Call Recording Laws by State: One vs. Two-Party Consent

I ran a support desk that took 5,000 calls a week, and my company now processes call recordings for teams that take payments by phone. So we read the statutes ourselves, not other people's charts. Those charts disagree with each other, and many go stale.

One-party vs. two-party consent

One-party consent means one person on the call has to agree to the recording. That person can be you.

Two-party consent means everyone on the call has to agree. The name is a bit off. Most of these laws mean all parties, so a three-way call needs all three.

Federal law is one-party. 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d) lets a person on a call record it, unless the recording is meant to commit a crime or to wrong someone in a way they could sue over. States can be stricter, and many are.

One-party consent states

For phone calls, these 37 states and DC let one person on the call consent:

Alabama	Louisiana	Oregon
Alaska	Maine	Rhode Island
Arizona	Minnesota	South Carolina
Arkansas	Mississippi	South Dakota
Colorado	Missouri	Tennessee
DC	Nebraska	Texas
Georgia	New Jersey	Utah
Hawaii	New Mexico	Vermont
Idaho	New York	Virginia
Indiana	North Carolina	West Virginia
Iowa	North Dakota	Wisconsin
Kansas	Ohio	Wyoming
Kentucky	Oklahoma

Two-party consent states

For phone calls, these 10 require everyone's consent:

California	Massachusetts	Pennsylvania
Florida	Montana	Washington
Illinois	Nevada
Maryland	New Hampshire

States where it depends

In these 3, laws or court rulings pull in different directions, and each state page explains how:

Connecticut

Delaware

Michigan

In-person conversations can follow a different rule. Oregon is one-party for calls but requires notice in person, and Nevada is the reverse. Other lists count states differently, often because of these:

• Nevada. Its phone statute mentions one party's consent, but its Supreme Court has read it to require both, so we list it as two-party.
• Michigan. Its statute says "all parties", but appeals courts let a person on the call record.
• Connecticut. Its criminal law is one-party, but its civil law isn't.

Call recording laws in every state

The last column is ours: how often we found a credit card number read out loud, on calls from that state's area codes. Here's how we counted.

What happens if you break the law

It depends on the state. Under federal law, the crime carries a fine, up to five years in prison, or both.

A person can also sue under 18 U.S.C. § 2520, and a court may award at least $10,000, more if $100 a day or actual losses plus profits come to more. The deadline is two years after the person first had a reasonable chance to discover it.

State penalties run from a misdemeanor to a felony with years in prison. Some states add a right to sue. California's is the one companies watch: $5,000 per violation, with no need to prove actual damages. On paper, 1,000 unannounced calls with people in California could mean $5 million. Real settlements vary.

Some of the biggest settlements we found were about business calls with people in California. Fifth Third Bank settled for $50 million over sales calls to California small businesses, with final approval in 2022. Wells Fargo agreed to pay $8.5 million in a case brought by California's attorney general and district attorneys, and it didn't admit liability.

What about calls across state lines?

This is the part people get wrong, because the law isn't settled. California's top court applied California law to a business recording calls with people in California, even though the business was in another state. Federal courts applying Massachusetts law have looked at where the recording was made instead.

Courts disagree on which state's law applies. The safe course is to follow the stricter state's rule.

Does "this call may be recorded" still have to be said?

The old federal "beep rule" is gone. The FCC removed that rule, and it adopted the change in 2017, so pages that still cite it are out of date. State consent laws still apply, and that's one reason companies keep the notice.

Does staying on the line count as consent? Under federal law it can, based on what the person knew. Griggs-Ryan v. Smith found consent where someone was warned over and over. But courts won't assume consent lightly, as Watkins v. L.M. Berry said. California's top court didn't decide if a beep alone is enough in 2021.

Running a call center or sales team? Do this

This is our practical advice, written to give you one process for every state. Some states set their own requirements, and each state page lists what we found.

1. Outbound calls: announce and ask. Have the rep say it first and get an okay, before the conversation starts.

2. Inbound calls: greeting, then ask. A recorded greeting can say: "This call is recorded for quality and coaching. If you'd rather not be recorded, tell the agent." Then have the agent ask for an okay. Florida and Maryland want consent first, and we didn't find a case saying a greeting alone is enough there. Your agents can't sort callers by state, so ask everyone.

3. Get the order right. Start recording after the okay, then say "This call is being recorded, and you said that's okay" so it's on the recording.

   Connecticut's civil law looks for that, and California's top court said a business that adequately advises everyone at the outset doesn't violate its main recording law.

   Check whether your phone system records from the moment a call connects, and change that setting if it does. Washington's law uses the words "about to be recorded" for an announcement, so use those there.

4. Use a plain script. "We record our calls for quality and coaching. Is that okay with you?" Say "we record," not "may." It's a clearer warning, and consent "can be limited" to what the person was told.

