License compacts: which professions and states
An interstate compact lets a license from one member state count in the others. Here are the compacts that the states we cover describe on their official pages.
On this page
Compacts with state statements on this site
- Nurse Licensure Compact: 37 states describe their membership
- Cosmetology Licensure Compact: 6 states describe their membership
How compacts differ from reciprocity
Reciprocity is a choice each board makes about which other states' licenses it accepts, and it runs one way. A compact is a law that every member state passes in the same words, so membership is mutual: a license or privilege issued under the compact is recognized by every member that has started using it. Most compacts cover health and education jobs; trades and real estate rely on reciprocity and endorsement instead, which each occupation page covers.
We add a compact here once enough of the states we cover describe it on their official pages. Compact pages list what each state says, with its own wording and date.
A state's statement can lag behind the compact itself: a board may describe a compact it has joined before it starts issuing licenses or privileges under it. Read the date next to each statement, and check both your home state's board and the board of the state where you want to work before you rely on a compact.
Which jobs have a compact
Compacts exist for nurses, physicians, psychologists, counselors, physical therapists, emergency medical services, teachers and cosmetologists, among others. Each one has its own rules on who can use it: usually you must live in a member state and hold that state's license in good standing, and some compacts were enacted by states years before they began issuing anything. Until a compact is running in both your home state and the state where you want to work, the normal routes apply, and each transfer route is explained in our guide.