Licensure is the process by which an agency of state government grants permission to individuals to engage in the practice of a particular profession, vocation, or occupation and prohibits all others from claiming those credentials.

The Appraisal Qualifications Board (AQB) is an independent board of the Appraisal Foundation and is responsible for establishing the minumum education, experience and examination requirements for real property appraisers practicing in the United States. Individual states must implement appraiser certification requirements that are no less stringent than those issued by the AQB. Beginning January 1, 2008, the AQB changed the real property appraiser qualification criteria; significantly increasing the education hours and adding college degree requirements to the criteria for some license levels.

By ensuring a level of minimum competence, the licensure process protects the general public and ensures that the requirements for licensure are consistent from state to state. It is the state regulatory agency's responsibility to establish the acceptable level of safe practice and to furnish the means for determining whether an individual meets that standard.

All of the appraisers and many of the support staff in the Douglas County Assessor’s office are licensed through the State of Colorado Board of Real Estate Appraisers. The following table lists the State requirements for real estate appraisal licenses and shows the number of individuals with that level of licensure in the Douglas County Assessor's Office.