Nurse Practitioners salary

SOC 29-1171 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$132,300

per year, nationally

Middle half

$117,990–$156,700

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

323,040

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+40.1%

29,500 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$101,340$174,420

10th: $101,340
25th: $117,990
Median: $132,300
75th: $156,700
90th: $174,420

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Master's degree
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: None

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where nurse practitioners earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	California	$168,520	110.7	25,120	0.66×
2	New Jersey	$159,310	108.8	9,950	1.12×
3	Washington	$156,100	107.0	6,700	0.91×
4	Oregon	$155,680	103.4	2,820	0.69×
5	Alaska	$155,170	102.4	710	1.04×
6	New York	$153,510	107.9	22,890	1.14×
7	Massachusetts	$142,440	105.8	8,070	1.07×
8	Nevada	$140,670	100.0	1,930	0.60×
9	Connecticut	$138,470	103.6	3,750	1.06×
10	New Hampshire	$137,550	104.2	1,770	1.24×
11	New Mexico	$137,520	92.2	1,770	0.98×
12	Montana	$137,210	94.6	1,260	1.18×
13	Rhode Island	$135,970	102.3	1,180	1.13×
14	District of Columbia	$135,880	109.9	680	0.47×
15	Hawaii	$135,570	110.0	550	0.43×
16	Vermont	$134,740	98.0	700	1.11×
17	Arizona	$134,420	100.7	7,220	1.07×
18	Oklahoma	$133,390	87.8	3,620	1.02×
19	Minnesota	$133,260	98.6	7,780	1.27×
20	Colorado	$132,930	103.1	4,270	0.72×
21	Idaho	$132,540	95.5	1,750	0.98×
22	Wyoming	$132,200	92.7	440	0.75×
23	Nebraska	$132,130	90.1	2,340	1.10×
24	Wisconsin	$131,980	94.1	5,160	0.84×
25	Texas	$131,670	97.1	25,970	0.89×
26	Michigan	$131,450	96.2	8,290	0.91×
27	Maryland	$131,110	105.0	6,710	1.17×
28	Delaware	$131,040	99.8	1,430	1.42×
29	Utah	$130,920	98.9	2,740	0.76×
30	Illinois	$130,680	100.0	9,270	0.73×
31	Maine	$130,260	97.0	1,650	1.24×
32	Iowa	$130,160	87.8	3,240	1.00×
33	Pennsylvania	$130,140	97.6	10,670	0.85×
34	North Dakota	$130,070	89.0	1,290	1.44×
35	Missouri	$129,930	90.8	7,710	1.26×
36	Florida	$129,510	103.4	21,790	1.06×
37	Georgia	$129,430	96.3	10,460	1.03×
38	North Carolina	$128,990	94.3	9,800	0.96×
39	South Dakota	$128,840	88.6	1,020	1.07×
40	Indiana	$128,830	93.3	7,450	1.12×
41	Virginia	$127,810	101.1	7,110	0.83×
42	West Virginia	$127,320	89.5	2,550	1.75×
43	Kansas	$126,650	90.1	3,780	1.27×
44	Arkansas	$125,660	86.9	3,970	1.47×
45	Louisiana	$125,600	88.2	5,380	1.34×
46	Ohio	$124,870	92.8	15,400	1.34×
47	Mississippi	$124,730	87.0	4,690	1.94×
48	South Carolina	$123,290	93.7	5,670	1.18×
49	Kentucky	$122,870	90.2	4,770	1.15×
50	Tennessee	$117,590	91.9	12,150	1.78×
51	Alabama	$105,750	88.8	5,640	1.29×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where nurse practitioners wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for nurse practitioners

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$231,560	110.4	1,580	0.67×
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$219,080	115.6	3,110	0.63×
3	Vallejo, CA	$182,370	108.5	180	0.61×
4	Napa, CA	$176,270	112.6	60	0.40×
5	Modesto, CA	$173,380	104.1	380	0.93×
6	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$172,010	106.7	1,170	0.52×
7	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$169,920	106.4	1,710	0.48×
8	Hanford-Corcoran, CA	$168,540	101.6	70	0.73×
9	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$167,190	109.9	190	0.91×
10	Chico, CA	$167,080	101.2	140	0.84×
11	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$167,040	107.8	280	0.65×
12	Fresno, CA	$166,570	102.2	570	0.57×
13	Salinas, CA	$166,090	109.0	140	0.37×
14	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$165,580	108.8	200	0.48×
15	Bakersfield-Delano, CA	$165,580	100.9	430	0.61×
16	Yuba City, CA	$165,020	104.2	70	0.65×
17	El Centro, CA	$164,700	95.2	70	0.48×
18	Kahului-Wailuku, HI	$164,210	109.4	60	0.41×
19	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$163,860	111.9	2,340	0.73×
20	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$163,340	112.6	21,680	1.10×
21	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$162,950	108.6	140	0.57×
22	Salem, OR	$162,600	103.6	320	0.80×
23	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$161,470	113.6	10,060	0.77×
24	Redding, CA	$160,480	100.7	120	0.83×
25	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$160,090	111.1	—	—
26	Visalia, CA	$159,430	99.8	250	0.71×
27	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$159,150	105.1	280	0.46×
28	Bend, OR	$159,100	103.6	190	0.83×
29	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$158,890	105.4	1,390	0.56×
30	Merced, CA	$158,750	98.3	100	0.59×
31	Anchorage, AK	$157,430	105.4	410	1.11×
32	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$156,470	105.6	160	0.81×
33	Medford, OR	$155,580	101.4	200	1.07×
34	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$153,630	103.2	490	0.99×
35	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$151,740	109.4	550	0.99×
36	Kingston, NY	$151,370	100.7	70	0.60×
37	Vineland, NJ	$149,230	96.0	110	0.85×
38	Longview-Kelso, WA	$148,960	97.5	60	0.68×
39	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$148,800	110.5	320	0.47×
40	Grants Pass, OR	$148,160	97.8	50	0.86×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where nurse practitioners wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.