Nurse Licensure Compact data & research
Free, independent, source-backed data on where the Nurse Licensure Compact reaches — for researchers, journalists, workforce analysts, and employers. Every figure is recomputable from the published dataset. Free to use with attribution.
56
jurisdictions tracked
43
have adopted the NLC
40
fully implemented
13
non-compact
24
border seams
4
non-compact islands
Datasets
The same source-backed jurisdiction record that drives every page on the site, with provenance headers and the derived border analysis. Generated from one model, so the files can never disagree with the pages.
Compact status by jurisdiction — CSV
Every jurisdiction’s compact status, resident multistate availability, incoming privilege, board, official links, source confidence, and review date. Provenance in the header rows.
Download CSVCompact status + border analysis — JSON
The full dataset plus the derived analysis (border mismatches, non-compact islands) as structured, CORS-enabled JSON — built for developers, AI assistants, and researchers.
View JSONNLC adoption & implementation timeline — CSV, JSON
Original research: when each of the 43 adopting jurisdictions signed the compact into law, when it came into force, and — where the two differ — when residents could first hold a multistate license. Source URLs and a confidence grade on every record. No comparable public dataset exists.
Where the compact sits in each state’s law
There is no federal compact statute — there are 43 separate ones, at wildly different levels of each code. We have read and cited 41 of them from the jurisdiction’s own code rather than a mirror, and name the 2 we could not confirm instead of guessing. Includes the repeal-and-replace trap that makes widely-circulated citations point at law that no longer exists.
How every jurisdiction verifies a license — CSV
Original research covering all 56 jurisdictions, each row read off that board’s own published material rather than inferred from a national list. It is the dataset behind a finding that surprises people: “check Nursys, then the board” is not one instruction. Boards differ by which system holds the record, by credential, by who may initiate an official verification, and by what an empty result means. Includes the board, its lookup where one exists, the nurse practice act citation, and the jurisdiction-specific catch.
It also carries the primary-law layer: the statute that adopts the compact, cited for 41 of the 43 jurisdictions that have compact law to cite, each with the page it was read off and a note where the citation needs one — several states replaced an earlier compact and the superseded sections still circulate. The remaining 13 jurisdictions have no compact law to cite, which is a finding rather than a gap. Where we have not confirmed a citation the row says unverified rather than guessing, and where no compact law exists it says none. Those are different facts and the dataset keeps them apart.
Nursing Compact States Report 2026
Original analysis: adopted-versus-live coverage, the 24 compact/non-compact border seams where a multistate license stops, the 4 non-compact “islands,” and regional saturation — with full methodology and limitations.
Read the reportUsing this data
How complete is this research?
Every field on this site is in one of three states, and we would rather show you the split than let you assume it is all green.
- 54/56
- compact-statute fields resolved — 41 with a citation read off the state’s own code, 13 where no compact statute exists because the jurisdiction never adopted.
- 56/56
- nurse practice acts cited. Every jurisdiction licenses nurses, compact or not, so there is no honest reason for a gap here.
- 55/56
- publish their own license lookup. The 1 without one is recorded as a deliberate null — none exists, rather than none found.
The 2 we have not confirmed
All of these have adopted the compact. What is unconfirmed is which section of their code carries it. Roughly half are blocked at source — the state’s own code site refuses automated access or requires a browser session — and the rest publish no compact-specific citation we could locate. Both cases are recorded as “unverified” rather than guessed at, because a plausible-looking section number is the single worst thing a reference site can print.
Tennessee, U.S. Virgin Islands.
Know the citation for one of these? Tell us — with a link to the state’s own code, which is the only thing we will publish it on.
Cite this page
Free to use with attribution. Cite the review date shown here rather than today’s — compact status changes as jurisdictions implement, and the figure you are quoting belongs to the date it was checked.
CompactStates.com. Nursing compact states data. Updated June 17, 2026. Accessed [date you accessed it]. https://www.compactstates.com/data
CompactStates.com. (2026, June 17). Nursing compact states data. https://www.compactstates.com/data
"Nursing compact states data", CompactStates.com, last reviewed June 17, 2026. https://www.compactstates.com/data
Quoting a specific jurisdiction? Cite that jurisdiction’s page rather than this one, so the date travels with the fact.