Nurse Aide Registry Lookup by State

Certified nursing assistants aren’t licensed in the way RNs are. In most states they’re certified and listed on a state nurse aide registry, and that registry is often run by the health department rather than the board of nursing. So the first step in a CNA lookup is finding the right agency, which is where most people get stuck.

Here’s which agency runs the registry in the ten most populous states, how to search it, what the statuses mean, and what it takes to keep a certification active.

Why is a CNA on a registry instead of a license?

Federal nursing home rules from the late 1980s required every state to keep a registry of nurse aides who completed approved training and passed a competency exam. States built those registries wherever their long-term care oversight lived, which in many states is the health department or a human services agency. Nursing boards, which license RNs and LPNs, were often left out of the picture entirely.

That history explains the patchwork. Ohio’s registry sits in the Ohio Department of Health, Texas’s is in Health and Human Services, and Florida and North Carolina put theirs under the Board of Nursing. Same job, different landlord.

The practical consequence: the state board of nursing lookup will usually not show a CNA, and Nursys covers RNs and LPN/VNs only. You need the registry.

Which agency runs the nurse aide registry in your state?

Agency names below come from our verified state data files for each CNA guide (last checked 2026). Each row links to the state’s lookup page and CNA guide.

State	Registry agency	Lookup	CNA guide
California	California Department of Public Health, Aide and Technician Certification Section	Lookup	Guide
Texas	Texas Health and Human Services, Nurse Aide Registry	Lookup	Guide
Florida	Florida Board of Nursing, CNA Registry	Lookup	Guide
New York	New York State Department of Health, Nurse Aide Registry	Lookup	Guide
Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania Department of Health, Nurse Aide Registry	Lookup	Guide
Illinois	Illinois Department of Public Health, Health Care Worker Registry	Lookup	Guide
Ohio	Ohio Department of Health, Nurse Aide Registry	Lookup	Guide
Georgia	Georgia Healthcare Facility Regulation, Nurse Aide Registry	Lookup	Guide
North Carolina	North Carolina Board of Nursing, Nurse Aide Registry	Lookup	Guide
Michigan	Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Nurse Aide Registry	Lookup	Guide

Notice the split: seven of these ten states run the registry outside the board of nursing. Illinois goes further and folds nurse aides into a broader Health Care Worker Registry that also covers other direct-care workers. For any other state, our license lookup tool points to the correct registry.

How do you look up a nurse aide?

Open the registry for the state where the aide works, then search by name or certification number. Most registries accept a partial last name, which helps when you’re not sure of the spelling. A few require the certification number or a date of birth to narrow results, and some return a downloadable verification page you can save for hiring records.

What the record typically shows:

• Full name as it appears on the certification
• Certification or registry number
• Status (active, expired, or a finding on file)
• Expiration date, where the state uses one
• Any substantiated finding of abuse, neglect, or misappropriation of resident property

Two things to keep in mind. Registries are state-specific, so an aide who moved from Texas to Ohio may be active in one and expired in the other. And names change; if a search comes back empty, try the aide’s prior name before concluding they aren’t certified. Ohio also uses its own title, STNA (State Tested Nursing Assistant), so don’t be thrown by the acronym.

What do the registry statuses mean?

Registry vocabularies are simpler than nursing board lookups, but the labels still vary. The general rule:

Status	What it usually means
Active	Certification is current; aide is eligible to work in a nursing home
Expired / Inactive	The aide didn’t meet the work-hours requirement or a renewal deadline; not eligible until reinstated or retested
Finding on file	Registry holds a substantiated finding of abuse, neglect, or misappropriation
Pending	Application, exam results, or a transfer from another state is still processing

The finding status is the one that matters most. Under the federal rules that created the registries, a substantiated abuse or neglect finding generally bars the aide from nursing home employment, and states annotate the registry so employers see it. Findings for neglect can sometimes be petitioned for removal after a period; abuse findings generally can’t. We can’t verify each state’s petition process, so an aide with a finding should ask the registry directly.

Expired is far more common and far less serious. It usually means the aide simply didn’t log qualifying paid hours within the renewal window.

How do you keep a CNA certification active?

Work. Most registries don’t ask for continuing education the way nursing boards do; they ask for proof that you’ve done paid nurse aide work within the previous 24 months. Miss that window and the certification lapses, and in most states you’ll need to retake the competency exam to get back on the registry.

Renewal rules from our verified state data (last checked 2026) for the states above:

State	Cycle	Paid work required	Renewal fee
Ohio	2 years	8 hours in 24 months	$0
Texas	2 years	8 hours in 24 months	$0
California	2 years	8 hours in 24 months	$50
Florida	2 years	8 hours in 24 months, plus in-service training	$55
Pennsylvania	2 years	8 hours in 24 months	$0
Illinois	2 years	8 hours in 24 months	$0
Georgia	2 years	8 hours in 24 months	$0
North Carolina	2 years	8 hours in 24 months	$0
Michigan	2 years	40 hours in 24 months	$40

Eight paid hours in two years is the common floor, and most working aides clear it without thinking about it. Michigan is the outlier at 40 hours. Florida layers in-service training on top of the work requirement, per the Florida Board of Nursing. New York’s registry also uses a paid-hours rule, but its figure in our data differs from the others, so confirm it with the New York State Department of Health before relying on it.

The catch is that “paid nurse aide work” has a definition, and it’s narrower than “worked in healthcare.” Hours as a unit clerk or in a home-care role outside a licensed facility may not count in some states. If you’re close to the 24-month line, call the registry and ask what documentation they accept. Renewal specifics for every state are on our CNA state guides, and the CNA FAQ covers reinstatement after a lapse.

Bottom line

• CNAs are certified and listed on a state nurse aide registry, not licensed by the board of nursing in most states. Ohio, Texas, California, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Georgia, and Michigan all run theirs through another agency.
• Search the registry by name or number; Nursys and the nursing board lookup won’t show aides.
• Active and expired are the everyday statuses. A substantiated finding is the serious one.
• Staying active usually means 8 paid hours of nurse aide work in 24 months, with Michigan at 40. Fees run $0 to $55 in the states above.

Looking someone up? Use the license lookup tool for the right registry. Getting certified for the first time? Start with how to become a CNA.