Most non-compete agreements run somewhere between six months and two years, with one year being the most common length. There is no federal cap on how long a non-compete agreement is good for, so whether yours holds up comes down to whether a court considers the timeframe reasonable under your specific circumstances, and to the law of the state where you work.
How Courts Decide Whether a Duration Is Reasonable
Courts do not measure non-competes against a fixed calendar. They ask one question: is the restriction longer than necessary to protect a legitimate interest the employer actually has? That interest has to be something concrete, like trade secrets, proprietary customer relationships, or specialized training the employer paid for. A general desire to keep a former employee off the market is not enough.
As a rough guide to how courts react:
- Under one year rarely draws a challenge on duration alone.
- Between one and two years, judges look harder at whether the employer really needs that much time.
- Beyond two years, a standard employment non-compete faces steep skepticism and often fails.
The longer the restriction runs, the more the employer has to justify it with concrete evidence of harm.
What Shifts the Timeline Up or Down
Duration does not sit in isolation. Weakness in one area often shortens how much time a court will allow.
Seniority and access to sensitive information. An executive who sat in on strategic planning and handled trade secrets can be restricted longer than a mid-level employee who did routine work. More sensitive information supports more time.
Geographic scope. A non-compete covering an entire region or the whole country needs a shorter clock to survive. A restriction limited to one metro area or a handful of named competitors can justify a longer one. Broad in both time and territory is the easiest combination to strike down.
Industry speed. In technology and other fields where information becomes stale quickly, six months to a year is often the ceiling. In industries with longer sales cycles and more durable client relationships, courts may allow up to two years.
Type of interest protected. If the employer is guarding customer goodwill, the restriction may track the time it takes a replacement employee to build relationships with those customers. If the interest is a trade secret, duration may track how long the secret retains competitive value.
State Rules That Can Override Everything Above
State law is where non-compete duration gets specific. Two employees doing the same job for the same national company can face completely different rules depending on where they work.
States That Ban Most Non-Competes Outright
California, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Oklahoma have banned most non-compete agreements. In these states, the duration question is irrelevant because the agreement itself is void. A non-compete in your employment contract is almost certainly unenforceable regardless of what it says.
Income Thresholds
A growing number of states only allow non-competes for workers earning above a set income. Thresholds adjust annually. As of 2026, Colorado’s threshold is $130,014, and Washington’s is $126,858.83 for employees and $317,147.09 for independent contractors.1Washington State Department of Labor and Industries. Washingtons Minimum Wage Going Up Other states set lower floors. The practical effect is that hourly workers and lower-salaried employees in these states cannot be bound by non-competes at all, no matter the duration.
Presumptive Duration Limits
Some states set statutory presumptions about what counts as a reasonable timeframe rather than leaving it entirely to judges. A non-compete within the presumed-reasonable window is valid unless the employee proves otherwise; one exceeding the presumed-unreasonable limit is suspect unless the employer can justify it. The specific timeframes vary and often depend on whether the restricted party is a former employee, a franchisee, or a business seller.
Garden Leave Requirements
A few states require employers to pay employees during the restricted period. Massachusetts requires garden leave of at least 50 percent of the employee’s highest annualized base salary during the non-compete period, which itself cannot exceed twelve months. When an employer has to keep writing checks throughout the restricted period, two-year non-competes get expensive to maintain, and durations tend to come down.
Certain Professions Are Carved Out
Lawyers cannot be bound by non-competes under the ethical rules governing the profession. American Bar Association Model Rule 5.6 prohibits any agreement that restricts a lawyer’s right to practice after leaving a firm, with a narrow exception for retirement benefit agreements.2American Bar Association. Rule 5.6 Restrictions on Right to Practice Healthcare workers are increasingly protected as well. Several states have enacted or proposed bans on non-competes for physicians, nurses, and other licensed healthcare professionals, and the law here is changing quickly.
When the Clock Starts and Whether It Keeps Running
The non-compete period begins when you leave the job, whether you resigned, were fired, or were laid off. The manner of departure generally does not affect when the clock starts. Some agreements include carve-outs that void the restriction if the employer terminates you without cause; without that language, the non-compete applies even if you were let go in a round of layoffs.
The clock also runs whether or not the employer actively enforces the agreement. If you have an 18-month non-compete and the employer waits 12 months to send a cease-and-desist letter, the remaining six months can still be enforced. Silence is not consent.
Selling a Business Is a Different Situation
Everything above applies to employer-employee non-competes. When a business owner sells a company and agrees not to compete with the buyer, courts allow far longer restrictions. Three to five years is standard, and some courts have upheld longer. The reasoning: a seller who just received a purchase price in exchange for the business is in a fundamentally different bargaining position than an employee handed a form on their first day. The buyer paid for the goodwill the restriction protects, and the seller negotiated the term as part of the deal.
What Happens If Your Non-Compete Runs Too Long
An unreasonable duration does not always kill the entire agreement. What happens next depends on which approach the state’s courts follow.
Blue-Pencil and Reformation States
In many states, a judge can rewrite the offending terms. If a three-year restriction is too long, the court might reduce it to one year and enforce the revised version. Strict blue-pencil states let the court cross out overreaching language but not add new terms. Reformation states let the court rewrite the clause to make it reasonable. Either way, the employer walks away with some protection even after drafting an overreaching agreement.
All-or-Nothing States
Other states refuse to fix the employer’s drafting mistakes. If any term of the non-compete is unreasonable, the entire clause is void. This is a deliberate policy choice that forces employers to draft conservatively from the start. If you signed a non-compete in an all-or-nothing state and the duration is clearly excessive, the entire restriction may be unenforceable, not just the extra time.
The FTC’s Nationwide Ban Never Took Effect
In April 2024, the Federal Trade Commission voted to ban most non-compete agreements nationwide.3Federal Trade Commission. FTC Announces Rule Banning Noncompetes The rule never went into force. A federal district court blocked it in August 2024, finding the FTC lacked the statutory authority to issue it. The FTC initially appealed, but in September 2025 it dismissed its own appeals and accepted the court’s decision to vacate the rule entirely.4Federal Trade Commission. Federal Trade Commission Files to Accede to Vacatur of Non-Compete Clause Rule The proposed ban is dead, and state law remains the only framework governing how long a non-compete can last.