Nearly one in five workers in the United States are bound by a non-compete agreement preventing them from finding a new job or starting a business in their field when they leave their employer. Non-competes are currently governed at the state level and currently states are moving rapidly to restrict them. Currently, four states ban the use of noncompetes entirely and 33 states plus DC restrict their use.
Are employee non-compete agreements permitted in your state?
Full Ban
Income Restrictions
Other Restrictions
No Restrictions
Alabama
Other Restrictions
Summary: Time restrictions of up to two years are presumed reasonable. Alabama statute does exempt certain professionals from non-competes, but the definition of “professionals” has been left up to the courts.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Defined protectable business interests, explicitly allowed blue penciling by the courts, and set presumptively reasonable time limits for restrictive covenants (Effective 1/1/2016, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: “Professionals,” including physicians, physical therapists, lawyers, veterinarians, and accountants.
Alaska
No Restrictions
Summary: Alaska has no statutes governing non-competes. Whether a non-compete agreement is “reasonable” and therefore enforceable is left up to the courts.
Most Recent Update to Statute: N/A
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: None
Arizona
Other Restrictions
Summary: Arizona law bars broadcast employers from requiring their employees to sign non-competes, but the state does not have a statute governing non-compete laws generally. Whether a non-compete agreement is “reasonable” and therefore enforceable is left up to the courts.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Banned non-compete for broadcast employees (Effective 2/22/2002, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Arkansas
Other Restrictions
Summary: While most states were trending away from the broad use of non-competes over the last decade, Arkansas was expanding their enforceability. Since the passage of Act 921 in 2015, time restrictions of up to two years are presumptively reasonable, and in some cases, non-competes may be unrestricted in geographic scope. Courts may now modify overly broad non-competes instead of striking them down in full. Employers do not need to offer their existing employees additional compensation in order to enter into a new non-compete agreement.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Expanded the enforceability of non-competes by allowing for blue penciling, setting looser geographic standards for reasonability, and specifying that continued employment is sufficient consideration (Effective 7/22/2015, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: Licensed professionals including veterinarians, social workers, and some healthcare professionals.
California
Full Ban
Summary: Non-compete clauses have long been unenforceable in California, but until recently, employers could still include them in employment contracts, which could result in a chilling effect for worker mobility. In 2023, the state legislature passed two bills strengthening the ban. Employers are now prohibited from asking their employees to sign new non-competes and must inform employees who have previously signed a non-compete that the agreements are void. Employees may pursue civil action against employers who violate the ban. The new laws also render out-of-state non-competes void within California.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Strengthened existing ban on non-competes by banning the signature of void non-competes, voiding out-of-state non-competes within the state, and allowing affected workers to pursue civil action against employers (Effective 1/1/2024, retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Colorado
Income Restrictions
Summary: In 2022, Colorado narrowed the circumstances under which non-competes are allowed and added civil penalties for noncompliance. Noncompete agreements signed after August 2022 are only enforceable against highly compensated workers, as defined annually by the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics in the Department of Labor and Employment. Workers must meet the definition of highly compensated at both the time of signing and the time of execution. Agreements for highly compensated workers must protect trade secrets and be “no broader than is reasonably necessary” to protect legitimate business interests.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Banned use of non-compete agreements for anyone who is not a highly compensated employee and set rules for providing notice of a non-compete to workers (Effective 8/10/2022, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: $123,750
Industry Bans: Physicians
Connecticut
Other Restrictions
Summary: Connecticut has a handful of laws restricting non-competes within the healthcare, home care and broadcasting industries but does not have a statute governing noncompete laws generally. Whether a noncompete agreement is “reasonable” and therefore enforceable is left up to the courts.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Limited non-competes for physicians, physician assistants, and advanced practice registered nurses (Effective 7/1/2023, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: Broadcast employees; security guards; individuals offering homemaker, companion or home health care services; physician non-competes are limited to one year and 15 miles in scope.
