Registered Nurse (RN) License Renewal in Wisconsin
Wisconsin RNs renew every 2 years with no continuing education required and a $73 fee. Wisconsin is a Nurse Licensure Compact state.
| Renewal cycle | Every 2 years |
|---|---|
| CE hours required | Check with your board Wisconsin requires no continuing education for RN license renewal. The only nurses with a CE requirement are advanced practice nurse prescribers (16 contact hours every 2 years, including 2 on responsible opioid prescribing). |
| Renewal fee | $73.00 |
| Mandatory CE topics | None prescribed |
| Licensing board | Wisconsin Board of Nursing (Department of Safety and Professional Services) |
Sourced from Wisconsin Board of Nursing (Department of Safety and Professional Services), verified July 25, 2026. Requirements change. Confirm with your board before relying on this.
Wisconsin doesn’t make you count continuing-education hours to renew an RN license. There aren’t any to count. What Wisconsin does ask is small and specific: renew by the right date, and fill out a workforce survey on your way through. That’s the renewal.
No continuing education for RNs
The Wisconsin Board of Nursing requires no continuing education for registered-nurse renewal. No hour count, no mandatory topics, no CE attestation. Wisconsin is one of the states that trusts nurses to keep current without documenting credits, so if you’re coming from a state with a CE tally, there’s simply nothing to tally here. Because there’s no hour target, the CE calculator on this site isn’t shown for Wisconsin.
The one group with a CE requirement is advanced practice nurse prescribers, who complete 16 contact hours every two years, including 2 hours on responsible opioid prescribing. That’s a prescriber credential rule, not a staff-RN one. If you’re an RN at the bedside, it doesn’t apply to you.
What renewal actually involves: the date and the survey
Two things make up a Wisconsin renewal. First, the deadline: RN credentials renew on February 28 (or 29) of each even-numbered year, set in Wis. Stat. 440.08(2). Everyone renews on the same statewide date, so it’s easy to look up and, being shared and fixed, easy to let slip.
Second, the Nursing Workforce Survey. Wisconsin requires RNs to complete a short workforce survey as part of renewal, mandated under Chapter 106.30 of the statutes so the Wisconsin Center for Nursing can publish workforce data. It’s brief, but it’s a genuine renewal requirement, skip it and your renewal isn’t complete. Renew through the online LicensE portal, and if you miss the deadline a $25 late fee attaches; you can still renew within five years of expiration before a heavier process kicks in.
The fee, and why the number you’ve seen may be wrong
Renewal is $73, straight from the DSPS Renewal Dates and Fees schedule ($98 if you renew late). This is worth flagging because plenty of guides still quote $57, an older figure from a previous fee period. Wisconsin recalculates its credential fees, and the current RN renewal is $73. That’s still among the lowest in the country, below Michigan’s $131 and near Texas’s $68, so even at the updated rate Wisconsin is an inexpensive state to stay licensed in.
Wisconsin is a compact state
Wisconsin is a Nurse Licensure Compact state, and the DSPS credential page says so directly. If Wisconsin is your primary state of residence, your RN license can be a multistate license, letting you practice in the other compact states without a separate application in each. That reaches across the Upper Midwest into compact neighbors. The privilege follows your legal residence, so it holds as long as Wisconsin stays home. Use the compact checker below to see exactly which states a Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin Board of Nursing (Department of Safety and Professional Services).
Renewal fee
Wisconsin charges $73. The median across the 49 states that publish a figure is $100, running from $50 to $245. Ranked cheapest to dearest, Wisconsin is 8 of 49.
Each mark is one state. The taller line is the median, the filled dot is Wisconsin. 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?
Wisconsin'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 Wisconsin Board of Nursing (Department of Safety and Professional Services) 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.