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CDL Requirements in Kansas

Verified against Kansas Department of Revenue, Division of Vehicles ·

Compiled and verified against each state's own licensing agency and statutes by GetCDLLicense — cite-or-deny, with no invented figures. How we source & verify →

Kansas runs CDL licensing out of the Department of Revenue's Division of Vehicles rather than a standalone motor-vehicle department, and prices credentials as an itemized stack — a separate issuance fee, test fee, photo fee, and $10 per endorsement — instead of one bundled charge. Kansas is one of the few states to impose its own training mandate on top of federal requirements: K.S.A. 8-2,157 requires every applicant to complete Attorney General-approved human trafficking identification training before a CDL is issued or renewed. State law also directs the Division to authorize community and technical colleges to give the skills test, and creates two Kansas-only credentials — a no-test seasonal CDL and a farm custom harvesting CDL available from age 16.

Kansas's CDL requirements — including a $13 commercial learner permit fee — are verified against Kansas Department of Revenue, Division of Vehicles (see Kansas Department of Revenue — Kansas Credential Fee Chart (PDF)), current as of 2026-07-25.

Kansas CDL Requirements at a Glance

This is the fee, age, and testing detail for Kansasspecifically — for the full step-by-step process see how to get a CDL, and for what Class A, B, and C each permit see CDL classes.

CLP, age, fee, renewal, and testing requirements for a commercial driver’s license in Kansas
Commercial learner’s permit (CLP)
CLP fee$13
Minimum holding period before skills test—
CLP validity—
Age minimums
Intrastate minimum age—
Interstate minimum age21 (federal floor)
Fees
Application fee—
Initial CDL fee$41
Renewal fee$26
Renewal period5 years (expires on the licensee's birthday)
Knowledge test fee$15
Skills test fee$15
Testing rules
Third-party testers allowedYes
Retest waiting period—

Other published fees

  • Endorsement fee, each (new issuance or renewal): $10
  • CDL skills retest: $10
  • Knowledge retest within 6 months of the previous exam: $1.50
  • Abandonment fee, if testing is not completed within 6 months: $3
  • Replacement driver license or learner permit: $16
  • Name change on a driver license or learner permit: $16
  • Address change, or other change to an existing credential: $8
  • Add REAL ID to a valid credential: $8
  • Motor vehicle record (MVR): $15
  • Motorcycle (M) add-on to a CDL, ages 21-64: $12.50
  • Motorcycle (M) add-on to a CDL, age 65+: $9
  • Late-renewal penalty (renewed after expiration): $1

KDOR's fee chart calls this the "Regular CDL Permit" and prices it as a $5.00 issuance fee plus the standard $8.00 photo fee, for $13.00 total. The Kansas CDL manual states that only the Passenger (P), School Bus (S), and Tank (N) endorsements may ever appear on a commercial learner's permit, and that a permit carrying P or S also carries a "P" restriction (no passengers other than test personnel, trainees, or another CDL holder) while a permit carrying N also carries an "X" restriction (empty tank only).

Kansas publishes no single general minimum age for a standard intrastate CDL — its CDL manual is generic AAMVA text and states no Kansas age figure. What Kansas law does set are three specific floors: 16 for a farm custom harvesting CDL limited to Class B and C vehicles (K.S.A. 8-2,147(a)), 18 for a seasonal CDL (K.S.A. 8-2,146(a)), and 18 for a nonresident CDL issued to a foreign resident employed by a Kansas employer (K.S.A. 8-2,148(a)). The age-16 farm custom harvesting credential is a genuine Kansas outlier well below the usual state CDL floor. KDOR's fee chart separately prices CDL issuance for applicants under 21 at $20.00 rather than $18.00, confirming under-21 CDL holders exist.

K.S.A. 8-2,133(b) permits the Secretary to authorize another state agency, an employer, a private driver training facility, or a local government body to administer the skills test under a 49 C.F.R. §383.75 agreement. Subsection (c) goes further than most states by directing — not merely permitting — the Secretary to authorize any community or technical college that requests it to administer the skills test. KDOR maintains a published list of approved third-party commercial driving schools and colleges. Skills testing at state offices is by appointment only with no online scheduling; a CMV skills test runs roughly one to one and a half hours, and KDOR notes that tests and examiners may be monitored for quality control. Kansas imposes a testing time limit rather than a retest cooling-off period: once the license fee is paid, testing must be completed within 6 months or a $3.00 abandonment fee applies, while a knowledge retest inside that 6-month window costs $1.50. One Kansas-specific testing rule appears in its manual: "the State of Kansas does not allow the use of memory aids during the test" for the vehicle inspection portion.

Kansas CDL Endorsements

Hazmat, tanker, doubles/triples, passenger, and school bus endorsement availability, fees, and testing in Kansas
EndorsementAvailableFeeKnowledge testSkills test
Hazardous materials (H)Yes$10YesNo
Tank vehicle (N)Yes$10Yes—
Doubles/triples (T)Yes$10Yes—
Passenger (P)Yes$10YesYes
School bus (S)Yes$10YesYes

Hazardous materials: Kansas contracts fingerprint collection to Integrated Biometric Technology (IDEMIA) enrollment centers, and K.S.A. 8-2,151(c) caps what the applicant may be charged for collecting fingerprints and generating the record at $100 — a state ceiling rather than a published price. K.S.A. 8-2,135(f) requires an applicant who wants to keep a hazardous materials endorsement at renewal to take and pass the hazmat test again. KDOR also states that any current hazmat driver who incurs a disqualifying offense must immediately surrender the endorsement to the state, after which they may reapply or seek a waiver.