Delaware
Other Restrictions
Summary: Delaware law voids any non-competes that prevent a physician from practicing medicine within a given time period or geographic area, but the state does not have a statute governing non-compete laws generally. Whether a non-compete agreement is “reasonable” and therefore enforceable is left up to the courts.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Voided physician non-competes (Effective 7/13/1983, retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: Physicians
Florida
Other Restrictions
Summary: Non-compete agreements should be no broader than “reasonably necessary” to protect a legitimate business interest. Time restraints of six months or less are presumed reasonable, and time restraints of greater than two years are presumed unreasonable.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Enacted noncompete ban between medical specialists and an employer who employs all such specialists within the county (Effective 7/1/2019, retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: Medical specialists, if the employer employs all specialists in the county; mediators.
Georgia
Other Restrictions
Summary: In 2010, Georgia voters approved an amendment to the constitution which allowed the state to enact the Georgia Restrictive Covenants Act expanding the enforceability of non-competes the following year. In Georgia, an employee affected by a noncompete must either regularly solicit customers or make sales, hold a management position, or otherwise act as a key employee or professional. Time restraints of up to two years are presumed to be reasonable, while time restraints greater than two years are presumed to be unreasonable.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Expanded the enforceability of non-competes by allowing the courts to engage in blue penciling and examine non-compete covenants separately from non-solicitation covenants (Effective 5/11/2011, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: None
Hawaii
Other Restrictions
Summary: Non-compete agreements must be no broader than “reasonably necessary” to protect a legitimate business interest. The noncompete may not substantially lessen competition or create a monopoly in the state.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Banned non-competes for employees of technology businesses (Effective 7/1/2015, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: Employees of technology businesses
Idaho
Other Restrictions
Summary: Non-competes may only be applied to key employees. There is a rebuttable presumption that an employee in the highest-paid five percent of the employer’s employees is a key employee. Non-compete agreements may not exceed 18 months in duration without additional consideration. The non-compete must be no broader than reasonably necessary to protect a legitimate business interest.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Repealed a 2016 provision establishing a presumption of irreparable harm if an employee breaches a non-compete agreement (Effective 7/1/2018).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: None
Illinois
Income Restrictions
Summary: On January 1, 2022, Illinois’ Freedom to Work Act went into effect, limiting the use of non-competes in the state. For agreements signed on or after that date, employees must work for an employer for at least two years after signing the non-compete or receive some other financial or professional benefits “adequate” to support a non-compete. The new law also added additional factors for determining whether an employer has a protectable business interest, created a schedule for increasing the state’s wage threshold, and added penalties for noncompliance.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Voided non-competes for licensed mental health professionals when enforcement of the noncompete would increase the cost or difficulty for a veteran or first responder seeking mental health services (Effective 1/1/2025, not retroactive) and banned non-competes for all workers in the construction industry who do not primarily perform management, engineering, architectural design, or sales functions (Effective 1/1/2025, retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: $75,000
Industry Bans: Broadcast employees; government employees; some healthcare workers; most construction workers
Indiana
Other Restrictions
Summary: Indiana has laws restricting the enforcement of non-competes against physicians but does not have a statute governing non-competes generally. Whether a non-compete agreement is “reasonable” and therefore enforceable is left up to the courts.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Banned non-competes for primary care physicians and restricted the enforceability of other physician non-competes (Effective 7/1/2023, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: Primary care physicians
Iowa
Other Restrictions
Summary: Iowa law limits the use of non-competes against mental health professionals and workers contracted with healthcare employment agencies, but the state does not have a statute governing non-competes generally. Whether a non-compete agreement is “reasonable” and therefore enforceable is left up to the courts.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Extended the ban on using non-competes against workers contracted with healthcare employment agencies to apply to healthcare technology platforms (Effective 5/9/2024, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: Some healthcare workers
Kansas
No Restrictions
Summary: Kansas has no statutes governing non-competes. Whether a non-compete agreement is “reasonable” and therefore enforceable is left up to the courts.
