Moving to another state as a physical, occupational or speech therapist: the compacts, fees, pay and relocation help

Moving to another state as a physical, occupational or speech therapist in 2026: whether your license travels (the PT, OT and speech-language compacts or the new state's own license), what the move costs in fees and exams, pay where you are going, per-visit pay in home health, and which employers help with the move.

A move is two jobs at once: being allowed to work where you are going, and finding the job that makes the move worth it. Both can be checked before you pack. This guide takes them in the order they come up, and every figure in it opens the live list or page it comes from on CareJobs.Now, where 64,073 physical, occupational, speech and respiratory therapy jobs are open today, each read from the employer's own job board.

Contents

1. Your license: a compact privilege or the state's own license
2. What a privilege costs, and the jurisprudence exam
3. Pay where you are going
4. Home health: pay per visit
5. Employers that help with the move
6. Choosing the setting
7. Student loans
8. A checklist for the move

1. Your license: a compact privilege or the state's own license

There is no transfer of a therapy license as such. Either a compact lets you work in the new state on your home state's license, or you apply to the new state's licensing board for a license of its own.

Each profession has its own compact, and each is at a different stage:

• Physical therapists and PT assistants. The Physical Therapy Compact is in effect in 38 states: a PT or PTA whose home state is a member buys a compact privilege for each other member state, instead of a second license ( every state's PT Compact status and fee).
• Occupational therapists and OT assistants. The Occupational Therapy Licensure Compact has 11 member states issuing privileges to practice, and many more that have passed the law but are not issuing yet ( every state's OT Compact status).
• Speech-language pathologists and audiologists. The Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Interstate Compact (ASLP-IC) has 5 states issuing privileges, the first since October 2025, with most enacting states still preparing ( every state's status and when it began issuing).

The compact follows where you live. Your home state is where you live and hold your license, so a permanent move changes it: once you live in the new state, you license there and use the compact from there.

If either state is outside the compact, or has enacted it but is not issuing yet, you apply to the new state's board for its own license before you start. Each board sets its own application, fee and background check; start as soon as you accept an offer, because verifications of your current license take time.

2. What a privilege costs, and the jurisprudence exam

A PT Compact privilege costs the member state's own fee plus the commission's $45, and most member states also require their jurisprudence exam, some before you apply and some within 30 days after. The PT Compact states page lists each state's fee for a PT and a PTA and its exam rule, from the commission's own table. The OT Compact charges $75 per privilege plus each state's fee, and a state may require its own jurisprudence exam. The OT and speech-language compacts also require an FBI criminal background check through your home state before it can issue a privilege.

3. Pay where you are going

What a therapist is paid differs between states and settings. Our pay pages rank the states by the median hourly rate their open jobs post, for physical therapists, occupational therapists and speech-language pathologists, each with a page per state that names the employers posting the highest rates there.

For the national picture, BLS measured a median of $49.40 an hour for physical therapists in May 2025, and $114,740 a year for those in home health care services. Our therapy job statistics show what today's postings state for each discipline, and how many state a sign-on bonus.

4. Home health: pay per visit

Home health pays therapists by the visit, so compare offers that way. Our therapy job statistics give the median rate per visit that home health postings state today for PTs, PTAs, OTs, COTAs and SLPs, and home health therapy jobs lists the open jobs. Ask what an evaluation, a routine visit and a discharge each pay, how mileage is paid, and whether a "per visit point" system weights visits differently.

5. Employers that help with the move

Some employers pay toward the move itself: a set amount, reimbursement of moving costs or a package. Therapy jobs with relocation assistance lists every open therapy job whose own posting offers it, quoting the offer. Ask for the terms in writing before you accept, including any period you agree to stay and what happens if you leave early.

6. Choosing the setting

A move is also a chance to change setting, and the setting decides much of the day: a hospital's acute care and inpatient rehab, an outpatient or physical therapy clinic, a skilled nursing facility, home health, or a school. Our lists show where today's therapy jobs are: rehab and physical therapy clinic jobs, home health and hospice, PRN jobs for extra shifts while you settle, and new grad therapy jobs for a first job after your degree. The therapy job statistics count how many of today's postings fall in each.

Ask about productivity before you accept. Many postings mention a productivity standard without stating it; ask for the number, how it is measured (minutes billed, visits or units a day), whether documentation time counts, and what happens when a patient cancels. A posting that states a low caseload or no productivity quota is saying something worth comparing.

7. Student loans

A therapist who works full time for a government or 501(c)(3) non-profit employer can count those years toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Our PSLF-eligible hospital jobs list the non-profit and government hospitals hiring, by state, with the regulation's own words on what counts.

8. A checklist for the move

1. Check your profession's compact page: is the new state issuing privileges, and is your home state a member?
2. If it is, find the state's privilege fee and jurisprudence rule and pass the exam where it is required first.
3. If it is not, apply to the new state's board for its own license as soon as you accept an offer.
4. Compare posted pay in the new state, and for home health, the rate per visit and how mileage is paid.
5. Ask whether the employer offers relocation help, and get the terms in writing.
6. Ask for the productivity standard as a number, and how it is measured.
7. Check whether the employer is a non-profit or government one, if PSLF matters to you.