Phlebotomist in Tennessee: licence, certification and what employers require (2026)

Tennessee does not license phlebotomists; no state licence in most states; employers ask for a national certificate (ASCP, NHA, AMT). This page says what a phlebotomist licensed or working in another state has to do to work in Tennessee, in the order to do it, and what goes wrong when the order is reversed.

How the transfer works

Most states do not license phlebotomists, so a national certificate carries over to Tennessee unchanged. Four states do license: California, Louisiana, Nevada and Washington. Moving into one of those means an application to the state health department with proof of training, the national certificate and, in California, documented draws.

What to have ready before you move

• Your national certificate
• Training hours and documented venipunctures
• CPR card

Start the paperwork before you give notice. There is no Tennessee licence to wait for, so the only clock is the employer's.

What people get wrong

• Arriving in a licensing state without the documented draws
• Assuming a hospital will hire on the certificate alone; most want the state licence first in those four states

Who hires phlebotomists in Tennessee

Phlebotomists in Tennessee are hired by hospital labs, outpatient draw stations, plasma centres and mobile phlebotomy services. The metros with the most of that work are Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville and Chattanooga. Employers who could not hire locally and have filed with the Department of Labor are on the Tennessee openings page.

For the money side: the median phlebotomist in Tennessee earned $38,440 a year ($18 an hour) in May 2024 across 3,000 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Tennessee has no state income tax on wages. What that leaves you after tax is its own page.

Everything about Tennessee, on one page

The Tennessee 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 Tennessee employers hiring from out of state.