Most Recent Update to Statute: N/A
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: None
Kentucky
Other Restrictions
Summary: Kentucky law bars healthcare services agencies from using non-competes against their temporary direct care staff, but the state does not have a statute governing non-competes generally. Whether a non-compete agreement is “reasonable” and therefore enforceable is left up to the courts.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Amended KRS 216.718 to clarify that a 2022 ban on non-competes for healthcare service agency staff applied only to temporary staff (Effective 3/22/2023, retroactive to 2022).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: Temporary staff of a healthcare services agency
Louisiana
Other Restrictions
Summary: Non-compete agreements are limited to two years in duration and must specify by name only the areas in which the employer conducts business.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Required that non-competes restricting primary care physicians from practicing medicine expire three years from the effective date of the agreement and specified that subsequent agreements may not include a non-compete. Non-competes for all other physicians expire five years from the effective date. If the employment relationship is terminated within the effective period of the agreement, the scope of the non-compete must be limited to two years in duration and to the parish in which the practice is located, as well as up to two contiguous parishes (Effective 1/1/2025, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: Automobile salesmen
Maine
Income Restrictions
Summary: As of September 2019, employers in Maine may not enter into non-compete agreements with workers earning at or below 400 percent of the federal poverty level. Agreements must be “reasonable” and “no broader than necessary” to protect the employer’s goodwill, trade secrets, or confidential information.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Implemented a ban on veterinarian non-competes (Effective 6/1/2023, retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: $60,240
Industry Bans: Veterinarians who do not have an ownership interest in the practice; broadcast employee non-competes are presumed unreasonable.
Maryland
Income Restrictions
Summary: Maryland began using income restrictions on non-competes in 2019 when it voided non-competes for employees making $15 an hour. In 2023, Maryland updated the threshold to be equal to 150 percent of the state’s minimum wage, which is currently $15 an hour.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Banned non-competes affecting veterinarians and some healthcare professionals working in direct patient care and making under $350,000 annually. Restricted non-competes for veterinarians and healthcare professionals working in direct care making more than $350,000 to one year in duration and ten miles in scope (Effective 7/1/2025, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: $22.50 per hour or $46,800 annually
Industry Bans: None
Massachusetts
Other Restrictions
Summary: Non-compete agreements may not exceed 12 months in duration and must include a garden leave clause. Non-competes are not enforceable against employees who were laid off or terminated without cause. Agreements must be “no broader than necessary” to protect a legitimate business interest.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Overhauled non-compete laws to require garden leave, void non-competes for employees who were terminated without cause, exempt certain categories of employees, and set procedural requirements for the use of non-competes (Effective 10/1/2018, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: Broadcast employees; some healthcare workers; student interns and short-term student employees
Michigan
No Restrictions
Summary: Non-compete agreements are allowed to protect “reasonable competitive business interests,” but what makes a non-compete “reasonable” and therefore enforceable is left up to the courts. Michigan courts generally find agreements lasting under one year to be reasonable and those lasting more than three years to be unreasonable.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Explicitly allowed the use of non-competes and empowered the courts to alter non-competes to make them enforceable (Effective 3/29/1985, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: None
Minnesota
Full Ban
Summary: Minnesota became the fourth state to enact a blanket ban on non-competes in 2023. The ban is not retroactive, and non-competes are still allowed in contracts related to the sale or dissolution of a business.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Banned nearly all non-competes (Effective 7/1/2023, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: None
Mississippi
No Restrictions
Summary: Mississippi has no statutes governing non-competes. Whether a non-compete agreement is “reasonable” and therefore enforceable is left up to the courts.
Most Recent Update to Statute: N/A
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: None
Missouri
Other Restrictions
Summary: Missouri non-competes must protect either the employer’s trade secrets or customer contacts and cannot simply prevent competition from a former employee. Non-compete agreements are presumed reasonable if they last no more than one year.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Established one year presumption of reasonableness (Effective 7/1/2001, retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: Secretarial and clerical workers
Montana
Other Restrictions
Summary: Montana allows “reasonable” non-compete agreements that protect a legitimate business interest and do not fully restrain former employees from exercising their professions.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Implemented a ban on non-competes in the motor vehicle industry (Effective 5/2/2023, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: Mental health professionals; Employees of manufacturers, distributors, importers or franchisors in the motor vehicle industry
Nebraska
No Restrictions
Summary: Nebraska has no statutes governing non-competes. Whether a non-compete agreement is “reasonable” and therefore enforceable is left up to the courts. Nebraska courts rarely enforce non-competes based on geography and will only enforce agreements that prevent a former employee from soliciting customers that they personally did business with while working for their former employer.
