Moving to Tennessee as a Registered nurse: the checklist (2026)

Moving to Tennessee as a registered nurse is four jobs in a fixed order: the licence, the employer, the money, then the move itself. Do them in that order and the first paycheck arrives in the first month; do them in the order most people do, truck first, and the licence wait eats the savings. This checklist is specific to Tennessee: no state income tax on wages, a Nurse Licensure Compact state, and no statewide program that pays people to move in.

Step 1, before you give notice: your licence in Tennessee

Tennessee is a member of the Nurse Licensure Compact. If your current licence is a multistate licence from another compact state, you can work in Tennessee the day you arrive, on that licence, with nothing filed. Two things still have to happen:

• Confirm your licence is multistate, not single-state. Look it up on Nursys. A nurse living in a compact state can still hold a single-state licence if the primary residence was never updated.
• Once Tennessee is your primary residence, apply to the Tennessee Board of Nursing for a Tennessee multistate licence. Most boards allow 30 to 60 days; the old multistate licence is then converted to single-state in the state you left.
• If your current state is not in the compact (California, New York, Illinois and others), apply to the Tennessee board for licensure by endorsement before you move: Nursys verification, a fingerprint background check, the fee. Six to twelve weeks is normal. Ask for it to be issued as a multistate licence.

Step 2: line up the job before the truck

Nurses in Tennessee are hired by hospitals, outpatient clinics, home health and travel contracts. The metros with the most of that work are Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville and Chattanooga. Two kinds of employer are worth your first calls:

• Employers that have filed with the Department of Labor because they could not hire locally. Those filings are proof they are already paying to bring people in, and they are listed on the Tennessee openings page.
• Employers that pay relocation. Ask after the offer, not in the first interview: "I can start on the 15th if the move is covered; what does your relocation package include?" Get whatever is agreed into the offer letter. Most packages are taxable income, so a $3,000 package is about $2,200 in your pocket.

Put your destination and your licence on your Workmerica profile: employers in Tennessee searching for nurses who are already on their way see you before you arrive, and that is the point of being in the register.

Step 3: the money, in the order it matters

Tennessee has no state income tax on wages. That is the single largest pay difference a move can make, and it shows up in the first paycheck. A state with no income tax is not a state with no tax, though: sales and property tax carry more of the load, so a renter on wages comes out ahead and a homeowner has to do the sums.

For comparison, next door: Kentucky has a flat 4% state income tax, Virginia has a progressive state income tax with a top rate of 5.75%, North Carolina has a flat 4.25% state income tax, Georgia has a flat 5.19% state income tax, Alabama has a progressive state income tax with a top rate of 5%, Mississippi has a flat 4.4% state income tax, Arkansas has a progressive state income tax with a top rate of 3.9% and Missouri has a progressive state income tax with a top rate of 4.7%.

There is no statewide program in Tennessee that pays people to move in. Individual towns sometimes list an offer through MakeMyMove, and employers in short-staffed trades pay relocation themselves; ask for it in writing before you accept.

Step 4: the first 30 days in Tennessee

• Driver's licence and plates. Most states give you 30 days to swap a driver's licence and 30 to 60 to register the car; Tennessee's driver licence office has the exact window. Bring proof of the new address.
• Your Tennessee licence or endorsement. Do not start work before it exists. A good employer will not let you anyway.
• Tax withholding. Give your employer a Tennessee withholding form on day one (there is none to withhold, but the federal W-4 still needs the new address); the state you left will otherwise keep taking its share until you file.
• Voter registration and address changes with your bank, your licensing board and the USPS. The board matters: renewal notices go to the address on file.
• Keep the old licence alive until the new one is in hand. Letting it lapse "because I am leaving anyway" is the most common way people arrive unlicensed.

What people get wrong

• Assuming a single-state licence is a multistate one. Check Nursys before you quote a start date.
• Starting the endorsement after giving notice. Six to twelve weeks of no income is the usual price.
• Letting the primary-state rule slide. Practising on a licence from a state you no longer live in is practising on an expired privilege.
• Taking a travel contract's word for licensing. The agency wants you on the floor; the board is the one that decides.

Everything about Tennessee, on one page

The Tennessee page has the registries and boards named above, the income tax table at three salaries, the programs that pay you to come, and the openings filed in Tennessee this month. If you know which state you are leaving, the move pages compare the two directly, licence by licence. Creating a free Workmerica profile with your trade and your destination puts you in front of Tennessee employers who hire from out of state, before you have packed a box.