Wyoming charges you a full renewal to put your married name on a driver’s license. Not the $25 duplicate fee you would expect, but the standard $35 renewal, in exchange for a brand new five-year license. You also hand over your old card at the counter and wait four to six weeks for the new one to arrive. Knowing that before you go changes how you plan the whole thing.
Six Things People Get Wrong Here
Read these before you drive anywhere
- There is no Wyoming DMV. Driver licensing belongs to WYDOT Driver Services, and the counter you want is a driver exam office. Searching for a DMV is how people end up reading another state’s rules.
- You surrender your license. Wyoming requires you to “appear in person at any Wyoming driver exam office, surrender your current Wyoming license or ID card”. There is no keeping the old one as a souvenir.
- The new card takes 4 to 6 weeks in the post. Plan around any travel or car purchase in that window.
- The state office charges five times what your county clerk charges for the same certified copy. $25 in Cheyenne, $5 at a county clerk.
- Wyoming has no online voter registration, and if you post the form it has to be notarized first.
- Social Security comes first, always. WYDOT will not issue the new credential until Social Security has your married name.
Step 1: The $5 Copy, Not the $25 One
Your marriage record lives with the county clerk that issued the license, and that is also the cheapest place to buy a certified copy. Natrona County publishes it plainly: a certified copy of a marriage license is $5.00, against $30 for the license itself. Other counties run a dollar or two higher. Buy two while you are there, because Social Security wants to see one and the driver exam office wants to see one. Natrona County Clerk: marriage licenses · our guide to certified marriage certificates
The Wyoming Department of Health’s Vital Statistics Services in Cheyenne holds the same records and charges $25 per certified copy, a fee that rose by $5 in 2021. It is the right call only if you have moved away and cannot get back to the county, or if you no longer remember which county issued the license. It can only issue records for marriages that actually happened in Wyoming. 2300 Capitol Avenue, Hathaway Building, Cheyenne, (307) 777-7591. Wyoming Vital Statistics: marriage certificates
Step 2: Social Security, With Only Three Offices in the State
Wyoming is one of the states where Social Security accepts a marriage name change online, which matters more here than almost anywhere else: there are only 3 Social Security field offices in the entire state. SSA policy RM 10205.630 lists Wyoming as yes for a replacement card and yes for a last-name change due to marriage. Otherwise it is form SS-5, free, and your number does not change. SSA policy RM 10205.630 · SSA: change your name · our Social Security name change guide
WYDOT is explicit that this comes first: “If you have not changed your name with the Social Security Administration, you will need to do so prior to applying for your new credential.” Here is the entire list of Wyoming offices, which is short enough to read in one go:
| Office | Address | City | ZIP | Phone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casper | 150 E B St | Casper | 82601 | (866) 964-3972 |
| Cheyenne | 3001 E Pershing Blvd | Cheyenne | 82001 | (866) 336-7580 |
| Sheridan | 2268 N Main St | Sheridan | 82801 | (866) 530-7798 |
Step 3: The Driver Exam Office, and the $35
What Wyoming wants at the counter
- You, in person, at any Wyoming driver exam office.
- Your current license or ID card, which you surrender there and then.
- Legal proof of the change: “a court order, marriage certificate, divorce decree … or other legal verification of a name change signed by a judge”.
- Social Security already updated.
- The standard renewal fee: $35 for a Class C license. A duplicate would have been $25, an ID card is $10, and any class of CDL is $45.
What you get back is not a corrected version of the old card. It is a new license, valid five years (ID cards run eight), and it is “mailed to you in approximately 4 to 6 weeks”.
Wyoming publishes no deadline for reporting a name change. The 10-day rule you may run into belongs to address changes, not names. Driver Services is on 307-777-4800 if your card has not arrived. WYDOT: add or change information · WYDOT driver license fees · our driver’s license name change guide
Step 4: The Title, at the County Clerk Again
Wyoming does not title vehicles at the state level. Your county clerk does it, on the Application for Certificate of Title, form MV-300A, and each county sets its own fees. Carbon County, as a worked example, charges $15 for a new or duplicate title and $10 for a VIN inspection. Carbon County: vehicle titles · WYDOT: titles, plates and registration
Because the fee is county business rather than state business, call your own clerk before you go rather than trusting a figure from a forum. Take the certified marriage copy, the current title, and your new license if it has arrived.
