How to transfer your CNA licence to Maryland (2026)

CNAs in Maryland are listed on a state registry rather than licensed: the Maryland nurse aide registry. In Maryland the registry is the Maryland Board of Nursing, Certified Nursing Assistant program. Maryland certifies by endorsement and requires its own CNA certificate before you can work. This page says what a CNA licensed or working in another state has to do to work in Maryland, in the order to do it, and what goes wrong when the order is reversed.

How the transfer works

A CNA certificate is a listing on a state registry, not a licence you carry, so moving means getting listed on the Maryland registry by reciprocity. The registry checks that your current certificate is active, that your record carries no findings, and that you are who you say you are; many states also ask for proof of paid nurse aide work in the last 24 months. There is no retest when the record is clean.

Exam: the state competency exam (NNAAP or the state's own), already passed once.

Training or experience the licence expects: 75 federal minimum training hours, more in many states.

How long: two to six weeks from application to listing, longer where the state fingerprints you itself. Fee: nothing to about $50 in most states; the current figure is on the licensing body's own site.

What to have ready before you move

• Your current certificate number and the registry it is on
• A government ID
• An employer letter or pay stubs showing paid nurse aide work in the last two years
• Fingerprints if the state asks; book the appointment the day you apply

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 Maryland already.

What people get wrong

• Moving before applying; nothing in the process needs you to be there
• Letting the old certificate lapse because you are leaving anyway; it is the thing being transferred
• Paying a third-party site to transfer a certificate; only the registry can
• Starting work before the listing exists; employers check the registry, not your card

Who hires CNAs in Maryland

CNAs in Maryland are hired by nursing homes, assisted living, hospitals, home health agencies and hospice. The metros with the most of that work are Baltimore, Columbia, Germantown and Silver Spring. Employers who could not hire locally and have filed with the Department of Labor are on the Maryland openings page.

For the money side: the median CNA in Maryland earned $40,000 a year ($19 an hour) in May 2024 across 24,230 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Maryland has a progressive state income tax with a top rate of 5.75%. What that leaves you after tax is its own page.

Everything about Maryland, on one page

The Maryland 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 Maryland employers hiring from out of state.