Where CAAs can practice

The states, as they stand

CAAs are currently authorized to practice in 23 states and D.C.: Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, along with Washington, D.C.

That roster was last checked against the AAAA on 2026-09-17. It changes — states have been added over time, and the direction is not guaranteed — so treat any list, including this one, as a starting point rather than the final word.

The AAAA keeps the authoritative version at anesthetist.org. Check there before you make a decision that depends on it.

Authorization is not one thing

The states on that list do not all grant the same thing. Some license CAAs directly. Others permit practice through delegatory authority, where an anesthesiologist's license carries the delegation.

The practical difference shows up in paperwork, in how supervision is documented, and occasionally in which employers will hire. It rarely changes the work itself, but it is worth understanding for the state you are aiming at rather than assuming the list is uniform.

Where you can train is not where you can work

Every state with a CAA program in our directory is on the authorized roster, so no program trains you somewhere you would then be unable to practice. That is the reassuring half.

The other half is that several authorized states have no program of their own — Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont and Washington, as of September 2026. If you live in one of those, you can build a career there, but you will most likely leave to train and come back.

Plan for that early. Relocating for two years is a different financial and personal proposition than commuting, and it is easier to decide before you have applied than after you have been accepted.

If your state isn't on the list

You have three honest options, and it is better to weigh them now than later: move to a state where CAAs practice, choose a different anesthesia path, or accept the risk that your state may authorize CAAs at some future date it has not committed to.

The third is a genuine gamble. State authorization moves slowly and depends on legislation, and betting a career on it is a decision to make deliberately rather than by default.

This is also the honest place to compare paths. CRNAs are not limited in this way, and if you are tied to a state where CAAs cannot practice, that difference matters more than any other comparison between the two.