CFP Board Announces Exam Results

CFP Board has announced the results of the November 2025 CFP Certification Exam.

The exam was administered during a November 3 to 12 testing window to 3,970 candidates. Following the largest ever July CFP Certification Exam, this is the second largest number of people to ever sit for a CFP Certification Exam in November. The pass rate for the November exam was 64%.

In 2025, a total of 11,037 people took the exam, a new high for the annual number of CFP exam candidates.

“People seek out financial planners who demonstrate real competence, expertise and a commitment to serving clients well,” said CFP Board CEO Kevin R. Keller, CAE. “These strong exam numbers show the value that CFP® certification delivers and why so many professionals are choosing this path to deepen their impact.”

According to the November 2025 post-exam survey, the main reason exam candidates seek CFP certification is to demonstrate their expertise on the job (41%), followed by distinguishing themselves as a fiduciary (32%). More than three in five (64%) of November exam-takers say they received some level of financial support from their employers on their path to CFP® certification.

Of the candidates registered for the CFP exam, 72% were under 40 years old, and 42% were under age 30. The 10 states with the most CFP exam candidates were California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, New Jersey and Massachusetts, and exam candidates from those states made up 53% (2,115 individuals) of the total November 2025 candidate cohort.

Statistics from previous exams, including those from the November 2025 exam, are available on CFP Board’s exam statistics webpage.

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