Car inspection cost by state, and what an emissions test costs

Vehicle inspection requirements and fees, state by state

Safety inspection, emissions test, what it costs and how often, checked on October 23, 2026. Click a state’s name for its full registration cost page; where that page has its own inspection section, the link lands right on it.

Which states require a vehicle inspection?

Twelve states want a regular safety inspection: Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia. In 10 of them an emissions check comes with it, statewide or in certain counties. Hawaii and West Virginia check safety only.

Another 17 states and Washington, D.C. skip the safety inspection but test emissions: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin. Most of them only test in the metro areas that have had air quality problems, so a car registered in Tucson needs a test and one in Flagstaff doesn’t. Maryland is the odd one out: its safety inspection only comes up when a car is sold or titled.

Which states require emissions testing?

27 states and D.C. Only 7 states and D.C. test everywhere: Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. California tests most of the state. In the other 19, the test only applies in the counties or metro areas with air quality problems: Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. Your address decides it, so check the county before you assume either way.

The remaining 23 states have no emissions test. Idaho, Tennessee and Washington are on that list because they stopped testing, and New Hampshire because its program is on hold.

How much does an emissions test cost?

Where the state fixes the price, between about $16 and $35. Arizona's standard test is $16.15, Connecticut's $20, Maryland's $30 ($26 at a kiosk), and Colorado's $35, the same as D.C., where $35 buys two years. Other states set a maximum instead: $24 in Missouri, $25 in Georgia, $28 in Virginia, and $75.50 in Clark County, Nevada, the highest anywhere. Illinois and Ohio charge nothing. California leaves the price to each station; its average is on the smog check cost page.

A newer car may not need one at all, and Connecticut charges a $40 fee in place of the test for cars under 4 model years old. The real cost of a failed test is the repair before the retest, not the test itself.

Are there any states without vehicle inspections?

Yes, 21 of them: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington and Wyoming. Idaho, Tennessee and Washington used to test emissions and stopped, in 2023, 2022 and 2020. New Hampshire’s program is suspended rather than repealed.

One catch. No inspection doesn’t always mean no check when you move in. Kansas wants a $20 Highway Patrol VIN inspection for a car with an out-of-state title, Nebraska and Wyoming $10, and Kentucky and Idaho $5. Skip it and the county won’t title the car. The guide to registering a car from another state covers the rest of that visit.

How much does it cost to get your car inspected?

That comes down to who sets the price, and states do it three ways.

• The state sets one fee. Hawaii $25.75, Massachusetts $35, Colorado $35, Connecticut $20, Arizona $16.15, Rhode Island $55 for two years, D.C. $35 for two years, and Maryland’s VEIP emissions test $30.
• The state sets a ceiling. Maine up to $12.50 ($18.50 in Cumberland County), Missouri up to $12 for safety and $24 for emissions, West Virginia up to $19, Georgia up to $25, Virginia $20 for safety and up to $28 for emissions, New York up to $37 around New York City and $21 elsewhere, and Nevada up to $75.50 in Clark County, $71.50 in Washoe (2026). A ceiling isn’t a price, so a station can charge less, and Georgia makes each one post what it charges.
• The station sets it. Pennsylvania and Vermont let each station price its own inspection, as do New Mexico’s Albuquerque stations (usually about $30 plus tax) and California’s smog check stations (see what a smog check costs).

And some cost nothing at all: Delaware does inspections free in its DMV lanes, Illinois and Ohio test free, and New Jersey’s state stations charge nothing.

Small print that changes the real cost: Maine’s fee is owed whether the car passes or fails, Oregon only charges when the car passes, and Arizona and Massachusetts give one free retest within 60 days. D.C. gives two free re-inspections within 20 days.

What states are getting rid of inspections?

Quite a few, and most of the change happened in the last two years.

• Texas, January 1, 2025. House Bill 3297 ended the safety inspection for non-commercial cars and replaced it with a $7.50 fee at registration. Emissions testing stayed, and Bexar County joins on November 1, 2026.
• New Hampshire, February 13, 2026. The program was suspended when the inspection contract was not renewed. In August 2026 the EPA proposed letting the state drop it from its air quality plan. Some DMV pages, the new-resident guide among them, still say an inspection is required; the inspections page is the current one.
• Louisiana, June 2, 2026. Act 701 ended the yearly safety inspection for ordinary passenger cars. The five Baton Rouge-area parishes keep theirs until the EPA approves the change.
• North Carolina, May 11, 2026. The EPA moved to let the state stop emissions testing in its 19 counties. The $13.60 safety inspection stays.
• Ohio, September 29, 2026. The governor told Ohio EPA to begin ending E-Check in Northeast Ohio, after newer cars got a longer exemption in 2025.

It isn’t all one way. Maryland changed its VEIP fees in 2025 and now charges $30, or $26 at a kiosk, Colorado’s test is $35, and Utah removed its cap on safety inspection fees in May 2026. West Virginia kept its inspection but moved it to every two years.

Do you need an inspection to register a car?

In the states that inspect, usually yes, and the registration is how they enforce it. Looking up the car inspection cost for registration? It’s the same test at the same price. The renewal just won’t go through without it. New York won’t renew a car that hasn’t been inspected in the last 12 months. North Carolina’s inspection has to fall within 90 days before the registration runs out. Hawaii won’t renew without a current safety certificate, and in Texas’s emissions counties the test comes first and the registration sticker proves both.

If you’ve just moved, the clock is short: 5 days in Rhode Island, 7 in Massachusetts, 10 days after titling in West Virginia and 15 in Vermont. Every state’s full registration bill, inspection included where it applies, is on its registration cost page, and the late fee guide covers what a lapse costs.

Electric, new and older cars

Electric cars skip emissions testing wherever a program names them, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, D.C., Missouri, New Jersey, New York and Texas. They still take the safety inspection in the states that have one. And many states charge them something else every year: an EV fee at registration (see electric car fees by state).

New cars get a head start almost everywhere: 8 model years before California’s first smog check, 7 in Delaware, 6 in Ohio, 4 in Indiana, Oregon and Virginia, and a 5-year first sticker in New Jersey. Missouri waits longest of all, 10 model years as long as the car is under 150,000 miles. At the other end, Georgia stops testing cars at 25 model years old.

Questions people ask