Moving between states / Tennessee

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Moving from Illinois to Tennessee for work

What moves with you from Illinois to Tennessee: your licence, your take-home pay, and the programs that pay people to come. Every line below is computed from the two states' rules.

What the move does to your paycheck

On a $60,000 salary Tennessee leaves you roughly $2,970 a year more than Illinois does, because Tennessee has no state income tax on wages.

SalaryIllinois state taxTennessee state taxDifference a year
$40,000$1,980$0+$1,980
$60,000$2,970$0+$2,970
$90,000$4,455$0+$4,455

Rough figures for a single filer: exact in the flat-rate and no-tax states, approximated at 70% of the top bracket in the progressive ones. Property and sales tax are not in it.

CNA: Illinois to Tennessee

Transfers by reciprocity. Your Illinois certificate stays on the Illinois Department of Public Health, Health Care Worker Registry; to work in Tennessee you apply to the Tennessee Department of Health, Nurse Aide Registry for reciprocity. It accepts an active certificate in good standing from another state; there is no retest if your record is clean. Most registries list you within two to six weeks.

RN and LPN: Illinois to Tennessee

Endorsement, six to twelve weeks. Illinois is not in the compact, so your Illinois licence is single-state. Apply to the Tennessee board for licensure by endorsement (Nursys verification, fingerprints, the board's fee); six to twelve weeks is normal, so start before you give notice. Because Tennessee is a compact state, ask for the new licence to be issued as a multistate licence: from then on it works in every compact state.

Electrician: Illinois to Tennessee

Exam likely. Tennessee licenses at state level through the Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors and reciprocates with other state boards, but Illinois licenses locally through the City and county building departments, which is not a party to those agreements. Expect to document your hours and sit the Tennessee journeyman exam.

CDL: Illinois to Tennessee

Transfers at the DMV. A commercial driver's licence transfers like any licence: within 30 days of becoming a Tennessee resident you surrender the Illinois CDL at a Tennessee driver licence office, pass the vision test, pay the fee, and your endorsements carry over. A hazmat endorsement needs a fresh TSA threat assessment in Tennessee. Your driving record follows you through the federal CDLIS system.

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

Openings filed in Tennessee

153 open positions filed with the Department of Labor by Tennessee employers who could not fill them locally.

Your own route from Illinois to Tennessee

Tell us your trade and your licence. We write the steps for your case, check the job offer for scams, and keep your resume ready for Tennessee employers.

Plan my move to Tennessee

Same move, by trade

CNA: Illinois to Tennessee · RN or LPN: Illinois to Tennessee · Electrician: Illinois to Tennessee · Truck driver: Illinois to Tennessee

From Illinois to the states next to Tennessee

Kentucky (flat 4% state income tax) · Virginia (progressive, top rate 5.75%) · North Carolina (flat 4.25% state income tax) · Georgia (flat 5.19% state income tax) · Alabama (progressive, top rate 5%) · Mississippi (flat 4.4% state income tax) · Arkansas (progressive, top rate 3.9%) · Missouri (progressive, top rate 4.7%)

To Tennessee from the states next to Illinois

Wisconsin · Iowa · Missouri · Kentucky · Indiana

Everything about working in Tennessee · All moves between states · All 50 states

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