CDL Requirements in Kansas

Verified against Kansas Department of Revenue, Division of Vehicles · 2026-07-25

Compiled and verified against primary state DMV/DPS/BMV sources 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 age	21 (federal floor)
Fees
Application fee	—
Initial CDL fee	$41
Renewal fee	$26
Renewal period	5 years (expires on the licensee's birthday)
Knowledge test fee	$15
Skills test fee	$15
Testing rules
Third-party testers allowed	Yes
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
Endorsement	Available	Fee	Knowledge test	Skills test
Hazardous materials (H)	Yes	$10	Yes	No
Tank vehicle (N)	Yes	$10	Yes	—
Doubles/triples (T)	Yes	$10	Yes	—
Passenger (P)	Yes	$10	Yes	Yes
School bus (S)	Yes	$10	Yes	Yes

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.

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.

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