How to transfer your LPN licence to Texas (2026)

LPN work in Texas is licensed at state level, by the Texas Board of Nursing. Texas is a member of the Nurse Licensure Compact, so a multistate licence from another compact state works here from the day you arrive. This page says what a LPN licensed or working in another state has to do to work in Texas, in the order to do it, and what goes wrong when the order is reversed.

How the transfer works

The Nurse Licensure Compact covers LPN and LVN licences exactly as it covers RN licences: between compact states a multistate licence works on arrival, and into or out of a non-compact state you apply to the Texas board for licensure by endorsement with Nursys verification, fingerprints and the fee.

Exam: NCLEX-PN, passed once.

How long: day one between compact states; four to twelve weeks for endorsement. Fee: $50 to $250 plus fingerprinting; the current figure is on the licensing body's own site.

What to have ready before you move

• Nursys verification
• Fingerprints for the new state
• Proof of continuing education for the last renewal

Start the paperwork before you give notice. Every week the licence is not done is a week you are not paid, and nothing in the process needs you to be in Texas already.

What people get wrong

• Confusing LVN (California and Texas) with LPN; they are the same licence under two names and transfer the same way
• Assuming the compact applies in California, New York or Illinois; it does not
• Letting the old licence lapse before the new one is issued

Who hires LPNs in Texas

LPNs in Texas are hired by nursing homes, clinics, home health, correctional health and hospitals. The metros with the most of that work are Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth and El Paso. Employers who could not hire locally and have filed with the Department of Labor are on the Texas openings page.

For the money side: the median LPN in Texas earned $60,150 a year ($29 an hour) in May 2024 across 59,060 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Texas has no state income tax on wages. What that leaves you after tax is its own page.

Everything about Texas, on one page

The Texas page has the registries and boards, the income tax table, the programs that pay you to come and the openings filed this month. If you know which state you are leaving, the move pages compare the two directly. Creating a free Workmerica profile with your trade and your destination puts you in front of Texas employers hiring from out of state.