What are the required merit badges?

As of July 2022, a Scout must earn at least 14 of the following 18 “required” merit badges in order to become an Eagle Scout:

1. First Aid
2. Citizenship in the Community
3. Citizenship in the Nation
4. Citizenship in the World
5. Citizenship in Society (new in July 2022)
6. Communication
7. Cooking
8. Personal Fitness
9. Emergency Preparedness OR Lifesaving
10. Environmental Science OR Sustainability
11. Personal Management
12. Swimming OR Hiking OR Cycling
13. Camping
14. Family Life

In situations where there are multiple “required” merit badge options (i.e., 9, 10, 12 above), only one of the merit badges counts towards the 14 required merit badges.  Any of the other merit badges would then count towards the nine additional merit badges needed to become an Eagle Scout.  For example, if a Scout earns the Swimming, Hiking, and Cycling merit badges, one of those merit badges would count toward the 14 required merit badges and the other 2 would count towards the 9 other merit badges.