Registered Nurse (RN) License Renewal in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania RNs renew every 2 years and need 30 CE hours, including 2 hours of child abuse recognition. Renewal is $122. Pennsylvania joined the NLC in 2025.
| Renewal cycle | Every 2 years |
|---|---|
| CE hours required | 30 hours |
| Renewal fee | $122.00 |
| Mandatory CE topics | Child abuse recognition and reporting (2 hrs, every renewal, Act 31) |
| Licensing board | Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing |
Sourced from Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing, verified July 12, 2026. Requirements change. Confirm with your board before relying on this.
Pennsylvania’s 30-hour requirement carries one recurring mandatory topic that catches nurses who assume it’s a box they only check once. It also just became a Nursing Licensure Compact state, which is recent enough that a lot of Pennsylvania nurses haven’t caught up on what it means yet.
Child abuse training isn’t a one-and-done
Under Act 31, every Pennsylvania RN needs 2 hours of approved child abuse recognition and reporting training as a condition of biennial renewal. Some states front-load a similar requirement into initial licensure and never ask again. Pennsylvania asks every single renewal cycle, from an approved provider, counted within your 30 total hours.
Where the other 28 hours come from
Outside the Act 31 mandate, Pennsylvania doesn’t prescribe a rigid topic breakdown for the remaining hours the way some states do. Hands-on clinical skills sessions, classroom coursework, and approved online modules all count toward the 30-hour total.
Pennsylvania joined the Nurse Licensure Compact in July 2025
For years, Pennsylvania was one of the largest holdout states on the Nurse Licensure Compact, alongside California, Illinois, and New York. That changed on July 7, 2025, when Pennsylvania became a full NLC member. If Pennsylvania is your primary state of residence, your RN license now functions as a multistate license, letting you practice in other compact states without applying for a license in each one. Nurses licensed in Pennsylvania before mid-2025 should confirm their license record reflects multistate status; it isn’t automatically retroactive paperwork you have to chase, but it’s worth a quick check through the Board’s renewal portal rather than assuming.
What renewal costs
The current biennial renewal fee is $122. That’s a real increase from the $65 fee Pennsylvania nurses paid before a Board-approved rate hike took effect with the October 2019 renewal cohort; the Board cited a multi-million-dollar operating deficit as the reason for the increase, and $122 has been the standing rate since. Reinstating a license lapsed 5 years or longer runs $130, and restoring a license after suspension or revocation runs $60. An earlier version of this page could not confirm a specific fee figure; this is now verified directly against the Department’s current licensure snapshot and the Pennsylvania Bulletin rulemaking notice that set the rate.
The practical takeaway
Thirty hours, two of which are Act 31 child abuse training, every two years, no exception for how many times you’ve renewed before. Build the child abuse course into your CE plan each cycle rather than assuming it drops off after your first renewal, and if you’re weighing travel or multistate work, factor in that Pennsylvania’s compact membership is barely a year old, so double-check your license type directly with the Board rather than assuming based on how things worked before July 2025.
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 Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing.
How many CE hours do you have left?
Pennsylvania requires 30 CE hours this cycle. Enter what you've completed and see what's left. Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere.
Hours alone aren't the whole requirement. Some must be these specific topics:
- Child abuse recognition and reporting (2 hrs, every renewal, Act 31)
A convenience, not a compliance service. Confirm your exact requirement with the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing. This is not legal advice.
Continuing education hours per renewal cycle
Pennsylvania 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, Pennsylvania is 32 of 37.
Renewal fee
Pennsylvania charges $122. The median across the 49 states that publish a figure is $100, running from $50 to $245. Ranked cheapest to dearest, Pennsylvania is 35 of 49.
Each mark is one state. The taller line is the median, the filled dot is Pennsylvania. 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?
Pennsylvania'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 Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing 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.