Nurse Licensure Compact States

40 states, by NCSBN's map read 9 Nov 2026: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. A nurse whose home state is one of them and who holds its multistate license can work in every other one without another license. Enacted but not yet in force: Massachusetts. A bill to join is pending in the District of Columbia and Michigan.

Alaska, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, Nevada, New York and Oregon, and the District of Columbia and Michigan until their bill passes, and Massachusetts until the compact is in force there. To work there a nurse needs that state's own license, by endorsement when licensed elsewhere, even with a multistate license: each state's endorsement fee and steps, from its board's own page.

It is issued by the compact state the nurse legally lives in (the home state), never by another one, and it lets the nurse practise in person or by telehealth in every compact state. A nurse who moves to another compact state applies for a license there and can keep working on the old multistate license for up to 60 days; a nurse who moves to a state outside the compact applies for that state's license.

Not on one license everywhere. A multistate license from a compact home state covers the 40 compact states; every other state (Alaska, California, Hawaii, Illinois and 4 more) needs its own license, by endorsement for a nurse licensed elsewhere (each state's route and fee). A nurse who moves states for good applies in the new home state: moving to another state as a nurse.

It covers registered nurses and licensed practical or vocational nurses (LPN/LVN), staff and travel alike: a travel assignment in a compact state needs no extra license when the nurse's home state is a compact state. Advanced practice nurses (NPs, CRNAs, midwives) are not covered by it. There are 82,577 registered nurse jobs open on this board today, 64,468 of them in compact states.