Last updated: October 14, 2026. Originally published August 13, 2024.
This article is general information for clinicians, not legal advice. Practice authority, prescriptive authority, and business rules change. Confirm the current category and any hour requirement with your board of nursing, and with the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) State Practice Environment map, before you relocate, open a practice, or prescribe.
Nurse practitioner full practice authority states are the places where state law lets NPs evaluate patients, diagnose, order and interpret tests, and start and manage treatment, including prescribing, under the board of nursing. These are often called NP independent practice states. “Autonomous” is a related word, and it does not always mean the same thing. Florida uses “autonomous APRN” for a limited registration. AANP does not classify Florida as full practice.
How many states let NPs practice independently in 2026?
AANP’s October 2026 NP facts reports 27 states, the District of Columbia, and two territories with full practice authority. The state categories below were checked against the color key in AANP’s May 2026 map; the two full-practice territories are Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
The three categories summarize the state’s overall legal environment:
- Full: NP care and prescribing are regulated through the nursing board, although an initial transition may apply.
- Reduced: an element of practice or its setting remains limited, often through a required collaborative relationship.
- Restricted: an element of practice requires supervision, delegation, or team management.
These classifications do not decide whether a particular NP has completed a transition or qualifies for a statutory exception. Read the individual pathway as well as the map.
Two 2026 changes sit beside that map and are easy to misread:
- New Jersey enacted P.L.2026, c.6 (S2996), approved March 30, 2026 and effective immediately. Qualifying APNs in listed population foci may practice and prescribe without a joint protocol. AANP’s May 2026 map still places New Jersey in reduced practice, because the exemption is conditional. Details are in New Jersey’s 2026 APN law.
- Wisconsin 2025 Act 17 took effect September 1, 2026. An APRN can practice without collaborating with a physician or dentist only after the Board verifies 3,840 hours of clinical professional nursing and 3,840 hours of APRN practice in the recognized role. The May 2026 AANP map still lists Wisconsin as reduced. DSPS requires a separate application and Board approval; reaching an hour threshold alone does not change the license.
NP full practice authority states, reduced states, and restricted states
The table uses the May 2026 AANP categories: 27 full-practice states, the District of Columbia, 12 reduced-practice states, and 11 restricted-practice states. Transition hours are filled in only where this update confirmed them in a statute or board page. A blank note means “confirm details with that board,” not “no transition exists.”
| State | AANP category (May 2026) | Confirmed note |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Reduced | |
| Alaska | Full | |
| Arizona | Full | |
| Arkansas | Reduced | |
| California | Restricted | AB 890 creates 103 group-setting and 104 independent-practice certifications. See the California section below; the broad map category does not eliminate these individual pathways. |
| Colorado | Full | The provisional-prescribing pathway requires 750 mentorship hours for full prescriptive authority. Experienced out-of-state prescribers have a separate application route; see Rule 1.15. |
| Connecticut | Full | After at least 3 years and 2,000 collaboration hours, an APRN may practice without a collaborating physician and must notify the Department of Public Health first. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 20-87a. |
| Delaware | Full | |
| District of Columbia | Full | Included in addition to the 27 states. |
| Florida | Restricted | Not full practice. A separate autonomous APRN registration exists under Fla. Stat. § 464.0123. See Florida autonomous APRN registration. |
| Georgia | Restricted | |
| Hawaii | Full | |
| Idaho | Full | |
| Illinois | Reduced | |
| Indiana | Reduced | |
| Iowa | Full | |
| Kansas | Full | |
| Kentucky | Reduced | |
| Louisiana | Reduced | |
| Maine | Full | |
| Maryland | Full | An applicant never previously certified as an NP in Maryland or another state must identify a qualified mentor for 18 months from application. This is not a blanket hour requirement for every incoming NP. |
| Massachusetts | Full | At least 2 years of qualifying supervised practice after certification before independent prescribing under M.G.L. c.112 §80E; complete the Board’s attestation process. |
| Michigan | Restricted | |
| Minnesota | Full | |
| Mississippi | Reduced | |
| Missouri | Restricted | |
| Montana | Full | |
| Nebraska | Full | |
| Nevada | Full | |
| New Hampshire | Full | |
| New Jersey | Reduced | P.L.2026, c.6 creates a conditional joint-protocol exemption. It is not a blanket full-practice law. |
| New Mexico | Full | |
| New York | Full | More than 3,600 hours of NP practice before the written practice agreement and protocols drop. Education Law §6902, as posted by NYSED, marks that rule effective until July 1, 2030. |
| North Carolina | Restricted | |
| North Dakota | Full | |
| Ohio | Reduced | |
| Oklahoma | Restricted | |
| Oregon | Full | |
| Pennsylvania | Reduced | |
| Rhode Island | Full | |
| South Carolina | Restricted | |
| South Dakota | Full | |
| Tennessee | Restricted | |
| Texas | Restricted | Physician delegation by prescriptive authority agreement. Occ. Code §157.0512; 22 TAC §222.5. See Texas endorsement. |
| Utah | Full | |
| Vermont | Full | 24 months AND 2,400 hours in the specialty before the transition requirement is satisfied. Qualifying out-of-state experience counts; submit the completion attestation. |
| Virginia | Restricted | |
| Washington | Full | |
| West Virginia | Reduced | |
| Wisconsin | Reduced | From September 1, 2026, independent practice requires Board verification of 3,840 clinical RN hours and 3,840 APRN hours. Wis. Stat. § 441.09. |
| Wyoming | Full |
If you are choosing where to practice, start with Where Can I Practice? and the prescribing and DEA roadmap. A full-practice classification does not replace a state license, a DEA registration, or a state controlled-substance registration.
