Travel PT Resources PT Compact status reviewed September 2026

PT Compact States: Map, Fees & Eligibility

Find every PT Compact state on one map, see what a privilege costs there, and know before you sign whether your home state lets you use one.

PT Compact states let an eligible physical therapist with an active license in their home state practice in another active Compact state without applying for a second full license. Thirty-eight jurisdictions issue and accept Compact Privileges today, 37 states plus Washington, D.C., and three more states have passed the law but are not issuing yet. The Compact doesn't hand you a multistate license. You keep your home-state PT license, buy a separate privilege for each active Compact state where you want to work, and each privilege carries that state's own fee and sometimes its own law exam. Two things decide whether the route is open to you: the destination has to be actively issuing privileges, and your home state must also be an active Compact state. Your home state is tied to your permanent residence and is generally verified through your current driver's license or state-issued ID.

Where Privileges Work Now

PT Compact Map: Current Status by State

Use the PT compact map to check any state. Every jurisdiction falls into one of four groups, and the list of physical therapy compact states in each group changes as legislatures act.

Quick rule: A Compact Privilege is not a license. It rides on your active home-state PT license, one privilege for each state where you practice.
Interactive United States physical therapy license and PT Compact status mapChoose a state to review its PT Compact category and available physical therapy licensing details. VTNHMARICTNJDEMDDC

Hover a state for its Compact category. Click, tap, or choose a state to keep its card open.

State compact summary

Choose a state

Select a state from the map, menu, or List View to see its Compact status, privilege fee, and law-exam rule.

List View

Member States 38

Enacted Legislation 3

Introduced Legislation 2

Non-Member States 8

Compact categories, state fees, and jurisprudence rules were checked against the PT Compact Commission and state boards in September 2026. Confirm the current requirement at ptcompact.org before you rely on a privilege.

A state can pass the law long before privileges go live, so don't plan an assignment on "enacted" alone. Check that the state is issuing, then check your own home state the same way. The Compact only works when both sides do.

Selected a state and want the full-license route instead? Where an Advantis state license guide is available, you'll see it on the card. Otherwise, use the state licensing authority for the full-license requirements.

Current Compact Status

PT Compact at a Glance

These numbers come from the PT Compact Commission and move as states join. Treat the map as the live answer and these numbers as the snapshot.

38
jurisdictions issuing privileges
37 states + D.C.
3
states joined, not yet issuing
Maine, Michigan, Rhode Island
8
states not members
$45
Commission fee on every privilege
What a PT Needs to Know
Is this one multistate license?
No. Each member state grants its own privilege on top of your license.
Do I need a home-state PT license?
Yes. It must be active and issued by the active Compact state that is your home state.
Can I get a privilege for any state?
Only from member states that are actively issuing.
Can a state require a law exam?
Yes. Some do, and the timing differs by state.
Does the cost differ by state?
Yes. Each privilege is the state's own fee plus the $45 Commission fee.
How fast is it?
The Commission says privileges are issued within minutes in most cases, once eligibility and payment are complete.
What You Actually Get

Is a Physical Therapy Compact License a Real Thing?

You may hear it called a physical therapy compact license, but technically the PT Compact issues a Compact Privilege tied to your home-state PT license. The distinction isn't a technicality. It changes what you pay, when you renew, and which state's rules you work under.

Your home state issues and controls the license. Each member state sells its own privilege, and while you work there you follow that state's practice rules. Hold privileges in three Compact states and you have one license and three privileges, each with its own fee, its own expiration, and in some states its own law exam. That is why the state-by-state detail on this page matters more than the national count does.

Check Before You Plan

Are You Eligible for a PT Compact Privilege?

These five questions cover the main eligibility checks. Answer them before you build an assignment around the Compact, because the answers come from your paperwork, not from the destination.

1

Is your home state an active member?

If your home state isn't an active Compact state, the Compact route is closed for now, no matter where else you hold licenses.

2

Do you hold an active PT license in that home state?

A license in some other state does not count for eligibility.

3

Is every license you hold free of encumbrances?

Any encumbrance or limitation on any PT license makes you ineligible.

4

Have you had no disciplinary action in the past two years?

If you have, you may need to wait until Compact eligibility returns or apply through the state's regular licensing process, where that board determines whether you qualify.

5

Is the state where you'll work actively issuing?

A state that has passed the law but hasn't switched on can't sell you anything. Check its color on the map.

