States With No CE for RN Renewal

Thirteen states require zero continuing-education hours to renew an RN license: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. That’s according to our verified state data, last checked in 2026 against each board’s renewal rules. The catch is that “no CE hours” rarely means “nothing to do.” Several of these boards want practice hours, a competency activity, or specific coursework instead, and every one still wants the renewal fee on time.

Which states have no CE requirement for RN renewal?

State	Cycle	Renewal fee	Required instead of CE (per our data)
Arizona	4 years	$160	Nothing listed; confirm with AZBN
Colorado	2 years	$108	Nothing listed; confirm with DORA
Idaho	2 years	$70	Two learning activities per cycle (practice, education, or professional engagement)
Indiana	2 years	$50	Nothing listed; confirm with the PLA
Maine	2 years	$75	Nothing listed; confirm with the board
Mississippi	2 years	$100	Nothing listed; confirm with MSBN
Missouri	2 years	$85	Nothing listed; confirm with the board
Montana	2 years	$100	CE requirement repealed November 2023
New York	3 years	$73	Infection control coursework every 4 years; one-time child abuse identification training
South Dakota	2 years	$115	140 practice hours in the past 12 months, or 480 hours in 6 years
Tennessee	2 years	$140	Board publishes a competency requirements document; no hour count in our data
Wisconsin	2 years	$73	Nursing workforce survey at renewal
Wyoming	2 years	$90	One of: 400 practice hours, 40 CE hours, passing NCLEX, a refresher course, or a higher nursing degree in the past two years (CE is optional)

Fees and cycles come from each board’s fee schedule as of our last check. Confirm on the board’s site before you count on any of it. Each state link goes to our guide, which lists the source we used.

What do these states require instead of CE?

Idaho is the clearest example of “no hours, but not nothing.” Under IDAPA 24.34.01, an Idaho RN completes at least two learning activities per renewal, drawn from three categories: practice (a current specialty certification or 100 to 120 hours of practice or simulation), education (15 contact hours is one option, alongside a refresher course, a semester credit, or a conference), and professional engagement (teaching, publishing, or committee work). Newly licensed RNs are exempt during their first cycle.

South Dakota substitutes practice hours. Per the SDBON renewal page, you need 140 hours of nursing practice in the previous 12 months or 480 hours over the past six years. If you’ve been out of the workforce, that rule bites harder than a CE requirement would.

New York is the classic “zero CE but not zero coursework” state. NYSED doesn’t list nursing among professions with mandatory CE, and your license itself is valid for life; only the registration renews, every three years. But NYSED-approved infection control coursework is required every four years, and child abuse identification and reporting training is a one-time mandate, with an updated curriculum required by November 17, 2026 under Chapter 25 of the Laws of 2024.

Montana repealed its CE requirement in November 2023, so there’s genuinely nothing beyond the fee. Wisconsin asks you to complete a nursing workforce survey when you renew. Tennessee’s board publishes a competency requirements document, and our data records no fixed hour count; we couldn’t confirm the current options from the data alone, so read that document before your renewal window.

Wyoming is a continued-competency state. Per the Wyoming State Board of Nursing renewal page, you pick one pathway from the past two years: 400 hours of RN practice, 40 hours of continuing education, passing the NCLEX, a refresher course, or a nursing degree beyond your entry program. The board says outright that CE is optional, so most working nurses renew on practice hours alone.

For Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Maine, Mississippi, and Missouri, our data lists nothing beyond the fee. That’s not proof there’s nothing. Boards often set practice-hour look-backs for renewal or reactivation, and we can’t rule those out from the data we hold. The state guide for each lists the board’s renewal page.

Why isn’t “no CE” the same as “no requirements”?

Three things still apply. First, practice-hour rules: a state that skips CE may still want proof you’ve worked recently, and if you haven’t, a refresher course can be the only path back, as we covered in the reactivating an inactive license guide. Second, your employer and any specialty certification you hold set their own CE expectations, and ANCC, AACN, and similar bodies don’t care what your state board requires. Third, if you hold a multistate license, renewal follows your primary state of residence, but practice rules follow the state where the patient is.

The honest limitation: our data captures what the board requires to process a renewal. It doesn’t capture what your hospital’s education department or your certification body will ask for. Most working nurses do some CE every cycle no matter where they’re licensed.

Which states require the most CE?

The contrast is sharp. Per our verified state data:

State	CE hours per cycle	Cycle	Notes
Iowa	36	3 years	Highest total in our data
Alaska	30	2 years
California	30	2 years	Plus 2 hours implicit bias training
Delaware	30	2 years
Georgia	30	2 years	Or 500 practice hours instead
Hawaii	30	2 years
Kansas	30	2 years
Louisiana	30	2 years
Maryland	30	2 years	Or 1,000 working hours instead
Nevada	30	2 years	Plus 4 hours cultural competency and 2 hours HIV

Georgia and Maryland let practice hours substitute for CE, which blurs the line between the two groups. A full-time nurse in Maryland clears 1,000 hours in about six months and never touches a CE course for renewal purposes.

Is a no-CE state the easiest place to renew?

Sometimes. Indiana at $50 every two years with no CE is about as light as renewal gets, and New York at $73 every three years is close behind once the infection control course is done. But Tennessee charges $140 per cycle, South Dakota charges $115 and wants practice hours, and Arizona collects $160 up front for a four-year cycle. No CE doesn’t mean cheap.

It also doesn’t mean you should pick a state on that basis. Your license has to come from your primary state of residence if you want a multistate license, and endorsing into a new state costs more than any CE course would.

Bottom line

• 13 states list zero CE hours for RN renewal; Idaho, South Dakota, and New York substitute activities, practice hours, or coursework.
• Montana is the only one where our data confirms the requirement was formally repealed.
• For six states our data is silent on substitutes, so confirm with the board before assuming there’s nothing to do.
• Employer and certification CE still applies wherever you renew.

If you renew in a state that does require hours, the continuing education guide explains how to count them, the free CE for nurses roundup covers no-cost options, and the CE tracker keeps the certificates in one place. For the full 50-state list, see nursing CE requirements for 2026.