The Short Answer: It Depends on Your State (and 2026 Changed Things)

Non-competes are governed by state law. There is no single federal rule that tells you whether yours holds up — and the one that almost existed is gone.

In January 2026, the FTC formally abandoned its federal non-compete ban. So if you heard last year that "non-competes are banned now," that's outdated. They're not federally banned. But in April 2026, the FTC still went after Rollins under Section 5 and freed more than 18,000 workers from their non-competes. Translation: the federal rule is dead, but the FTC is still picking off bad actors case by case.

What does this mean for you? You can't rely on "the FTC banned them." The answer to is my non-compete enforceable in my state comes down to where you actually work and what your contract says. Let's walk through the four buckets every state falls into.

States That Effectively Ban Non-Competes for Most Workers

If you work in one of these states, your non-compete is almost certainly unenforceable against you as a regular employee.

One thing most people miss: it's usually the law of the state where you work that controls, not where your employer is headquartered. If you live and work in California but your employer is in Texas, California law typically wins — even if the contract says Texas law applies. Choice-of-law clauses get overridden by courts more often than employers want to admit.

States With Income Thresholds (Non-Competes Only Enforceable Above a Salary Floor)

About a dozen states won't enforce a non-compete against you if you earn below a certain income. If you're under the number, the clause is probably void — even if you signed it.

Rough 2026 thresholds (always double-check your current state rules):

• Washington — ~$123,000/year for employees (indexed to inflation)
• Colorado — ~$126,000/year, plus a "highly compensated" test
• Illinois — $75,000/year
• Maine — effectively $75,000/year
• Maryland, Oregon, Virginia, Rhode Island — income-based limits with varying thresholds
• Massachusetts — procedural rules: written notice, garden-leave pay, no non-competes for hourly workers

Plain English: if you earn less than your state's threshold, signing the clause doesn't make it enforceable. Courts will look at your pay and throw it out.

States Where Non-Competes Are Generally Enforceable (But Must Be "Reasonable")

Most other states — Texas, Florida, New York, Georgia, Pennsylvania, most of the Southeast and Midwest — will enforce a non-compete if it passes a reasonableness test. Courts look at four things:

1. Scope of activities — what work you're blocked from

2. Geographic area — where you're blocked

3. Duration — how long you're blocked

4. Legitimate business interest — whether the employer actually has something real to protect

Here's what "reasonable" looks like in practice. A 6 to 12 month restriction is usually fine. Two years or more gets struck down often. A regional job with a nationwide restriction? Almost always narrowed. Language like "any competing business" without a specific list? Courts routinely rewrite it or throw it out.

One small thing that matters a lot: states break into "blue-pencil," "reformation," and "red-pencil" camps. Blue-pencil states let judges cross out unreasonable parts and enforce the rest. Reformation states let judges rewrite the clause to be reasonable. Red-pencil states throw the whole thing out if any part is unreasonable. If you're in a red-pencil state and any part of your non-compete is overbroad — you're probably free.

5 Questions That Decide Whether YOUR Specific Non-Compete Holds Up

Forget the general rules for a second. Your answer comes down to five concrete questions.

Answer these five and you're 80% of the way to knowing whether yours will hold up.

What to Do Right Now (Even If You Think Yours Is Enforceable)

How NovaDocs Catches This Automatically

NovaDocs reads your actual contract and scores every clause against the state whose law applies to you. Unlike template generators that only know what a "typical" non-compete looks like, NovaDocs analyzes your specific language, flags duration and scope problems, and tells you plainly whether your non-compete is likely to hold up in your state. It scans 30+ clause categories in the same pass — so you're not just checking the non-compete, you're catching auto-renewals, IP grabs, and one-sided indemnification at the same time.

The Bottom Line

Your non-compete is probably more negotiable — and more unenforceable — than your employer wants you to believe. State law does the heavy lifting, and in 2026 the patchwork is wider than ever. California, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and North Dakota effectively ban them. A dozen states void them below an income threshold. The rest enforce only what's "reasonable" — and most non-competes aren't.

You now know more than 90% of people who've ever signed one.