Five yes answers and you can likely purchase a privilege. Active-duty service members and military spouses get extra flexibility on home state, so if that's you, use the Commission's eligibility checker for official guidance before you decide anything.

Good to know: Your home state follows your permanent residence, not where your mail goes or where your current assignment is. The Commission generally verifies it through your current driver's license or state-issued ID.

Check your eligibility with the Commission

From Eligible to Authorized

How to Get a PT Compact Privilege

1

Confirm Your Eligibility

Run the five questions above, or use the Commission's eligibility checker for official guidance.

2

Read the State Card Before You Commit

The card shows the total fee and the law-exam rule for that state. Do this before you agree to a start date, not after; you can't unsign a contract because an exam ran long.

3

Complete Any Required Jurisprudence Step

Some states require the exam before you buy. Some require it again at renewal. Others give you a window after the privilege is issued. Skipping a required exam can end the privilege and bring discipline, so treat the timing as a rule.

4

Purchase the Privilege

Log in to the Compact system with your FSBPT ID, select the state, attest to the requirements, and pay. The Commission says a privilege is issued within minutes in most cases once payment clears.

5

Verify It and Keep the Number

The Compact runs a public verification tool. Look yourself up and save the privilege number, which begins with CP. Provide it when the facility needs to verify your Compact Privilege; the facility may also request your home-state license information during credentialing.

How to get a Compact Privilege

Know the Number Before You Commit

What a PT Compact Privilege Costs, and How It Renews

Every privilege has the same two parts: the remote state's fee plus the $45 Commission fee. Some states also charge separately for their jurisprudence exam, and that charge is paid to the exam provider, not the Compact.

The math: State fee + $45 Commission fee = your privilege total.

The spread is wide enough to change a decision. Arizona, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina charge no state fee, so a privilege there costs only the $45 Commission fee. Texas, Colorado, and five other states total $95. Washington, D.C. sits at the top at $309, and eight jurisdictions are above $150. Use the state card for today's published total rather than a figure remembered from a blog post; states adjust their portion and they don't announce it widely.

Fifteen jurisdictions waive their state portion for active-duty military, military spouses, or veterans in at least some cases, and the covered groups differ from state to state. If that describes you, the state card shows the waiver rule before you pay.

Renewal, CE, and Whose Rules You Follow

Renewal is priced the same way as the first purchase, the state's own fee plus the $45 Commission fee, and it comes due sooner than a two-year license would suggest, because a privilege expires on the same date as your home-state license. Renewing the license does not renew the privilege. You renew each privilege separately at ptcompact.org after the home state posts the new expiration date, and a privilege that lapses and is bought fresh starts the state's initial jurisprudence rule over again. A lapse in the home license reaches every privilege tied to it, and reinstating the license won't bring the privileges back on its own.

Continuing education stays with your home state. You meet its requirements and you do not take on a new CE load for each privilege state; what some states add is a jurisprudence step at privilege renewal, and the card for that state says whether yours does. While you treat patients, the remote state's practice laws and scope rules govern, not your home state's. For telehealth, the patient's location is what counts.

The Step That Changes the Schedule

Which PT Compact States Require a Jurisprudence Exam?

A jurisprudence requirement covers a state's PT laws and rules. Twenty-two of the 38 issuing jurisdictions attach one to the privilege. Most use an exam; Tennessee uses a course. There are four timing patterns.

No exam (16)

Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia. Buy the privilege and go.

Before the initial privilege only (9)

Alabama, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Oregon, where the exam has to fall within the six months before you apply.

Initial and renewal (10)

Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, and Texas. Ohio and Texas skip the exam at a first renewal, and Texas only when that renewal lands under a year after issuance.

After issuance, on a 30-day deadline (3)

The District of Columbia (initial only), North Carolina (initial and renewal), and Tennessee, which uses a course instead of an exam.

Timing matters more than the requirement itself. An exam you did not plan for can push back a start date, and a renewal exam you forgot can end a privilege mid-contract. Check the state card before you pick a date, then again when the renewal comes up.

Pick the Right Route

Compact Privilege or Full State License?

Your situation Route to look at first
Eligible PT with an active Compact home state taking a 13-week assignment in another active Compact state Compact Privilege
Several assignments across member states Compact Privileges, one per state
Your home state is not an active member Full license
The destination is not an active member Full license
You are moving permanently to the destination Full license, started before the move
You do not meet Compact eligibility Full license, if you otherwise qualify
Repeat work in one state over years Compare both on cost and renewal timing

Neither route wins for everyone, and that's the point of the table. When you're eligible and both your home state and destination are active Compact states, a Compact Privilege is generally the faster route for a temporary assignment. The full license wins when the Compact is not available to you, or when you are putting down roots and the privilege would keep expiring with a home license you no longer need.

