The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards’ (NCARB) community continues to grow, with more than 108,000 professionals benefiting from the organization’s programs and resources.

Of those professionals, nearly 41,000 architects hold an NCARB Certificate—the highest number on record and a 4 percent increase from the previous year. Awarded by NCARB, the Certificate facilitates reciprocal licensure across the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

“It’s an exciting time to be part of the architecture profession, and our data suggests this community will grow in diversity in the coming years,” said NCARB CEO Michael Armstrong at 2016 Annual Business Meeting.

The number of professionals working toward licensure also reached an all-time high, with more than 41,500 candidates taking the Architect Registration Examination (ARE) and/or reporting experience hours.

This data, which will be available in July’s 2016 edition of NCARB by the Numbers, points to a growing interest in licensure and certification. Key findings from this year’s report include:

• 40,917 U.S. architects hold an NCARB Certificate for national reciprocity 
• 4,509 architects have an NCARB account to store professional experience 
• 41,524 professionals are actively working toward licensure 
• 21,201 professionals have an active NCARB account but have not taken the ARE or reported experience in the past year

The report also reveals that the pool of licensure candidates and new architects is more diverse than ever before:

• 38 percent of Intern Development Program (IDP) completions are by women 
• 37 percent of ARE completions are by women 
• 34 percent of newly licensed architects are women

Sign up to receive access to the full NCARB by the Numbers report when it’s released in July.