California: 103 and 104 NP pathways
California remains restricted on the May 2026 map, but AB 890 provides two additional certifications. A 103 NP can practice without standardized procedures in specified group settings that include at least one physician and surgeon. A 104 NP can practice independently within the population focus of national certification, including outside those group settings.
The 103 transition requires three full-time-equivalent years or 4,600 qualifying hours, completed in California within the preceding five years after California NP certification. The 104 pathway generally requires three years of practice as a 103 NP and the Board’s additional criteria. The Board now publishes a 104 application guide. Hold the applicable certification before relying on its authority; an ordinary NP certificate is not automatically a 103 or 104 certificate.
What changed in 2025 and 2026
Florida has a limited autonomous pathway. AANP classifies Florida as restricted. Florida does offer an autonomous APRN registration for clinicians who meet hour, coursework, and discipline rules, and that registration is limited to primary care (family medicine, general pediatrics, and general internal medicine, as defined by board rule), with a separate path for certified nurse midwives. That is not the same as full practice authority for every NP.
The District of Columbia is full practice. DC belongs on the list with the 27 states.
New Jersey’s joint-protocol law is narrower than “full practice.” The statute exempts APNs in family or individual-across-the-lifespan, adult-gerontology, pediatrics, women’s health, or behavioral health who have more than 5,000 hours of licensed, active advanced nursing practice in that focus, when they provide primary or behavioral health care. General obstetrics and elective aesthetic or cosmetic services are excluded. Qualifying APNs also have pharmacology education, malpractice coverage, and Board notification duties. APNs who do not meet the test still need a joint protocol.
Wisconsin’s independent-practice path started September 1, 2026. The Department of Safety and Professional Services says not every APRN became independent that day. The Board has to verify the hours, and the approval is displayed on the license. Hours can include lawful practice before September 1, 2026, including practice outside Wisconsin. At least 24 months must have elapsed since the relevant practice began.
Texas remains restricted practice. An NP moving to Texas needs a Texas RN license or a compact RN privilege, then a separate APRN license. Prescribing is a further Board authorization, delegated by a Texas physician under a written prescriptive authority agreement. The steps are in Texas nursing license by endorsement.
A multistate RN license is a different system. The Nurse Licensure Compact covers RN and LPN/VN practice. It does not give an NP a multistate APRN license. The APRN Compact is not operational. See how to get a multistate nursing license.
What “autonomous nurse practitioner” means
Autonomous practice generally describes an individual clinician’s ability to perform authorized services without a required physician agreement. AANP’s full-practice category describes the broader state environment. A state can have a limited autonomous pathway while remaining reduced or restricted on the map.
Use the definition article, What is an autonomous nurse practitioner?, for the comparison of autonomous, full, reduced, and restricted practice, including Florida’s registration. Use this page for the state list.
Transition-to-practice hours
“Independent practice states” still surprise new graduates. Connecticut is the clearest confirmed example. An APRN who has held the license for at least three years, and who has completed at least three years and 2,000 hours of advanced-practice activities in collaboration with a physician, may then practice without that collaboration. The APRN must keep the documentation and send written notice to the Department of Public Health before starting. For the first three years, collaboration with a Connecticut-licensed physician is required, and prescriptive collaboration must be in writing.
