Authority Network America Listings

The Authority Network America directory maintains structured listings across licensed service sectors operating at national scale in the United States. This page describes what those listings contain, how verification status is assigned, where coverage gaps exist, and how listing categories are organized. Understanding this structure matters for service seekers, industry professionals, and researchers who need to distinguish between verified, unverified, and excluded entries before relying on directory data.

What listings include and exclude

Each listing in the Authority Network America directory represents a service provider, professional practice, or organizational entity operating within a defined service vertical. Listings capture a standardized data set: legal entity name, primary service category, operating jurisdiction, licensing or credentialing status where publicly verifiable, and a last-reviewed date. The Authority Network America Service Categories page enumerates the full taxonomy of verticals covered.

Listings are drawn from publicly available sources — state licensing databases, federal contractor registries, accreditation body rosters, and professional association membership records. The Authority Network America Data Sources page specifies each source class used in compilation.

Excluded from the directory are:

1. Sole proprietors operating without any state-issued license or registration in jurisdictions that require one for the relevant trade
2. Entities under active license suspension or revocation at the time of the last verification cycle
3. Organizations whose primary operations fall outside the 50 US states and Washington, D.C.
4. Providers whose service category does not map to a defined vertical in the current classification schema
5. Entities that have submitted a removal request and completed the process documented at Authority Network America Removal Policy

The distinction between an excluded entity and a coverage gap is deliberate. Excluded entities are known and affirmatively omitted. Coverage gaps represent service providers that exist but have not yet been captured by the current data intake pipeline.

Verification status

Listings carry one of three verification statuses, each reflecting a different depth of source cross-referencing:

Verified — The listing has been cross-referenced against at least 2 independent public sources (e.g., a state licensing database plus a federal registry or accreditation body roster), and no conflicting data was identified. Verified status does not constitute an endorsement; it indicates that the data points in the listing are consistent across sources at the time of review.

Pending — The listing was generated from a single source and is awaiting a second independent confirmation. Pending listings remain visible but carry a status indicator distinguishing them from fully verified entries.

Unverified — The entity was submitted through the Authority Network America Submit Listing intake and has not yet been matched to any independent public record. Unverified listings are retained in a provisional state for a defined review window, as described in the Authority Network America Listing Update Policy.

The difference between Pending and Unverified is operationally significant. A Pending listing has at least 1 confirmed public record match; an Unverified listing has zero confirmed matches. Researchers relying on directory data for compliance, procurement, or due diligence purposes should treat these two statuses differently.

Coverage gaps

The directory does not claim uniform density across all 50 states or all service verticals. Documented gap categories fall into three types:

Geographic gaps — Rural and frontier-designated counties across states including Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas show lower listing density relative to their licensed provider populations. This reflects reduced digitization of state licensing databases in those jurisdictions, not an absence of active providers.

Vertical gaps — Emerging regulated sectors — including newer cannabis licensing frameworks and short-term rental platform operators subject to municipal-level licensing — have inconsistent coverage because the governing regulatory bodies at the state level have not standardized public record formats.

Recency gaps — Providers who obtained licenses within the 90 days preceding the last data intake cycle may not yet appear. The Authority Network America National Coverage Map displays current intake cycle dates by state and vertical.

Identified gaps do not invalidate existing listings. They indicate where the directory should not be treated as exhaustive.

Listing categories

Authority Network America listings are organized across service verticals that correspond to licensed or formally regulated occupational and industry sectors. The primary category groups are:

1. Health and clinical services — Licensed medical, dental, behavioral health, and allied health providers subject to state medical board or equivalent licensure
2. Legal and professional services — Bar-admitted attorneys, licensed CPAs, registered investment advisers, and notarial officers
3. Trades and construction — State-licensed general contractors, electrical contractors, plumbing contractors, HVAC technicians, and specialty trades requiring journeyman or master-level licensure
4. Financial and insurance services — State-licensed insurance agents, brokers, and surplus lines licensees; federally registered entities appear where federal registration is the primary credential
5. Education and childcare — Licensed childcare facilities, private school operators, and tutoring centers subject to state education department oversight
6. Transportation and logistics — FMCSA-registered carriers, state-licensed household goods movers, and for-hire vehicle operators subject to state PUC authority
7. Home services and property management — Licensed pest control operators, property managers holding a required real estate broker license, and licensed landscape contractors in states that require licensure

Each category maps to the credential types described in Authority Network America Member Criteria, which establishes the minimum qualification threshold for a listing to be created within that vertical. Categories are not fixed permanently — the Authority Network America Industry Verticals page tracks additions and reclassifications as new regulatory frameworks are adopted at the state or federal level.