Registered Nurse (RN) License Renewal in Kansas
Kansas RNs renew every 2 years with 30 contact hours of continuing nursing education. Renewal is $85, and Kansas is a Nurse Licensure Compact state.
| Renewal cycle | Every 2 years |
|---|---|
| CE hours required | 30 hours 30 contact hours of approved continuing nursing education (CNE) each 2-year licensing period. New nurses are exempt for a first license that expires within 30 months of the initial licensure exam. |
| Renewal fee | $85.00 |
| Mandatory CE topics | None prescribed |
| Licensing board | Kansas State Board of Nursing (KSBN) |
Sourced from Kansas State Board of Nursing (KSBN), verified July 25, 2026. Requirements change. Confirm with your board before relying on this.
Kansas keeps continuing education straightforward: 30 contact hours every two years, no mandatory-topic maze, no option matrix. The only real quirk is the calendar, your renewal year is decided by the year you were born, not by when you were licensed.
Thirty hours of continuing nursing education
An active Kansas RN completes 30 contact hours of approved continuing nursing education, which the Board abbreviates CNE, during each two-year licensing period. Kansas defines CNE in statute (K.S.A. 65-1117) as learning that builds on your nursing education to improve practice, and it must come from an approved provider. There’s no list of required subjects, the 30 hours are yours to fill with what’s relevant to your practice.
New nurses get a break: you’re not required to complete the 30 hours if your first license expires within 30 months of your initial licensure exam. After that first period, the full 30 apply every cycle. You attest to the hours at renewal and keep your certificates, if the Board audits you, you’ll have 21 days to submit copies, so hold onto them rather than scrambling later.
Renewal runs on your birth year
Kansas has an unusual scheduling rule worth reading twice. You renew biennially, expiring on the last day of your birth month, and the year is set by your birth year: nurses born in an even year renew in even years, those born in an odd year renew in odd years. So your renewal cadence is fixed to something permanent about you, which makes it predictable once you know the pattern, and easy to miscount if you assume it’s simply “two years from last time.”
The fee
Renewal is $85 for an active RN, straight from the Board’s renewal application (an inactive or exempt RN license is $50). That’s mid-pack nationally, near Minnesota’s $85 and below Michigan’s $131.
Kansas is a compact state
Kansas implemented the Nurse Licensure Compact on July 1, 2019. If Kansas is your primary state of residence, your RN license can be a multistate license, letting you practice in the other compact states without applying separately in each. That reaches into compact neighbors like Missouri, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Nebraska. The privilege follows your legal residence, so it holds as long as Kansas stays home. Use the compact checker below to see exactly which states a Kansas license reaches.
Add your renewal deadline to your calendar
Enter your expiration date and download a calendar file. Your own calendar will remind you at 90, 60, 30, and 7 days out. We don't ask for your email, we store nothing, and the date never leaves your device.
Works with Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, and Outlook. This is a convenience, not a compliance service. Confirm your exact deadline with the Kansas State Board of Nursing (KSBN).
How many CE hours do you have left?
Kansas requires 30 CE hours this cycle. Enter what you've completed and see what's left. Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere.
A convenience, not a compliance service. Confirm your exact requirement with the Kansas State Board of Nursing (KSBN). This is not legal advice.
Continuing education hours per renewal cycle
Kansas asks for 30 hours. That is exactly the median of 30 across the 37 states that set a flat hour count, which run from 8 to 40. Ranked lowest to highest, Kansas is 24 of 37.
Renewal fee
Kansas charges $85. The median across the 49 states that publish a figure is $100, running from $50 to $245. Ranked cheapest to dearest, Kansas is 14 of 49.
Each mark is one state. The taller line is the median, the filled dot is Kansas. States that set no flat hour count, or publish no fee, are left out of that comparison rather than counted as zero.
Where can you practice with your license?
The Nurse Licensure Compact lets a nurse who lives in a compact state hold one multistate license and practice in every other compact state. Pick where you live to see whether that's you, and where it reaches.
Member data from the NCSBN Nurse Licensure Compact map, verified July 2026. A multistate license requires the compact state to be your primary residence. This is a convenience, not legal advice. Confirm your status with your board or at nursecompact.com.
What will this renewal cost?
Kansas's renewal fee is filled in from the board below. Add what you expect to spend on CE courses, plus a late fee if you're past due, for a running total. Nothing you type is stored.
The renewal fee is from the Kansas State Board of Nursing (KSBN) and dated on this page; the CE and late-fee figures are your own estimates. A convenience, not a compliance service, and not legal advice. Confirm fees with your board.