Wisconsin’s numbers are different and are not an AANP reclassification: 3,840 hours of professional nursing in a clinical setting and 3,840 clinical hours of APRN practice in the recognized role with a physician or dentist who was immediately available and accepted responsibility. Extra APRN hours can be substituted toward the RN-hour requirement. Each clinical-hour pathway has its own minimum 24-month elapsed-time condition. The statute allows specified nursing-program clinical hours toward the professional-nursing requirement and additional qualifying APRN hours to substitute for that requirement. The Board verifies the application; there is a fee. See 2025 Wisconsin Act 17, §441.09(3m).
Wisconsin also retains special conditions for invasive treatment of pain syndromes, with specified hospital-related exceptions. An independent-practice approval does not remove that service-specific rule or an employer’s additional requirements.
New Jersey’s figure is more than 5,000 hours in the applicable population focus, plus the care-setting limits in P.L.2026, c.6.
New York’s figure is more than 3,600 hours of practice as a licensed or certified nurse practitioner under New York or another state’s laws, or while employed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the armed forces, or the U.S. Public Health Service. NYSED’s practice page says the NP may then practice independently. In the Education Law §6902 text NYSED posts, the paragraph that drops the written practice agreement and protocols is marked effective until July 1, 2030. The paragraph marked effective July 1, 2030 requires documented collaborative relationships instead. The application steps are in New York nursing license by endorsement.
Can an NP open their own practice?
In a full-practice state, the practice act is not the barrier that a career-long supervisory agreement is in a restricted state. You still need the state NP or APRN license, a national certification if that state requires it, an NPI if you will bill, malpractice coverage, and usually a DEA registration plus any state controlled-substance registration before you prescribe scheduled drugs. Payer enrollment is a separate process. The practical checklist is in Can a nurse practitioner open their own practice?.
In reduced and restricted states, check whether you qualify for an individual exemption. Otherwise, budget for any required agreement and understand its chart-review, location, and prescribing terms. Business ownership and authority to provide care are separate questions.
Frequently asked questions
How many states have full practice authority for nurse practitioners?
AANP’s October 2026 facts reports 27 states, DC, and two territories. Its May 2026 map identifies those territories as Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. Count the states on the map again before you rely on a round number, because legislatures act every session.
Is Florida a full practice state for NPs?
No. AANP classifies Florida as restricted practice. Florida’s autonomous APRN registration is an added registration on a Florida APRN license, limited by Fla. Stat. § 464.0123, including a primary-care practice limit for most registrants.
Is New Jersey an NP independent practice state now?
Not in the AANP sense of full practice for every NP. As of the May 2026 map, New Jersey is reduced practice. Since March 30, 2026, APNs who meet the population-focus, hour, and care-setting tests in P.L.2026, c.6 may practice and prescribe without a joint protocol. Everyone else still needs one.
Does Washington, DC, allow independent NP practice?
Yes. AANP classifies the District of Columbia as full practice. DC was missing from the original version of this article.
Can a compact RN license cover NP practice?
No. A multistate license under the Nurse Licensure Compact covers RN or LPN/VN practice in implemented compact states. NP practice needs an APRN license in the state where the patient is located. The APRN Compact is not in effect.
If you are licensing in more than one state
Convenient Licensing prepares clinician license applications for individual RNs, NPs and other APRNs, PAs, and physicians. Published Full Service support for APRN license applications is $275 per application. DEA registration support and state controlled-substance registration support are $100 per registration each, and they are not included in Full Service. Other professions can request a quote. Board fees, fingerprints, transcripts, and verifications are separate. Compare plans on the services page.
Sources
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AANP State Practice Environment, updated May 2026, including the definitions of full, reduced, and restricted practice.
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AANP 2026 Nurse Practitioner State Practice Environment PDF, dated 05/2026.
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New Jersey P.L.2026, c.6, approved March 30, 2026.
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Governor Sherrill’s March 30, 2026 signing statement on S2996/A4052.
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Wisconsin Statutes § 441.09 and DSPS APRN implementation FAQs.
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Connecticut Department of Public Health, APRNs practicing not in collaboration, citing Conn. Gen. Stat. § 20-87a.
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NYSED, NP practice requirements and Education Law §6902 as posted by NYSED, more than 3,600 hours, effective until July 1, 2030.
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Maryland Board of Nursing, current advanced-practice application, 18-month mentor requirement for first-time NP applicants.
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Vermont Board of Nursing FAQs, transition and out-of-state experience.
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Colorado Board of Nursing Rule 1.15, prescriptive-authority pathways.