Voter Registration: No Website, and a Notary
This is the step that surprises people who have moved from almost anywhere else. Wyoming has no online voter registration. You register, or re-register under the new name, in person with your county clerk, or by post, and a posted application “must have this form notarized before mailing” unless you are a military or overseas voter. Wyoming Secretary of State: registering to vote · Wyoming voter registration and change form
Deadlines are friendlier than the process: in person with the clerk or by post at least 14 days before an election, and if you miss it, Wyoming still lets you register and vote at your polling place on Election Day. The 23 county clerks are the chief election officers for their counties, so the clerk who sold you the certified copy is also the person who fixes your registration. Wyoming election FAQs
State Income Tax: Nothing to Do
Wyoming has no personal state income tax. There is no revenue department to notify, no change-of-name form, and no fee. Most state guides have a section here; in Wyoming it is genuinely empty, which is one fewer agency than a newlywed faces in most of the country.
Your federal return still matters. The IRS matches the name on it against Social Security records, which is one more reason the SS-5 goes first.
Hunting and Fishing
Wyoming Game and Fish lets you manage almost your whole sportsperson record online, with one pointed exception: “Most customer information can be updated online with the exception of your name and date of birth.” A married name is exactly the thing the self-service portal will not touch.
Call 307-777-4600, fax 307-777-4610, or email wgfLicenseSales@wyo.gov. Changes are handled first come, first served, and you can check the record online after two or three business days. Do it before you apply for anything in the draw, so your application and your license agree. Wyoming Game and Fish: user account information
What a Wyoming Name Change Costs
Cost & Time at a Glance
| Cost | About $55 if you buy locally: $5 for the certified copy at the county clerk, $35 for the license, and around $15 for the county title, plus $10 if a VIN inspection is needed. Buy the certificate from Cheyenne instead and the same job costs $75 or more. |
| Time | Social Security first, and it can be done online here. Then one trip to a driver exam office. The long pole is the 4 to 6 weeks your new license spends in the post. |
| Deadline | None published for the license. For voting, 14 days before an election if you register with the clerk or by post, or turn up at the polls on Election Day. |
Your County Clerk Does Three of These Jobs
Wyoming pushes a striking amount of this process down to the county. The same clerk sells the certified copy, titles the car, and registers you to vote:
| Job | Who does it | What it costs |
|---|---|---|
| Certified marriage copy | County clerk that issued the license | $5 in Natrona County; budget $5 to $6 |
| Certified copy if you have left the state | Vital Statistics Services, Cheyenne | $25 |
| Vehicle title in the new name | County clerk, form MV-300A | $15 in Carbon County, set county by county |
| VIN inspection, if required | County clerk | $10 in Carbon County |
| Voter registration under the new name | County clerk, or by post with a notary | Free |
| Driver license | WYDOT driver exam office, not the county | $35 |
Which Married Name Wyoming Will Print
Taking your spouse’s surname, hyphenating the two, or moving your maiden name into the middle slot all run on the certified marriage certificate, and none of them involves a judge. WYDOT’s own list of acceptable proof puts the marriage certificate alongside a court order, which tells you how it views the document: it is legal proof of the change, full stop.
A first-name change, or a surname that has nothing to do with the marriage, is a different animal. That is a district court petition, filed where you live, and the filing fee is set locally rather than published as one statewide number. Settle the exact spelling with Social Security before you go to the driver exam office, because Wyoming prints what Social Security has verified.
Professional Licenses
Wyoming licenses profession by profession, with no single statewide portal to log in to. The pattern is the same everywhere, so work it in this order:
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1. Finish the government steps | Social Security, then the license. Most boards want to see a document that already shows the new name |
| 2. Contact your own board directly | Nursing, real estate, insurance, engineering and the rest each keep their own records and their own forms |
| 3. Send what they ask for | Usually the certified marriage copy, your license number, and a written request from you rather than from your employer |
| 4. Check the renewal date | Several boards reprint the credential only at renewal, so the record changes now and the certificate changes later |
So Wyoming in order: $5 certified copy from the county clerk that issued your license, Social Security next and probably online, then a driver exam office for the $35 renewal, then back to the county clerk for the title and your voter registration. Our name change checklist covers the banks and accounts once the new license lands, and you can compare how other states handle it if you have moved recently.