By VitalPost Editorial · July 25, 2026
A state-by-state look at nurse practitioner pay using BLS OEWS May 2025 data, with a national annual mean of $137,300 and median of $132,300, plus what drives the differences and how to read the numbers.
Nurse practitioners (NPs) are one of the fastest-growing clinical roles in the United States, and compensation has climbed alongside demand. If you are weighing a job offer, planning a relocation, or simply benchmarking your worth, it helps to start from a consistent, national data set rather than anecdotes from a single employer or recruiter.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program (May 2025), the national annual mean wage for nurse practitioners was $137,300 and the national annual median wage was $132,300. The mean sits slightly above the median, which tells you the distribution has a longer tail toward higher earners pulling the average up. Those national figures are a useful anchor, but they mask real variation from state to state, and even more within states.
The table below breaks down NP pay by state so you can compare where you are, or where you are thinking of going, against the national benchmark.
| Rank | State | Annual mean wage |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | $176,760 |
| 2 | Oregon | $155,780 |
| 3 | New Jersey | $155,750 |
| 4 | New York | $153,900 |
| 5 | Massachusetts | $152,320 |
| 6 | Washington | $152,180 |
| 7 | Alaska | $149,120 |
| 8 | District of Columbia | $146,470 |
| 9 | New Mexico | $143,510 |
| 10 | Rhode Island | $143,150 |
| 11 | Hawaii | $142,910 |
| 12 | Connecticut | $142,340 |
| 13 | Arizona | $140,600 |
| 14 | Vermont | $139,400 |
| 15 | New Hampshire | $138,070 |
| 16 | Nevada | $137,410 |
| 17 | Utah | $137,060 |
| 18 | Iowa | $136,940 |
| 19 | Minnesota | $135,890 |
| 20 | Montana | $135,290 |
| 21 | Wisconsin | $135,160 |
| 22 | Maine | $134,210 |
| 23 | Oklahoma | $134,200 |
| 24 | Idaho | $133,420 |
| 25 | Maryland | $133,360 |
| 26 | Delaware | $132,900 |
| 27 | Michigan | $132,790 |
| 28 | Wyoming | $132,680 |
| 29 | Colorado | $132,540 |
| 30 | Pennsylvania | $132,070 |
| 31 | Nebraska | $131,710 |
| 32 | Texas | $131,420 |
| 33 | Missouri | $130,970 |
| 34 | Illinois | $130,940 |
| 35 | North Carolina | $130,870 |
| 36 | Florida | $130,410 |
| 37 | Arkansas | $130,260 |
| 38 | Virginia | $129,060 |
| 39 | Georgia | $128,800 |
| 40 | Kansas | $127,940 |
| 41 | West Virginia | $126,780 |
| 42 | Louisiana | $126,630 |
| 43 | Indiana | $126,600 |
| 44 | North Dakota | $126,370 |
| 45 | Mississippi | $125,340 |
| 46 | South Dakota | $125,160 |
| 47 | Kentucky | $125,010 |
| 48 | South Carolina | $124,170 |
| 49 | Guam | $123,960 |
| 50 | Ohio | $122,910 |
| 51 | Tennessee | $115,510 |
| 52 | Alabama | $110,970 |
Figures are U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS annual mean wages, May 2025 (52 states/territories with published data; BLS suppresses some states, which are omitted rather than estimated).
State-to-state gaps in NP pay are rarely random. A handful of forces explain most of what you see in the table.
The single biggest driver is the local cost of living. States and metro areas with expensive housing, higher taxes, and pricier day-to-day essentials tend to post higher nominal wages, partly because employers have to pay more to attract and keep staff. A larger paycheck in a high-cost coastal metro does not always translate into more purchasing power than a smaller paycheck in a lower-cost region. When you compare offers across state lines, adjust for what your money will actually buy: rent or a mortgage, state income tax, childcare, and commuting costs can easily swing the real value of two "similar" salaries.
Local labor markets matter. Where NPs are in short supply relative to patient demand, wages rise. Where NP programs graduate a steady stream of clinicians into a saturated market, wage growth tends to flatten. Demand is also shaped by state scope-of-practice laws: in full-practice-authority states, NPs can evaluate, diagnose, and prescribe independently, which can expand the settings that hire them and, in turn, the competition for their time.
Rural and underserved areas frequently pay premiums, sign-on bonuses, or loan-repayment incentives to attract clinicians who might otherwise choose an urban post. These premiums can meaningfully close the gap with higher-cost states, especially once cost of living is factored in. Federal and state programs tied to shortage designations sometimes add loan repayment or stipends on top of base pay, so the "headline" salary can understate total value in these settings.
Where you work shapes what you earn. NPs in hospitals, outpatient clinics, surgical or procedural specialties, psychiatric care, and home health can see very different pay, benefits, and call expectations. Specialty certification, years of experience, productivity or RVU-based bonus structures, night and weekend differentials, and whether a role is employed versus contract all move the number. The OEWS wage is a base-wage snapshot and does not capture the full picture of bonuses, benefits, or overtime.
These figures are a starting point for a conversation, not the final word on any single offer. A few caveats will keep you from over-reading them.
Mean vs. median. The median is the midpoint: half of NPs earn more, half earn less. It is usually the better gauge of a "typical" wage because it is not distorted by a small number of very high earners. The mean (average) is pulled upward by those top earners. When both are shown, the median is often the more realistic benchmark for a typical role, while the gap between the two hints at how stretched the top of the market is.
All-settings caveat. OEWS blends many settings, specialties, and experience levels into one figure per state. A new graduate in primary care and a seasoned NP in a procedural specialty are both in the same bucket. Treat the state number as a center of gravity, not a quote for your specific job, city, or experience level.
Individual offers vary widely. Your actual offer depends on your specialty, certifications, years of experience, shift and call requirements, productivity incentives, and the local market. Two NPs in the same state can earn quite differently, and total compensation, including retirement contributions, health benefits, paid time off, CME allowances, and loan repayment, can be worth far more than the base wage alone.
Not everyone is fully captured. OEWS is built primarily from employer-reported wages for salaried and hourly workers. Clinicians in independent practice, partnership arrangements, or 1099 contract work may not be fully reflected, and locum tenens or per-diem pay can differ substantially from the employed rates that anchor these averages. If your situation falls outside a standard W-2 job, weight the data accordingly and lean on setting-specific benchmarks.
Use the table to see where your state sits relative to the national mean and median, then layer in cost of living, your specialty, and total compensation before you decide what a number really means for you.
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