How to Get a Hazmat Endorsement

For CDL holders

Updated September 28, 2026

This guide covers each step in order, what the TSA check looks at, how renewal works, and where hazmat trucking ends and car hauling begins. Each rule links to its source.

What the Hazmat Endorsement Covers

You need the H endorsement to drive a truck hauling hazardous materials that must carry placards. It shows on your license as the letter H. If you hold both the tank and hazmat endorsements, your license shows X instead.

You cannot haul hazmat on a commercial learner’s permit, so you add H to a full CDL. For the other endorsements and what each one allows, see our guide to CDL endorsements.

How to Get a Hazmat Endorsement, Step by Step

1. Finish hazmat training.If this is your first H endorsement, you must complete hazmat theory training from a provider on FMCSA’s Training Provider Registry. It is classroom only, with no behind-the-wheel part and no minimum hours.
2. Apply for the TSA security threat assessment.Pre-enroll online, or do it all in person at a TSA enrollment center. If your license is from Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, or Wisconsin, you apply and give fingerprints through your state’s licensing office instead.
3. Visit the enrollment center.Bring your identity and citizenship documents, give fingerprints, and pay the fee. TSA lists the fee as $85.25 for new and renewing applicants as of September 28, 2026. It is not refundable.
4. Pass your state’s hazmat knowledge test.You need at least 80% to pass. If step 1 applies to you, your state must see your training on the registry before it gives you the test.
5. Get the endorsement.TSA sends its decision to your state, not to you. Once your state has it, the state adds H to your CDL.

The order of steps 2 through 4 can differ by state. Colorado, for example, asks you to finish the TSA application before you apply for a CDL with hazmat. Check your state’s CDL page before you start.

The TSA Background Check

TSA’s check is called a security threat assessment. You can apply if you hold a CDL from a U.S. state and you are a U.S. citizen, a lawful permanent resident, or a nonimmigrant, asylee, or refugee in lawful status. Your state may have stricter rules, so check with it first.

Under the federal standards, TSA can deny the endorsement if you:

• Have a disqualifying criminal offense
• Do not meet the immigration status rules
• Are found to pose a security threat after TSA’s own checks
• Have been found by a court to lack mental capacity, or were committed to a mental health facility

The rules split criminal offenses into two groups:

Being wanted or under indictment for a listed felony also disqualifies you until it is resolved. If TSA finds something, it sends you a letter explaining what to do next. The rules also let you ask TSA for a waiver of some standards. This is a plain summary of the rules, not legal advice.

Already have a TWIC? A 2018 law lets states issue H to a driver with a valid TWIC, using the TWIC background check. TSA lists a reduced fee of $41.00 in states that accept this. An H issued this way expires no later than the TWIC. Our TWIC card guide covers the other TSA credential.

The Hazmat Knowledge Test

Your state gives the test, using questions built to the federal standard. You need at least 80% to pass. The federal rules list what you must know, including:

• The hazardous materials table
• Shipping papers
• Marking, labeling, and placards
• Loading and unloading
• Keeping hazmat loads apart
• Parking and attending the truck
• Routes, tunnels, and railroad crossings
• Emergency equipment and response

Test languages vary by state. Colorado gives its CDL knowledge test in English and Spanish, but its hazmat test only in English. Colorado also asks for a new written hazmat test each time you renew.

How Long a Hazmat Endorsement Lasts, and Renewing It

• Every 5 years or less. States must renew H at least every 5 years so that TSA screens every holder at least that often. A state with a shorter license cycle may renew sooner.
• Your state warns you. At least 60 days before your H expires, your state must tell you that you need a new TSA check.
• New fingerprints. TSA takes them again at each renewal, and your state may retest you.
• A short grace period. If TSA has not decided by your expiration date, the state may extend your H for 90 days.
• Moving states. You may not need a new TSA check to transfer H, as long as your new state issues it to expire within 5 years of your last check.

Hazmat Trucking vs Car Hauling

Hazmat trucking and car hauling are different jobs, and the endorsement question is different for each.

What the rule for vehicles says. Cars carried as cargo fall under their own federal section, 49 CFR 173.220. It covers vehicles with fuel in them or with installed batteries, including battery-powered vehicles. It sets conditions, such as closed fuel tanks and secured batteries. It then says shipments made under that section “are not subject to any other requirements of this subchapter for transportation by motor vehicle or rail car,” with one exception spelled out in the section. Read the full text for the details that apply to a load.

Sources

Last checked September 28, 2026. Fees and processing times change. Confirm with TSA and your state before you apply. This guide is a plain-language summary, not legal advice.

1. TSA, Hazardous Materials Endorsement (fee, steps, eligibility)
2. TSA, What happens after I submit my application?
3. TSA, How do I renew my HME?
4. TSA, How do I transfer my HME?
5. TSA, HME with a valid TWIC
6. 49 CFR 383.141, hazmat endorsement and TSA screening
7. 49 CFR 383.121, hazmat knowledge requirements
8. 49 CFR 383.135, passing scores
9. 49 CFR 380.609, entry-level training requirements
10. 49 CFR 1572.5, security threat assessment standards
11. 49 CFR 1572.103, disqualifying criminal offenses
12. 49 CFR 1572.13, state responsibilities
13. 49 CFR 173.220, vehicles transported as cargo
14. Colorado DMV, CDL general information
15. Florida HSMV, fee schedule