42 U.S. jurisdictions have adopted the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) since 2011 — Alabama, Missouri and North Dakota first; Wisconsin most recently, in July 2026.
As of October 2026, 35 still administer NCBE's legacy UBE and seven have switched to the NextGen UBE.
Below is the full list of UBE states, the 14 jurisdictions that never adopted the exam, and the minimum legacy scores NCBE publishes.
Which states use the UBE?
The table below is the whole answer.
NCBE lists 42 jurisdictions that have adopted the UBE since 2011 — states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands among them.
As of October 2026, 35 of them still administer the legacy UBE, and seven have already switched to the NextGen UBE.
The exam itself — the MEE, two MPT tasks and the MBE that NCBE combines into one score — is covered in our Uniform Bar Exam guide.
| Jurisdiction | UBE status (October 2026) |
|---|---|
| Alabama | Legacy UBE |
| Alaska | Legacy UBE |
| Arizona | Legacy UBE |
| Arkansas | Legacy UBE |
| Colorado | Legacy UBE |
| Connecticut | NextGen UBE (since July 2026) |
| District of Columbia | Legacy UBE |
| Idaho | NextGen UBE (since July 2026) |
| Illinois | Legacy UBE |
| Indiana | Legacy UBE |
| Iowa | Legacy UBE |
| Kansas | Legacy UBE |
| Kentucky | Legacy UBE |
| Maine | Legacy UBE |
| Maryland | NextGen UBE (since July 2026) |
| Massachusetts | Legacy UBE |
| Michigan | Legacy UBE |
| Minnesota | Legacy UBE |
| Missouri | NextGen UBE (since July 2026) |
| Montana | Legacy UBE |
| Nebraska | Legacy UBE |
| New Hampshire | Legacy UBE |
| New Jersey | Legacy UBE |
| New Mexico | Legacy UBE |
| New York | Legacy UBE |
| North Carolina | Legacy UBE |
| North Dakota | Legacy UBE |
| Ohio | Legacy UBE |
| Oklahoma | Legacy UBE |
| Oregon | NextGen UBE (since July 2026) |
| Pennsylvania | Legacy UBE |
| Rhode Island | Legacy UBE |
| South Carolina | Legacy UBE |
| Tennessee | Legacy UBE |
| Texas | Legacy UBE |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | NextGen UBE (since July 2026) |
| Utah | Legacy UBE |
| Vermont | Legacy UBE |
| Washington | NextGen UBE (since July 2026) |
| West Virginia | Legacy UBE |
| Wisconsin | Legacy UBE |
| Wyoming | Legacy UBE |
Every row marked “Legacy UBE” administers the exam NCBE now calls the legacy UBE, scheduled to run through February 2028.
The “NextGen” rows left that exam in July 2026 — the sections below cover both moves.
Adoption is a snapshot — confirm before you plan around it
Which states do not use the UBE?
NCBE marks the following 14 jurisdictions as never having adopted the UBE:
- States: California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, South Dakota and Virginia
- Other jurisdictions: Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau and Puerto Rico
Michigan and Wisconsin are not on this list — both adopted the UBE, and both are covered in the timeline below.
One name to keep straight while you compare lists: the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) is a component of the UBE, not the UBE itself.
NCBE's map shows the MBE administered in 44 of 56 jurisdictions as of October 2026 — it is not given in Connecticut, Idaho, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon, Washington, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands — so a list of “MBE states” is a different list from UBE states.
How the non-UBE jurisdictions admit lawyers, and how their requirements compare with the UBE states', is the territory of our bar admission by state guide.
When did each state adopt the UBE?
NCBE's “UBE Jurisdictions and First Administration Dates” list records when each adopting jurisdiction held its first UBE.
Three entries frame the whole timeline:
- 2011 — the first adopters. Alabama, Missouri and North Dakota.
- February 2023. Michigan held its first UBE.
- July 2026 — the most recent adopter. Wisconsin held its first UBE, bringing the list to 42 jurisdictions.
For any other state's first-administration date, NCBE's list is the one to check — it records a date for each of the 42.
One quirk matters, though: the list is historical.
The seven jurisdictions that switched to the NextGen UBE in July 2026 still appear on it, even though NCBE's current UBE map marks them “No.” So the first-administration list overstates who gives the legacy exam today — the status table above is the current picture.
Which UBE states have moved to the NextGen UBE?
Seven of the 42 adopters already have.
As of October 2026, NCBE's UBE map marks Connecticut, Idaho, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon, Washington and the Virgin Islands “No” because they switched to the NextGen UBE in July 2026 — leaving 35 jurisdictions still administering the legacy exam.
The legacy exam's calendar is now fixed: NCBE says the legacy UBE will be administered through February 2028, and three test dates remain:
- February 23–24, 2027
- July 27–28, 2027
- February 22–23, 2028 — NCBE's implementation timeline schedules the final administration of the MBE, MEE and MPT for Q1 2028
After that, “UBE states” means NextGen states.
NCBE says that between July 2026 and July 2028, most jurisdictions will move from the MBE, MEE and MPT to the NextGen UBE — so which exam a target jurisdiction administers on your date decides what you study and how the score works afterward.
How does it affect where you can work?
The career payoff of the UBE map is a score that travels between adopting jurisdictions.
Legacy UBE totals are reported on a 400-point scale, and each jurisdiction sets the minimum score it accepts — from 260 to 270 across NCBE's table.
The same minimum applies whether you sat in the jurisdiction or transfer a score in, so the bands below are the practical map of where a score clears the bar:
| Minimum legacy UBE score | Jurisdictions |
|---|---|
| 260 | Alabama, Iowa†, Minnesota, Missouri*, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah |
| 264 | Indiana |
| 266 | Connecticut*, District of Columbia, Idaho*, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland*, Montana, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Washington*, Virgin Islands* |
| 268 | Michigan |
| 270 | Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon*, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming |
*Switched to the NextGen UBE in July 2026; the score shown is the legacy minimum on NCBE's table. †Iowa's 260 applies starting with the July 2026 exam; it was 266 for earlier exams.
Wisconsin, the July 2026 adopter, is not listed on that table as of October 2026.
The bands are wide enough that the same score means different geographies: 270 meets every minimum on the table, while 260 clears only the 260 band.
A traveling score is still not an admission.
UBE jurisdictions independently decide who may sit and be admitted, educational requirements, character and fitness, retake limits, ADA accommodations, local-law components, passing scores and how long incoming scores are accepted.
Transferring a score does not skip character and fitness — each receiving jurisdiction runs its own review — and some UBE jurisdictions require a separate jurisdiction-specific law component, a test, a course, or both, before admission.
Read as a job decision, the map splits your targets into three groups: the 35 jurisdictions still on the legacy UBE, where a legacy score is earned and applied; the seven NextGen switchers; and the 14 that never adopted the UBE.
When an offer could sit in more than one, the exam and the admitting authority are part of the offer — the Uniform Bar Exam guide covers the exam side, and current openings are listed under attorney jobs.
Career information, not legal advice. Exam status, minimum scores and admission rules change — confirm current requirements with the bar admission authority in the jurisdiction where you plan to practice.