5. If someone says no, keep talking unrecorded or offer to end the call. Don't record anyway.

6. Include transfers and callbacks. Anyone new on the line should hear it too. If a call goes to voicemail, we found no ruling on that, so turn off recording and don't leave payment details.

7. Cover your vendors and AI tools. Whether a separate company counts as someone on the call isn't settled. In Michigan, for example, the rule that lets a person on the call record may not cover an outsider.

   A federal judge dismissed part of a California suit over Google's AI on support calls in 2026 and sent the rest to arbitration. That doesn't settle it.

   Our default: if software records, transcribes or analyzes the call, say so. "We record our calls and use software to review them."

8. Tell your own team. Reps are on the call too, and at least one state, Virginia, has a rule on monitoring employee calls without notice. Put it in writing.

9. Check for state exceptions. Pennsylvania has its own rule for customer service calls, with recordings destroyed within a year. Your state's page lists what we found.

10. Keep credit card numbers out. Move payments to a secure link or keypad where you can, or take the numbers out of the recordings afterward.

Talk to a lawyer before you lock this in, especially if you use AI tools or work in a regulated industry.

How to protect yourself on the phone

Recording law doesn't stop a scammer. People reported 284,659 phone scams to the FTC in 2024, with $948 million lost and a median loss of $1,500. These are reports people filed, and the FTC doesn't verify them.

• Don't trust caller ID. Names and numbers can be faked. Hang up and call back on a number you already know.
• Watch for pressure. Threats of arrest, a prize that costs money, or a demand for gift cards, crypto or a wire transfer point to a scam.
• Agencies don't cold call for your Social Security number. If you gave yours to a scammer, go to IdentityTheft.gov.
• A familiar voice isn't proof. The FTC warned in 2023 that scammers can clone a relative's voice. Call back on a number you know.
• Be careful with "yes". In 2017, the FCC warned about callers who ask "Can you hear me?" and record your answer. If you get one, hang up and check your statements.
• A credit card gives you more protection. For unauthorized charges, federal law caps what you owe at $50. If a scammer tricks you into paying, the result can be different, so call your bank fast.
• If you paid, contact the payment company right away and ask for a reversal.

What can a crook do with a recording of your voice?

The FCC's 2017 alert describes callers using a recorded "yes" as a "voice signature", and it tells people to check their statements for unauthorized charges. The FTC describes voice clones used to ask relatives for money. A voice alone doesn't tell a scammer your account details, so don't give those out on a call you didn't start.

Report fraud at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Most state pages also list that state's consumer office.

Your credit card number on a recorded call

The state law guides we read leave this out: how often your credit card number ends up in a recording.

CallTutor's analysis of 183,619 calls from August through October 2026 found a credit card number read out loud on 18.7% of them, about 1 in 5.

How we counted:

• These are calls from 26 companies that use us because they take payments by phone, so this isn't every call in America.
• A call counts if our system flagged at least one credit card number on it.
• The state figures use the customer's area code, and they cover the 157,742 calls with a US state area code, where the rate is 21.1%. The other 25,877 calls have no such number on file, and the rate there is about 4%.
• An area code doesn't prove where someone lives.
• State differences can also reflect which companies people call, not the state itself. Connecticut's 35.3% is the highest, and that may reflect which companies people there call.

You can download the state table as a CSV.

Researchers found more than 400,000 recorded calls on an exposed server at a Florida telemarketing firm in 2017, according to Threatpost. More than 17,600 included credit card details and security codes.

Payment industry rules say a company isn't supposed to keep your security code in a recording after the payment goes through.

Before you read your credit card number out loud, ask if the call is recorded and if the number stays in the recording. If the agent doesn't know, ask to pay another way, like a secure link or a website.

If your team takes payments by phone, CallTutor takes credit card numbers out of Zendesk Talk and Aircall recordings and transcripts minutes after hangup. Agents don't have to do anything different. See it on a real call, or read our PCI rules guide for call centers.

Frequently asked questions

Is it illegal to record a conversation?

It depends on the state and whether you're part of it. Recording a call you aren't on, with no one's consent, is generally illegal under federal law and in every state's rule we read.

Which states are one-party consent?

For phone calls: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, DC, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

Which states are two-party consent?

For phone calls: California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington. Connecticut, Delaware and Michigan depend on the situation.

Do I have to tell someone I'm recording?

Federal law doesn't require it if you're on the call. Ten states generally do for phone calls, and Connecticut's civil law has its own requirement. Telling people at the start is the simple way to cover every state.

Can a company record me without telling me?

In a one-party state, a company on the call can. In a two-party state, it generally needs your consent. In some of those states, a clear warning at the start can count.

This is general information, not legal advice. Laws change. We last checked these sources on November 2, 2026. If you have a legal question about a recording, talk to a lawyer in your state.