Assignment Planning

Using the PT Compact for a Travel Assignment

Three situations cover the common cases. Find yours, then read the state card for the destination.

Your home state is active and so is the destination

This is the case the Compact was built for. Confirm the destination's exam rule and timing, buy the privilege, verify it, and start facility credentialing in parallel because that runs on its own clock. Budget the state fee plus $45, and put the privilege's expiration date, which is your home license date, on the contract calendar.

Your home state is active, but the destination has only enacted the law

There's no privilege to buy yet, however recent the headline. The destination's full license is the route, and its timeline is what sets your start date. Check the map again before the next contract there; the Commission says implementation takes about a year for most states, though some take longer.

Your home state is not a member

The Compact is closed to you no matter how many other licenses you hold, because eligibility follows your home state. Every destination is a full-license application until your home state joins and becomes active or you establish a new home state in an active Compact state and obtain its PT license.

Before the first shift. A purchased exam, a pending privilege, or a recruiter's confirmation is not permission to treat patients. Verify the privilege is active. A privilege also covers licensure only; facility credentialing, background steps, and onboarding follow their own timelines.
Residency Changes Everything

What Happens to Your PT Compact Privileges If You Move?

A travel assignment does not change your home state. A permanent move does. Under the Compact rules, 60 business days after the legal change of your permanent address is treated as the change in home state. If you're moving to another Compact state, you need an active PT license in the new home state before that change or your existing privileges terminate. Start the new-state license process before you relocate so you aren't relying on a privilege as your long-term authority to practice there.

If the new home state is an active Compact state and you hold its active PT license before the home-state change takes effect, your existing privileges can remain tied to the new home-state license. If the new home state is not a Compact member, your privileges terminate when the home-state change takes effect. Plan the move the way you'd plan a license, months out, not weeks.

Quick Answers

PT Compact FAQs

How many PT Compact states are there?
The Commission lists 38 issuing jurisdictions, 37 states plus Washington, D.C., with Maine, Michigan, and Rhode Island enacted but not yet issuing and two more states with bills introduced. Because the count moves as states come online, the map on this page is the current answer, and more physical therapy compact states will appear on it over time.
Is the PT Compact a multistate license?
No. One home-state license anchors everything, and each member state where you practice sells you a separate privilege on top of it. Every one of those privileges is priced, renewed, and in some states examined on its own terms. If a state isn't an active member, a full license from that board is the only way in.
What is a physical therapy compact license?
You'll see the phrase physical therapy compact license on job boards, but the credential is a Compact Privilege. It rides on your home-state PT license and authorizes practice in one active Compact state at a time. No single multistate PT license covers several states.
How do I know if I'm eligible for a PT Compact Privilege?
You need an active PT license, free of any encumbrance, in the active Compact state that is your home state, no disciplinary action within the past two years, and a destination that is actively issuing. The five-question checklist covers the main requirements, and the Commission's eligibility checker provides official guidance, including the extra flexibility for service members and spouses.
How much does a PT Compact Privilege cost?
Each privilege combines the remote state's own fee with the $45 Commission fee, and some states bill separately for a jurisprudence exam. Totals run from $45 in states that charge nothing of their own to $309 in Washington, D.C., so check the destination's card for the published total. Renewal is priced the same way, and it falls due with your home-state license.
Do all PT Compact states require a law exam?
No. Sixteen issuing jurisdictions attach no jurisprudence requirement to the privilege. The other 22 require an exam or, in Tennessee, a course, on one of three schedules: before purchase, before purchase and again at renewal, or within 30 days after issuance. Read the card for each destination before you set a date, because it's the timing that moves start dates.
What happens to my privileges if I move to another state?
A permanent move changes your home state. Under the Compact rules, 60 business days after the legal change of permanent address is treated as the home-state change. If you're moving to another Compact state, obtain its active PT license before that change takes effect to protect your existing privileges. If the new home state is not a Compact member, your privileges terminate when the home-state change takes effect.
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PT Compact status, fees, and rules on this page were checked against the PT Compact Commission and state boards in September 2026 and are not legal advice. Confirm current requirements at ptcompact.org and with the state board before you rely on a privilege.