as an assisted living manager in Maryland without a license from the State Board of Long-Term Care Administrators. The Board does not publish a running total, so I count it myself from its public verification portal and update this page monthly.
As of October 18, 2026: 1,163 active Assisted Living Manager licenses. Maryland had 1,617 licensed assisted living programs as of the Office of Health Care Quality’s February 2026 briefing to the House of Delegates’ health committee.
Licenses issued, by month
| Month | Licenses issued |
|---|---|
| July 2026 | 1,083 |
| August 2026 | 39 |
| September 2026 | 34 |
| October 2026 (through the 18th) | 7 |
Of the 1,083 July licenses, 1,009 carry an issue date of July 1, 2026. That is the July 1 group: people who were already working as managers, applied under the Board’s “Applicant I” category before the deadline, and were licensed on the day the requirement took effect. The other 74 July licenses, and everything since, came in one at a time.
Since that first day, the Board has been issuing about 35 to 40 licenses a month. The most recent issue date in the portal is October 5, 2026.
What the numbers say
Maryland licensed the managers it already had in one day. New ones are coming in slowly. The 1,009 licenses dated July 1 are the people who were already doing the job. Everything since is new entrants coming through the full path: the 80-hour course, fingerprints, and the Board application. At 35 to 40 a month, Maryland adds about 450 new licensed managers a year, for a state with more than 1,600 licensed programs and a population that is aging faster than most. Every manager who retires, moves up, or burns out has to be replaced from that group.
The two totals do not match, and most of the difference is probably paperwork. Every licensed assisted living program is run by an assisted living manager. With 1,617 programs and 1,163 licenses, there are a few hundred programs whose manager does not yet appear in the portal. Three things explain most of that:
- A manager who was practicing before July 1 and filed a complete application in time may keep working until the Board acts on it. Those people are legal, and invisible in the count, until their license posts.
- Some managers run more than one program, and some programs employ more than one licensed manager.
- The 1,617 figure is from February 2026. Programs open and close every month.
What is left after those explanations is the group the state has said it wants to bring into compliance rather than prosecute. The path for them is the same Applicant II path below, and it takes a few months, not a few weeks.
The first renewal wave lands on July 1, 2028. Licenses run two years from the issue date, so the 1,009 licenses from July 1 all expire on the same day. Each renewal requires the 20-hour continuing education. Expect the Board’s renewal portal, and every approved CE vendor, to be busy in the spring of 2028.
If you run a program
Look your manager up in the Board’s verification portal by last name. Licensees are required to display the license at the facility, so print the verification page once it posts. If the application is still pending, keep the confirmation email where you can put your hands on it during a survey. If nobody has applied yet, start now. The course is the long part, and the Board’s 10-business-day clock does not begin until the background check and every document are in.
If you want to become a manager
The Applicant II path, in order:
- Complete an OHCQ-approved 80-hour Assisted Living Manager course. Ours is fully online and self-paced. Check any vendor against the OHCQ approved-vendor list before paying.
- Get the state and FBI criminal history records check using the Board’s authorization number. The Board will not accept a check done for another health occupation license.
- Apply through the Board’s online portal and pay the fee. The Board quotes 10 business days of processing once the fee is paid and every document, including the background check, has arrived.
The full walkthrough is in How to become a licensed Assisted Living Manager in Maryland.
How this count is made
The Board’s verification portal numbers Assisted Living Manager licenses in sequence, ALM0001 upward. I look up every number through the highest one issued and record the status, issue date, and expiration date on each record. Three numbers in the sequence (ALM0475, ALM0476, ALM0905) return no record and are not counted. Every record that does exist shows a status of Active. The program count comes from OHCQ’s February 5, 2026 briefing to the House of Delegates’ health committee, page 12.
Reporters and researchers are welcome to the method and the monthly tallies. Email [email protected].