Most registered nurses in the United States need between 20 and 30 contact hours of continuing education every two years to renew their license. The exact number depends on your state, your license type, and whether you hold an advanced practice credential. One contact hour equals 60 minutes of approved educational activity, and 10 contact hours equal one continuing education unit (CEU).
Requirements Vary Widely by State
Every state board of nursing sets its own continuing education rules, and the gap between the lowest and highest requirements is significant. Tennessee requires just 5 contact hours per renewal period for practicing nurses. On the other end, more than a dozen states require 30 contact hours every two years, including California, Alaska, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia.
Most states fall somewhere in the middle. Texas requires 20 contact hours per two-year licensing period. Florida requires 24 hours biennially, plus additional mandatory topic courses that can push the real total higher. Kentucky is notable for requiring 14 hours every single year rather than using a two-year cycle. If you’re unsure about your state, your board of nursing website will list the exact number and any topic-specific courses you need.
Mandatory Topics Beyond the Hour Count
Raw hour totals don’t tell the whole story. Many states require you to complete specific courses on designated topics, and these usually count toward your total but can’t be skipped or substituted.
Texas is a good example. Of the 20 required contact hours, nurses who work with older adults must complete at least 2 hours in geriatric care. Nurses providing direct patient care must take a human trafficking prevention course every renewal period. All Texas nurses need 2 hours in nursing jurisprudence and ethics every third renewal cycle. Nurses working in emergency rooms must complete 2 hours on forensic evidence collection as a one-time requirement.
Florida layers on even more mandatory topics. The state’s 24-hour requirement includes 2 hours on prevention of medical errors, 2 hours on Florida laws and rules, 2 hours on recognizing impairment in the workplace (every other renewal), 2 hours on human trafficking (every renewal), and 3 hours on safe prescribing of controlled substances. Domestic violence training, at 2 hours, is required every third renewal and is added on top of the base 24 hours. An HIV/AIDS course is a one-time, 1-hour requirement before your first renewal.
New York takes a different approach. Rather than requiring a set number of general CE hours for RNs, the state mandates specific one-time trainings. All registered nurses must complete a 2-hour course on identifying and reporting child abuse before initial licensure. New York also requires infection control training. The state recently updated its mandated reporter curriculum to cover implicit bias, adverse childhood experiences, and recognizing abuse in virtual settings, with all nurses required to complete the updated version by late 2026.
Advanced Practice Nurses Often Need More
If you hold an advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) credential, such as nurse practitioner, certified nurse midwife, or certified registered nurse anesthetist, expect additional requirements. Many states mandate pharmacology-specific hours for APRNs because of their prescribing authority. Washington, D.C., for instance, requires 24 total hours for both RNs and APRNs, but APRNs must dedicate 15 of those hours to pharmacology.
Florida requires autonomous APRNs to complete 10 additional hours of graduate-level coursework, either at the nurse practitioner level or in continuing medical education. These are on top of the standard 24-hour RN requirement. If you’re maintaining a national certification through a body like the ANCC, that certification will have its own renewal requirements as well, which may overlap with but aren’t identical to your state’s.
New Graduates Get a Grace Period
If you’ve just earned your license, you typically won’t need to complete continuing education before your first renewal. California exempts newly licensed nurses from CE requirements during the first two years after initial licensure, with the exception of an implicit bias course. Texas allows a variable window of 6 to 29 months for initial licensees before standard requirements kick in. Florida prorates the requirement: if your first license wasn’t issued for a full two-year period, you complete 1 hour for each month you held the license.
What Counts as Approved Education
Not every workshop or online course will satisfy your board. The most widely recognized accreditation comes from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). When evaluating a course, look for an ANCC accreditation statement on the materials, which will read something like: “This organization is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.”
State boards also accept courses from state-level approved providers and, in some cases, from other national nursing organizations. Academic coursework can count too. In California, one quarter unit equals 10 contact hours and one semester unit equals 15 contact hours, which means a single college course can satisfy a large chunk of your requirement. Always verify with your state board before assuming a course qualifies.
Keeping Records and Preparing for Audits
Most states don’t ask you to submit CE certificates when you renew. Instead, you attest that you’ve completed the requirements, and the board audits a percentage of renewals to verify compliance. California requires nurses to retain all CE records for at least four years in case of an audit. Even if your state has a shorter retention rule, keeping certificates for four years is a safe practice.
Store digital copies of every completion certificate, including the provider name, course title, number of contact hours, and date completed. If you’re audited and can’t produce documentation, your license renewal can be delayed or denied. Some states use electronic tracking systems where approved providers report your completions automatically, but you should still keep your own backup records.
Quick Reference: Popular States
- California: 30 contact hours every 2 years
- Texas: 20 contact hours every 2 years, with mandatory topics in geriatric care, human trafficking, and ethics
- Florida: 24 contact hours every 2 years, plus mandatory courses in medical errors, human trafficking, controlled substances, and more
- New York: Mandated trainings in child abuse identification and infection control; no large general CE hour requirement for RNs
- Kentucky: 14 contact hours every year
- Tennessee: 5 contact hours every 2 years (lowest in the country)
- Pennsylvania: 30 contact hours every 2 years
Your state board of nursing website is the definitive source for your specific requirements, including any recent changes to mandatory topics or hour totals. Requirements can shift when new legislation passes, so it’s worth checking at the start of each renewal cycle rather than assuming the rules haven’t changed.