Most Recent Update to Statute: N/A
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: None
Nevada
Other Restrictions
Summary: Non-competes may not be used against hourly employees. If an employee has been laid off, a non-compete agreement is only enforceable while the employer is paying the employee’s salary or equivalent compensation. Agreements must be no broader than necessary to protect a legitimate business interest.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Voided non-competes for hourly employees (Effective 10/1/2021, retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: None
New Hampshire
Income Restrictions
Summary: Non-competes are prohibited for employees earning 200 percent or less of the minimum wage or tipped minimum wage. Employers must provide prospective employees with notice of an intended non-compete before the employee accepts an offer of employment.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Banned employers from entering into non-compete agreements with low-wage employees (Effective 9/8/2019, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: $14.50 per hour or $30,160 annually
Industry Bans: None
New Jersey
Other Restrictions
Summary: New Jersey recently passed a law banning the inclusion of non-competes in contracts with domestic workers which will go into effect in July 2024. However, the state has no statute governing non-competes generally. Whether a non-compete agreement is “reasonable” and therefore enforceable is left up to the courts.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Barred the use of non-compete agreements for domestic workers (Effective 7/1/2024, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: Domestic workers who work at least five hours a month
New Mexico
Other Restrictions
Summary: New Mexico law voids non-competes that affect certain types of healthcare practitioners, but the state has no statute governing non-competes generally. Whether a non-compete agreement is “reasonable” and therefore enforceable is left up to the courts.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Strengthened a 2015 law restricting the use of non-competes against healthcare practitioners by adding a new section restricting choice of law provisions (Effective 7/1/2017, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: Some healthcare practitioners
h2>New York
Other Restrictions
Summary: New York law restricts the use of non-competes against broadcast employees, but the state has no statute governing non-competes generally. Whether a non-compete agreement is “reasonable” and therefore enforceable is left up to the courts.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Banned the use of non-competes against broadcast employees (Effective 9/22/2014, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: Broadcast industry, except management
North Carolina
No Restrictions
Summary: North Carolina statute dictates only that a non-compete agreement must be in writing. Whether a non-compete agreement is “reasonable” and therefore enforceable is left up to the courts.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Established that contracts limiting the right of a person to do business must be in writing (Effective 1913).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: None
North Dakota
Full Ban
Summary: Non-competes in an employment context have been banned in North Dakota since 1865. Limited non-competes related to the sale of a business or dissolution of a partnership are allowed.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Expanded the sale of a business or dissolution of a partnership exceptions to include members of an LLC or shareholders of a corporation (Effective 8/1/2019, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: None
Ohio
No Restrictions
Summary: Ohio has no statute governing non-compete agreements. Whether a non-compete agreement is “reasonable” and therefore enforceable is left up to the courts.
Most Recent Update to Statute: N/A
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: None
Oklahoma
Full Ban
Summary: Non-compete agreements have been banned in Oklahoma since 1890 when the Oklahoma Territory adopted the Dakota Territory’s law on non-competes. The statute has since been recodified but remains largely the same as the original law.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Recodified existing ban (Effective 6/4/2001).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: None
Oregon
Income Restrictions
Summary: Non-competes in Oregon are only enforceable if the employee’s annual gross compensation exceeds $100,533 in 2021 dollars, to be adjusted for inflation annually. In order to enforce a non-compete for employees below that threshold, the employer must pay garden leave. Non-compete agreements may not exceed 12 months in duration.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Limited the length of non-compete agreements to one year and set a salary threshold (Effective 1/1/2022, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: $113,241.00
Industry Bans: Home healthcare workers
Pennsylvania
Other Restrictions
Summary: Pennsylvania will restrict the use of non-competes against health care practitioners beginning in 2025, but the state has no statute governing non-compete agreements generally. Whether a non-compete agreement is “reasonable” and therefore enforceable is left up to the courts.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Limited non-competes for health care practitioners to one year in duration and voided non-competes for healthcare practitioners who are dismissed by their employers.
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: “Health care practitioners”, including doctors, osteopaths, nurse anesthetists, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants
Rhode Island
Income Restrictions
Summary: Non-competes are unenforceable against workers earning 250 percent or less of the federal poverty level based on regular hours and any nonexempt workers under FLSA. They are also unenforceable against minors and short-term student interns or employees.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Voided all non-compete agreements that restrict the right of advanced practice registered nurses to practice, except in relation to the purchase and sale of a practice. Limited the duration of a non-compete for an advanced practice registered nurse related to the sale of a practice to five years (Effective 6/17/2024, retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: $37,650.00
South Carolina
No Restrictions
Summary: South Carolina has no statute governing non-compete agreements. Whether a non-compete agreement is “reasonable” and therefore enforceable is left up to the courts.
