Fair Chance Finder

Each jurisdiction gets six scores from 0 to 5: limits on using old convictions (30%), whether violent felonies are covered (20%), strength of the substantive test (20%), timing of the inquiry (10%), procedural protections (10%), and limits on background-check reporting (10%). The composite is the weighted sum, rounded to two decimals. Tiers: 4.5+ Best, 3.5+ Excellent, 2.5+ Good, 1.5+ Moderate, below that Minimal.

Your answers change three of the six scores: the old-conviction age limit (whether your record is beyond it, given your offense level and the clock the law uses), the reporting cap (passed or not), and the offense-scope score where a law's age limit excludes violent felonies. Everything else is the reference score from the research workbook. One reading key, throughout: every limit described here applies to the EMPLOYER, not to you - an age limit, or a cap that is "passed," both mean MORE protection for you, not less.

Months are counted to month-end, capped at today, and years are days divided by 365.25. An age limit applies only when the elapsed years are more than the threshold. Each law starts its clock at a different point: conviction or sentencing, release from custody, or the end of probation or parole. Age limits use each law's own clock. Reporting caps use the statute's disposition/release anchor - the disposition date if you never served custody, release from custody if you did. An age limit listed as pending shows the month it activates for you.

• Federal occupational bars (banking, securities, aviation, firearms licensing, healthcare exclusion lists) apply regardless of state or local law.
• Most laws exempt jobs with children, vulnerable adults, people 65+, law enforcement, and some regulated industries.
• Reporting caps limit what screening companies may report. They do not stop an employer from finding a record through its own courthouse search or from asking you directly where that is lawful.
• Coverage depends on employer size and the work location. Confirm both.
• Some local ordinances may be preempted or narrowed by state law (for example Texas and Michigan).
• COUNTY ORDINANCES GOVERN ONLY UNINCORPORATED LAND - inside a city they do not apply. "Unincorporated Los Angeles County" covers county land but NOT the City of Los Angeles. San Francisco is a consolidated city-county, so its ordinance blankets the entire city. Confirm where the job physically sits.
• Violent-exclusion flags apply to felonies; a violent misdemeanor does not trigger them.
• Every limit in this tool applies to the EMPLOYER, not to you - a limit that is "passed" always means more protection for you.
• A later conviction can restart or defeat a time limit. The exact statute of conviction controls sealing eligibility and carve-outs.
• Several rows rest on secondary sources. Each row's confidence is shown under Sources.

The Federal Bonding Program provides free fidelity bonds for at-risk job seekers. The federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit has historically applied to qualifying hires of people with felony convictions; check whether it is currently in effect. Workforce-development programs under WIOA may fund training for justice-involved people.

This tool ranks 56 jurisdictions across 30 states and DC — 31 of them local ordinances — because those are the places where a law actually limits what an employer may do with your record. It does not rank every state, and that is deliberate.

These states have no private-employer fair chance rule: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming. In most of them the rule that exists covers public, state or city employees only — Arizona (Exec. Order 2017-07), Delaware (HB 167), Indiana (Exec. Order 17-15), Kansas (Exec. Order 18-12), Kentucky (Exec. Order), Nevada (AB 384), Ohio (ORC 9.73), Oklahoma (Exec. Order 2016-03), Tennessee (TCA 8-50-112) and Utah (HB 156). Tennessee and Mississippi go further and bar local governments from extending the rule to private employers (Tenn. SB 2103; Miss. SB 2689). If you are applying for private-sector work in those states, the protections that exist do not reach you — but there is also no state rule you are missing here.

Two states were moving when this was written. South Carolina has SB 3775 (2025-26) pending, which would bar inquiry until a conditional offer and would reach private employers; penalties would start ramping after 1 January 2027. Virginia does protect one narrow case today: Va. Code § 19.2-392.15 bars a private employer from requiring you to disclose a sealed arrest, charge or conviction, and from 1 July 2026 an application that asks about arrests must tell you that sealed records need not be disclosed.

City rules still exist in states with no statewide rule — Memphis, Louisville, New Orleans, Pittsburgh and dozens of others. Those are marked as city or contractor rules where they are listed, because they do not cover private hiring generally.

• Federal occupational bars (banking, securities, aviation, firearms licensing, healthcare exclusion lists) apply regardless of state or local law.
• Most laws exempt jobs with children, vulnerable adults, people 65+, law enforcement, and some regulated industries.
• Reporting caps limit screening vendors, not an employer's own search or your own disclosure.
• Coverage depends on employer size and work location. Confirm both.
• Some local ordinances may be preempted or narrowed by state law (for example Texas and Michigan).
• A later conviction can restart or defeat a time limit. The exact statute of conviction controls sealing eligibility and carve-outs.
• Several rows rest on secondary sources. The confidence level for each row is shown.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act is the floor everywhere. An employer needs your written authorization, must give you a copy of any consumer report and a pre-adverse-action notice before turning you down, and must give a final notice after. FCRA's seven-year cap covers non-convictions only — a conviction stays reportable indefinitely in every jurisdiction.

On 28 October 2026 the EEOC voted 2–1 to rescind its 2012 enforcement guidance on the consideration of arrest and conviction records. That changed federal guidance. It changed no state or local statute: every law in this tool still applies exactly as written.

The federal Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act applies to federal agencies and covered federal contractors, which cannot ask about criminal history before a conditional offer.