Academy · Licensing · TN
Tennessee pest control licence requirements
How do you get a pest control licence in Tennessee?
Tennessee applicator licences are issued by Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) — Consumer and Industry Services, Pesticides. Requirements are set per category rather than as a single general licence, so the exam you sit and the hours you carry depend on which categories you intend to work. Details below are published only once verified against the agency.
Reviewed by LTK editorial team
- Issuing agency
- Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) — Consumer and Industry Services, Pesticides
- Exam structure
- Commercial certification exam (core material now folded into it): $25 per attempt, online through Everblue or in person on selected UT PSEP dates; 70 percent to pass. Licence exam (e.g. GRC, WDO): $150 paid at the exam, online testing vendor only, questions plus specimen identification, 70 percent to pass, results provisional pending review of the recorded session. To sit a licence exam you must already be commercially certified AND have two years verifiable experience under a licensee in that category, a four-year related degree, or a similar licence in another state.
- Application fee
- Not verified yet — we only publish it once it is
- Cycle length
- 36 months
- Agreements
- Tennessee honours current commercial CERTIFICATION from states it has an agreement with (form on the TDA reciprocity page; per-state category table published there). Tennessee does NOT reciprocate any licence category — GRC, WDO and the rest must be tested in Tennessee.
Reciprocity is the most commonly misunderstood part of moving states. We publish only agreements confirmed by the agency, never inferred ones.
Licence categories
| Code | Category |
|---|---|
| GRC | General Pest and Rodent Control (requires C07) |
| WDO | Wood Destroying Organisms (requires C07) |
| FUM | Fumigation - Structural (requires C07) |
| BDC | Bird Control (requires C07) |
| HLT | Horticulture - Lawn and Turf (requires C03) |
| HRI | Horticultural - Interior (requires C03) |
| WEC | Weed Control - Right of Way and Industrial (requires C06) |
| PHMC | Public Health Mosquito Control (requires C08) |
| WPC | Wood Preservatives (requires C11) |
| C03 | Ornamental and Turf |
| C06 | Right-of-Way |
| C07 | Industrial, Institutional, Structural, and Health Related Pest Control |
| C08 | Public Health |
| C11 | Wood Preservatives |
| C14 | Microbial Pest Control |
| C16 | Sewer Line Treatment |
