Ratio check
Pharmacy technician ratio calculator: is this shift legal?
Pick your state and describe who is on the floor. You get a compliant or deficient verdict with the regulation that decides it, from the same engine that checks every RxShift schedule. Nothing to sign up for.
Licensed pharmacists counting toward supervision right now.
Nationally certified (CPhT) or state-certified technicians.
Registered or licensed technicians without certification.
Technicians in training, where the state recognises them.
Student pharmacists. Only some states count them toward the ratio.
How the check works
- 1. The rule comes from the primary source. Each state's ceiling, certification tiers, and sub-limits are read from the statute or Board regulation, cited, and re-verified weekly. Last pass: 2026-10-13.
- 2. The crew is judged, not just counted. In Alabama and Massachusetts the limit rises only when certified technicians are on duty (in Massachusetts, pharmacy interns count too). In Georgia, staffing 3 or 4 needs certified technicians. In New Jersey, going above two needs every technician on duty to hold a qualifying credential. In Colorado interns and technicians share one cap. The calculator applies each of those.
- 3. This is one moment. A schedule is hundreds. RxShift runs this same check for every hour of every published shift, flags a deficient hour while you are still building the week, and keeps the as-worked record a Board would ask for.
Covered today: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia. See every rule side by side.
Worked examples: one shift in each state
One shift in each state, run through the calculator above. Each verdict is the engine's own answer for that crew.
Deficient
One pharmacist, one certified and three non-certified technicians
With one certified technician the Alabama ceiling is 3. A fourth technician needs a second certification.
Deficient
One pharmacist, three technicians and two interns
Arkansas counts interns in the same 4 as technicians, so this crew is 5 against a limit of 4.
Compliant
Two pharmacists and six technicians
California allows 3 technicians for the first pharmacist and 3 more for each additional pharmacist, so two pharmacists cover six.
Deficient
One pharmacist, one fully certified and two other technicians
Once 3 or more technicians are on duty, Colorado requires a majority of them to be fully certified. One of three is not a majority.
Deficient
One pharmacist, one certified and three non-certified technicians
Georgia's ceiling is 4, but Board rule 480-15-.03(e) requires at least 2 certified technicians to staff 4.
No ratio applies
One pharmacist and six technicians
Illinois sets no pharmacist-to-technician ratio. It limits the shift instead: a pharmacy may not require a pharmacist, student pharmacist or technician to work more than 12 continuous hours in a day, and a pharmacist working 6 or more hours must be allowed a 30-minute meal break plus a 15-minute break.
Deficient
One pharmacist and three uncertified technicians
Louisiana counts every uncertified technician as a technician candidate, and no more than 2 candidates may work per pharmacist.
Deficient
One pharmacist, one certified and three non-certified support staff
A 4th support person needs at least two certified technicians or pharmacy interns. With one, the limit is 3.
Compliant
One pharmacist, one certified and three other technicians
Minnesota allows 3 technicians per pharmacist, and the pharmacy may add 1 more when a certified technician is on duty.
Deficient
One pharmacist, two technicians and two technicians-in-training
Nevada allows 3 technicians, or 1 technician plus 2 technicians-in-training. This crew is 4.
Deficient
One pharmacist, two technicians with a qualifying credential and one without
Above 2 per pharmacist, every technician on duty must hold a qualifying credential, and one without returns the whole crew to the base of 2. The pharmacy must also meet the rule's other written conditions.
Deficient
One pharmacist and three registered pharmacy technicians
New York allows up to 4 support people per pharmacist, but no more than 2 of them may be registered technicians performing licensed technician tasks.
Deficient
One pharmacist and three certified technicians, with no Board approval
North Carolina's limit is 2 unless the pharmacist-manager holds written Board of Pharmacy approval for a higher ratio, and every technician above the second must then be certified.
Deficient
One pharmacist and five technicians at a retail pharmacy
North Dakota allows 4 technicians per pharmacist in retail and hospital pharmacies. Closed-door pharmacies are allowed 5.
No ratio applies
One pharmacist and six technicians
Ohio sets no numeric ratio. Its binding rules are a 13-hour single-workday cap and a mandatory 8-hour rest gap between shifts.
Deficient
One pharmacist and five technicians
Oklahoma allows 4 pharmacy technicians per pharmacist in every setting.
Deficient
One pharmacist, one certified and three non-certified technicians
A South Carolina community pharmacy may have at most 4 technicians per pharmacist, and no more than 2 of them may be non-certified.
Compliant
One pharmacist, three certified and six non-certified technicians
Tennessee allows up to 6 non-certified technicians per pharmacist and does not count certified technicians against the ratio.
Deficient
One pharmacist, two technicians and four technician trainees
Texas allows 6 technicians and trainees per on-site pharmacist, but no more than 3 of the 6 may be trainees.
Deficient
One pharmacist, three technicians and two interns doing technician work
Virginia counts every person performing the duties of a pharmacy technician, up to 4 per pharmacist.
Compliant
One pharmacist, four technicians and two trainees
West Virginia pools technicians and trainees into one limit of 6.
Questions people ask
What is a pharmacist-to-technician ratio?
It is the most technicians, and in some states other support staff, that one pharmacist may supervise at one time. Each state sets its own. Of the 31 states RxShift covers, 24 set a number. Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Montana, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont set none and limit the hours of a shift instead.
Do pharmacy interns count toward the ratio?
It depends on the state. Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska and Virginia count interns in the same limit as technicians. Colorado counts them in its 6 with no more than 2 interns per pharmacist, and Massachusetts counts them toward its ceiling with no more than 2 interns in the pharmacy at a time. Connecticut and Kansas apply a separate limit on interns, inside the overall cap. In Georgia, interns and externs sit outside the 1:4 technician cap. North Carolina leaves out interns enrolled in an approved pharmacy school. Alabama, California, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia leave interns out.
Do technician trainees count?
Where a state has a trainee tier, trainees count, and several states give them their own limit. Nevada allows 1 technician plus 2 technicians-in-training, Texas allows no more than 3 trainees in its 6, Louisiana allows no more than 2 technician candidates in its 4, and West Virginia pools trainees into its 6. In Massachusetts trainees count toward the headcount but never toward the certification requirement.
Does certification raise the limit?
In some states. Alabama and Massachusetts raise the limit when certified staff are on duty, and Minnesota adds one technician for the pharmacy. Georgia, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and South Carolina require certified technicians before a pharmacist can staff more. New Jersey requires every technician on duty to hold a qualifying credential before going above 2, and North Carolina requires every technician above the second to be certified once the Board approves a higher ratio. Tennessee does not count certified technicians against its 6 at all. Connecticut allows a third technician when one is certified, but that place also depends on a written refusal RxShift cannot see, so RxShift applies 2. In Arkansas, California, Mississippi, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia, certification does not change the numbers.
What happens when a certification lapses?
Where certification unlocks a slot, a lapse takes the slot away, even though nobody left the shift. Massachusetts counts a technician whose certification has lapsed as a plain technician (247 CMR 8.04(3)(c)), so a crew of four that relied on that certification is down to a limit of 3.
Does a compliant result mean the pharmacy is compliant?
It means the crew you entered meets the state's ratio at that moment. A schedule has hundreds of moments, and some states add conditions a headcount cannot show, such as New Jersey's written policies or North Carolina's Board approval. RxShift runs this check for every hour of every published shift.
How current are the rules?
Each state's rule is read from the statute or Board regulation, cited, and re-verified weekly. The date of the last pass is shown above, and each state page lists its sources.