Most Recent Update to Statute: N/A
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: None
South Dakota
Other Restrictions
Summary: Non-compete agreements in South Dakota are limited to two years in duration.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Expanded the list of healthcare workers who may not be restricted from engaging in their scope of practice (Effective 7/1/2023, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: Some healthcare workers
Tennessee
Other Restrictions
Summary: Tennessee places statutory restrictions on the scope of non-competes for healthcare providers but has no statutes regulating non-competes generally. Whether a non-compete agreement is “reasonable” and therefore enforceable is left up to the courts.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Banned the use of non-competes by temporary healthcare staffing agencies against direct care staff they are contracted with (Effective 5/11/2023, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: Direct care staff of temporary healthcare staffing agencies
Texas
Other Restrictions
Summary: Agreements must be no broader than “reasonable” to protect a legitimate business interest, though the definition of reasonable has been left to the courts. Physician non-competes are allowed only if they provide for a reasonable buyout and do not deny the physician access to patients that they have seen within the last year.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Clarified that the restrictions on physician non-competes do not apply to a physician’s business ownership interest in a licensed hospital or licensed ambulatory surgical center (Effective 9/1/2009, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: Some healthcare workers
Utah
Other Restrictions
Summary: Non-competes signed after May 2016 are limited to one year in duration.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Changed a requirement that non-competes for broadcast employees be part of an employment contract lasting no longer than four years to a requirement that they are part of a written contract “of reasonable duration” based on factors including circumstances, industry standards, and the position itself (Effective 5/14/2019, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: Some broadcast employees
Vermont
Other Restrictions
Summary: Vermont law prevents cosmetology and barbering schools from signing non-competes with their students, but the state has no statutes regulating non-competes generally. Whether a non-compete agreement is “reasonable” and therefore enforceable is left up to the courts.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Added a prohibition on the use of non-competes against students to the licensing requirements for barbering and cosmetology schools (Effective 1997, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: Barbers and cosmetologists with their schools
Virginia
Income Restrictions
Summary: Non-competes are banned for workers whose average weekly wage is below the average weekly wage for the commonwealth, excluding workers whose earnings come predominantly from commissions or bonuses. Employers who violate the ban will face civil penalties of $10,000 per violation.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Banned non-competes for low-wage employees (Effective 7/1/2020, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: $1,410 per week or $73,320 annually
Industry Bans: None
Washington
Income Restrictions
Summary: Non-competes are not enforceable for workers earning below an inflation-adjusted salary threshold. Agreements lasting longer than 18 months are presumed unreasonable. Non-competes cannot prohibit moonlighting for workers earning less than twice the state minimum wage. Non-competes for employees who are laid off are void unless they are paid their base salary less any new earnings for the period of the agreement.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Clarified that the provisions of the state’s non-compete law protecting workers must be liberally construed and that exceptions must be narrowly construed. Clarified that employers must disclose the terms of the non-compete by the time of the initial oral or written acceptance of an offer. Allowed a person aggrieved by a non-compete to file a suit even if they are not a party to the agreement (Effective 6/6/2024, not retroactive).
Wage Threshold for 2024: $120,559.99 for employees and $301,399.98 for independent contractors
Industry Bans: Some broadcast employees
West Virginia
No Restrictions
Summary: West Virginia has no statute governing non-compete agreements. Whether a non-compete agreement is “reasonable” and therefore enforceable is left up to the courts.
Most Recent Update to Statute: N/A
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: None
Wisconsin
No Restrictions
Summary: Agreements must be “reasonably necessary” to protect a legitimate business interest, but what makes a non-compete “reasonable” and therefore enforceable is left up to the courts. Unreasonable non-competes are void in full.
Most Recent Update to Statute: Voided “unreasonable” restrictive covenants in employment contracts (Effective 1957).
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: None
Wyoming
No Restrictions
Summary: Wyoming has no statute governing non-competes. Whether a non-compete agreement is “reasonable” and therefore enforceable is left up to the courts.
Most Recent Update to Statute: N/A
Wage Threshold for 2024: None
Industry Bans: None