Tank vehicle: Kansas charges the flat $10.00 per-endorsement fee. K.S.A. 8-2,135(b) defines "N" as authorizing tank vehicles and separately defines a combined "X" endorsement covering hazardous materials and tank together. The Kansas manual notes that a tank endorsement placed on a learner permit carries a mandatory empty-tank restriction. No separate skills test is stated for the N endorsement.

Doubles/triples: Kansas charges the flat $10.00 per-endorsement fee. K.S.A. 8-2,135(b)(3) defines "T" as authorizing double and triple trailers. Per the Kansas manual, T is not among the three endorsements that may be placed on a commercial learner's permit. No separate skills test is stated for the T endorsement.

Passenger: Kansas charges the flat $10.00 per-endorsement fee. KDOR's own CDL FAQ confirms a P endorsement knowledge test, and P is a prerequisite for the school bus endorsement. A passenger endorsement may be added to a learner permit, but only alongside a restriction barring passengers other than test personnel, trainees, or another CDL holder.

School bus: Kansas charges the flat $10.00 per-endorsement fee. KDOR's CDL FAQ states the requirement directly: assuming the driver already holds P, they "will have to pass an 'S' endorsement knowledge test and a road test in a school bus representative of the type of school bus you will be driving" — and if they do not already hold P, they must pass the P knowledge test as well. KDOR also clarifies that S is required only for school buses or buses contracted by a school district to transport school children, not for city or transit buses.

For what each endorsement permits, the federal knowledge/skills testing baseline behind it, and hazmat’s separate TSA security threat assessment, see CDL endorsements. Veterans and current service members with military driving experience may qualify for a skills-test waiver — see military & veteran CDL pathways.

Federal requirements that apply in Kansas

These are set by federal regulators and are the same in every US jurisdiction. Full detail here.

  • Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT). Since February 2022, first-time CDL applicants — and drivers upgrading to Class A or seeking a first-time school bus, passenger, or hazmat endorsement — must complete Entry-Level Driver Training with a provider on the FMCSA Training Provider Registry before testing.
  • DOT medical certificate. Most CDL holders who operate in interstate commerce must hold a valid DOT medical examiner's certificate, issued by an examiner listed on the FMCSA National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners.
  • Interstate minimum age. Federal rules set 21 as the minimum age to drive commercially across state lines; states set their own intrastate minimum, commonly 18.
  • Hazmat security threat assessment. A hazardous materials endorsement additionally requires a TSA security threat assessment, which is a federal process separate from the state endorsement.

Kansas-specific: Kansas layers its own statutory training mandate on top of the federal entry-level baseline: under K.S.A. 8-2,157, effective July 1, 2018, every applicant for issuance or renewal of a Kansas CDL must first complete Attorney General-approved training in human trafficking identification and prevention and show proof of completion to the Division of Vehicles. KDOR implements this as Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) training — a free video and quiz taking about 30 minutes, completed online or at any full-service exam office, and required only once rather than at every renewal. Kansas also treats holders of its state-only seasonal CDL as exempt from entry-level driver training, an exemption that exists only because Kansas created that license type.

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Self-certification in Kansas

Kansas Department of Revenue, Division of Vehicles administers self-certification for the following FMCSA operating categories:

  • Category 1 — Interstate, non-excepted
  • Category 2 — Interstate, excepted
  • Category 3 — Intrastate, non-excepted
  • Category 4 — Intrastate, excepted

Kansas numbers its four categories rather than naming them, on form "Kansas Commercial Driver's License Holder – Medical Self-Certification" (effective January 2, 2026). Both intrastate categories (3 and 4) require an intrastate-only "K" restriction to be added to the CDL credential. Kansas requires the self-certification to be resubmitted on any original application, renewal, upgrade, or transfer. Separately, effective June 2, 2025, Kansas can no longer manually key in a medical examiner's certificate — the certificate must arrive electronically from the FMCSA National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners.

Source Notes

Where a source is stale, conflicting, or required a judgment call, we document it here rather than presenting a single confident-sounding number. See our methodology for how these calls are made.

  • Kansas requires a training course most states do not: under K.S.A. 8-2,157, you must complete Attorney General-approved human trafficking identification and prevention training — implemented as the free, roughly 30-minute Truckers Against Trafficking video and quiz — and present the certificate before Kansas will issue or renew your CDL. It only has to be completed once, not at every renewal.
  • Kansas prices a CDL as a stack of separate line items rather than one fee. A first-time CDL is $18.00 issuance plus a $15.00 test fee plus an $8.00 photo fee ($41.00), and every endorsement adds $10.00 on top — so the number on the fee chart is not what most applicants actually pay.
  • Kansas law allows a commercial driver's license at age 16 for farm custom harvesting operations (Class B and C vehicles only) under K.S.A. 8-2,147 — well below the minimum age most states set for any CDL.
  • Kansas's published CDL fee chart is footer-dated May 2023. It is still the document the Department of Revenue links as current, but confirm amounts with the Division of Vehicles at 785-296-3671 before relying on them.

means no primary source publishes that figure — left blank on purpose rather than estimated or copied from an unverified aggregator.

Sources

Data last verified: 2026-07-25 (verified by: agent) | Source: Kansas Department of Revenue, Division of Vehicles