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For registered nurses moving to Colorado

How to Transfer Your Nursing License to Colorado

Is Colorado a nurse compact state? Yes. Colorado is in the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC): a nurse whose home state is a compact state and who holds its multistate license can work in Colorado without another license, and a nurse who lives in Colorado applies for the multistate license there. A nurse from a state outside the compact needs a Colorado license from the Colorado Board of Nursing, by endorsement for a nurse licensed in another state. (NCSBN, read 9 Nov 2026.)

Yes
Compact state
1,578
RN jobs in Colorado
$47.37
Median posted RN pay

What the Colorado Board of Nursing asks

Licensure by endorsement for a registered nurse licensed in another state, as the board's own page states it (read 9 Nov 2026).

Fingerprints
A fingerprint-based criminal background check is required.
License verification
Through Nursys for every current and previously held RN license, per the Division's RN application preview linked from the applications page.
Requirements
Hold or have held an active RN license in another state or jurisdiction; schedule or complete an FBI and CBI fingerprint background check before applying (results are valid for 90 days); and declare a primary state of residence under the Nurse Licensure Compact rules (Division's RN application preview).
“The following applications are available by logging on to the DPO Online Services system.”

From the Colorado Board of Nursing's own page, read 9 Nov 2026: dpo.colorado.gov (source: Colorado Board of Nursing). Fees change: the board's page on the day you apply is the one that counts.

The steps

What every move takes; the board's page above says what it asks in each.

  1. Check whether your home state and the new state are both in the Nurse Licensure Compact: if both are and you keep living in your home state, your multistate license already lets you work there.
  2. If you are moving your home to the new state and it is a compact state, apply for its multistate license; if it is outside the compact, apply to its board of nursing for a license by endorsement.
  3. Have your current license verified to the new board, through Nursys where your state takes part in it.
  4. Complete the background check the board asks for (most ask for fingerprints) and any state exam or course it names.
  5. Pay the board's fee and, where the board offers one, ask for a temporary permit so you can start work while the application is processed.

What Colorado law requires

  • Nurse staffing committee or plan (in effect from 2022)

    Colorado hospitals must have a nurse staffing committee, 60 percent clinical staff nurses, that builds an annual master staffing plan sent to the state.

    “ON OR BEFORE SEPTEMBER 1, 2022, EACH HOSPITAL SHALL ESTABLISH A NURSE STAFFING COMMITTEE PURSUANT TO RULES PROMULGATED BY THE STATE BOARD OF HEALTH, EITHER BY CREATING A NEW COMMITTEE OR ASSIGNING THE NURSE STAFFING FUNCTIONS TO AN EXISTING HOSPITAL STAFFING COMMITTEE.” C.R.S. § 25-3-128(2)(a) (source: C.R.S. § 25-3-128(2)(a))

From Colorado's own code or health department, read 9 Nov 2026. What Colorado's hospitals state for their units is on its nurse-to-patient ratio page, and every state's law is on the ratio hub.

Nurses alerts

Nurses in Colorado: new openings every week

A weekly email with the newest Nurses openings in Colorado, taken from the employers' own careers sites. Free, stop anytime.

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Nursing jobs in Colorado today

1,578 registered nurse and 162 LPN jobs are open in Colorado on this board, read every night from each employer's own job board.

Transferring a nursing license to Colorado: common questions

Is Colorado a nurse compact state?

Yes. Colorado is in the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC): a nurse whose home state is a compact state and who holds its multistate license can work in Colorado without another license, and a nurse who lives in Colorado applies for the multistate license there. A nurse from a state outside the compact needs a Colorado license from the Colorado Board of Nursing, by endorsement for a nurse licensed in another state. (NCSBN, read 9 Nov 2026.)

How do I transfer my nursing license to Colorado?

If your home state is another compact state and you keep living there, your multistate license already lets you work in Colorado. If you move to Colorado, apply to the Colorado Board of Nursing for its multistate license. If your license is from a state outside the compact, apply to the Colorado Board of Nursing for a license by endorsement: have your license verified through Nursys, complete the background check, and pay the fee.

How do I transfer an LPN or LVN license to Colorado?

The same way: the compact covers LPN/VNs too, so a multistate LPN license from a compact home state works in Colorado; otherwise apply for a license by endorsement to the Colorado Board of Nursing. Its own page states the LPN fee. LPN jobs in Colorado.

How much do registered nurses make in Colorado?

Open registered nurse jobs in Colorado that post an hourly rate pay $46.26–$52.04 an hour in the middle half, median $47.37 (965 jobs from 92 employers on this board today).

Does Colorado have a nurse-to-patient ratio law?

Not fixed ratios: Colorado hospitals must have a nurse staffing committee, 60 percent clinical staff nurses, that builds an annual master staffing plan sent to the state. (C.R.S. § 25-3-128(2)(a)) The law's own words are on this page.

Do employers in Colorado offer relocation assistance?

199 open healthcare jobs in Colorado offer relocation help in their own posting today, each quoting the offer (a set amount, reimbursement or a package); ask for the terms in writing before you accept.

Who is hiring registered nurses in Colorado?

By open jobs on this board today: AdventHealth (221), Cross Country Healthcare (125), Advantis Medical (122), CommonSpirit Health (113), Intermountain Health (103), HealthTrust Workforce Solutions (95). Every RN job in Colorado.

Sources and method

The compact status is NCSBN's map on the day read. The board's rules are its own page's words, shown only where the page states them; a sentence of it is checked against the page every week, and a change is read again. The jobs and pay are the registered nurse jobs open on this board in Colorado.

  1. NCSBN Nurse Licensure Compact map (nursecompact.com), read 9 Nov 2026, published 9 Nov 2026
  2. Colorado Board of Nursing: licensure by endorsement, read 9 Nov 2026; checked again every week for the sentence quoted, published 9 Nov 2026
  3. CareJobs.Now job board: open jobs read every night from each employer's own careers site

Cite this page

CareJobs.Now. (2026). How to Transfer Your Nursing License to Colorado. Data as of 9 Nov 2026. https://carejobs.now/transfer-nursing-license/colorado

How the board counts