What is the average CRNA salary in Washington state in 2026?

The BLS OEWS May 2025 median annual wage for CRNAs in Washington state is $274,390 per year ($131.92/hr). This is approximately 10.5% above the national CRNA mean of $248,320. Seattle-area system postings from 2025–2026 place base salaries in the range of $235,040–$312,000 depending on experience and employer. Travel and locum CRNAs working Washington assignments earn $160–$230/hr, with some rural or shortage-area postings reaching $255,000–$295,000/yr in equivalent annual terms.

Is Washington an opt-out state for CRNA supervision?

Yes. Washington opted out of the federal CMS physician supervision requirement for CRNAs in October 2003, making it one of the earliest opt-out states. As of 2026, 27 states have opted out. Washington CRNAs can administer anesthesia without a supervising physician under Medicare and Medicaid conditions of participation, and have independent practice authority under state law. This expands CRNA deployment in ambulatory surgery centers, critical access hospitals, and rural facilities, and generally supports higher CRNA compensation compared to mandatory-supervision states.

How much does Washington's lack of state income tax affect CRNA take-home pay?

Washington levies no state income tax, which is a significant advantage for high earners. On a $274,390 CRNA salary, the absence of state income tax saves approximately $20,000–$27,000 per year compared to California (top rate 13.3%) and about $26,000 compared to Oregon (top rate 9.9%). This means a Washington CRNA earning the BLS median takes home roughly the same after-tax income as a California CRNA earning $290,000–$300,000. The tax advantage makes Washington one of the most favorable states for CRNA compensation on a net basis.

What do travel CRNA jobs pay in Washington state?

Travel and locum CRNA assignments in Washington pay $160–$230+ per hour depending on specialty, location, and assignment type. A Spokane ambulatory surgery center posting in late 2026 advertised $230/hr for a part-time CRNA, while full-time Spokane permanent postings showed $255,000–$295,000/yr. For 13-week travel contracts, weekly packages in Washington generally run $4,500–$6,500 combining taxable base with housing and meal per diems. Eastern Washington and rural areas show upward wage pressure due to CRNA access gaps, with shortage-premium rates at critical access hospitals running higher than metro-area postings.

Which hospital system pays CRNAs the most in Washington state?

Swedish/Providence posts the widest range ($235,040–$312,000) and can reach the highest base for experienced CRNAs. Virginia Mason Franciscan Health (CommonSpirit) posts $268,800–$291,200 plus up to $10,000 quality incentive and $20,000 signing bonus. Providence Regional Medical Center (Everett/Seattle) uses a tiered structure: 0–2 years $235,040, 2–5 years $260,000, 5+ years $291,200, plus $10,000 relocation. UW Medicine and Seattle Children's Hospital post $250,008–$281,628. The highest single-system earning potential is at Swedish/Providence for experienced CRNAs, while Virginia Mason Franciscan offers the most transparent incentive structure.

CRNA Salary in Washington 2026: $274K BLS Median, No Income Tax, Seattle Premium

The Numbers: Washington CRNA Salary in 2026

The Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2025 release puts Washington state's annual median wage for CRNAs at $274,390 per year ($131.92/hr). That is 10.5% above the national CRNA mean of $248,320 — roughly $26,000 more per year before you factor in the absence of state income tax.

Washington's CRNA labor market is concentrated in three corridors: the King–Snohomish–Pierce metro (Seattle–Bellevue–Tacoma), the Spokane–Coeur d'Alene metro on the eastern border, and the rural critical-access hospital network running through the Yakima Valley, the Tri-Cities, and the Olympic Peninsula. Each corridor operates at a different pay level.

WA Median (BLS OEWS May 2025)

$274,390

$131.92/hr

National CRNA Mean

$248,320

$119.38/hr — BLS OEWS May 2025

WA Premium vs. National

+$26,070

+10.5% above mean

System-level postings from 2025–2026 bracket the figure. Virginia Mason Franciscan Health (CommonSpirit) lists $268,800–$291,200 base. Providence Regional Medical Center scales from $235,040 at 0–2 years to $291,200 at five-plus years. Swedish/Providence posts the widest range: $235,040–$312,000, with the ceiling reflecting specialized cardiac and neurosurgical blocks. UW Medicine and Seattle Children's post $250,008–$281,628 on their salary bands. Travel and locum assignments run $160–$230+/hr depending on specialty and access classification.

Employer / System	Type	Base Range 2026
Virginia Mason Franciscan (CommonSpirit)	Academic / Level I	$268,800–$291,200
Swedish / Providence — Seattle	Academic community	$235,040–$312,000
Providence Regional Medical Ctr (Everett)	Level II trauma	$235,040–$291,200
UW Medicine / Seattle Children's	Academic / pediatric	$250,008–$281,628
MultiCare Health System	Regional multi-site	$235,000–$275,000
Travel / locum — statewide	Contract	$160–$230+/hr
Spokane area (postings)	ASC + hospital	$255,000–$295,000

Seattle Systems: What Each Major Employer Offers

Virginia Mason Franciscan Health (merged with CommonSpirit in 2021) runs the flagship quaternary campus on First Hill alongside six regional hospitals in the Puget Sound corridor. Their CRNA postings offer a base of $268,800–$291,200 with a quality incentive of up to $10,000 and signing bonuses up to $20,000 for subspecialty-trained providers. The cardiac and thoracic blocks carry premium shift rates. CRNAs practice under Washington's opt-out model with no mandated physician co-signature.

Providence Regional Medical Center (Everett, the system's flagship WA hospital) uses a transparent tiered scale published with each posting: 0–2 years experience starts at $235,040; 2–5 years steps to $260,000; five-plus years reaches $291,200. The system adds $10,000 in relocation assistance and a continuing education allowance. Collocated physicians can supervise if they choose, but CRNAs are not required to seek it.

Swedish Medical Center / Providence — Seattle posts the broadest compensation window in the state at $235,040–$312,000. The high end reflects senior CRNAs in complex neurosurgical or cardiac blocks working a hybrid clinical/education schedule. Swedish's residency affiliation adds a teaching differential that effectively lifts the ceiling above what general community hospitals pay.

UW Medicine anchors the academic market at $250,008–$281,628. The range is tighter than Swedish because UW applies a standardized faculty salary grid, but the benefits package (state pension PERS, subsidized parking, WSECU credit union, comprehensive health) adds meaningful total compensation that doesn't appear in the base figure. Seattle Children's, a separate organization with a UW residency affiliation, posts a similar band and adds a pediatric-complexity differential.

MultiCare Health System (Tacoma, Puyallup, Covington, Auburn) is the South Sound's dominant nonprofit, posting $235,000–$275,000. It is lower than First Hill employers because the case mix skews toward general community surgery rather than complex academic cases — but the Tacoma cost-of-living discount relative to Seattle proper is real, and MultiCare offers a defined-contribution pension that most Seattle systems have moved away from.

Washington's Tax Advantage: The Numbers Behind No Income Tax

Washington is one of nine states with no state income tax. For a CRNA earning $274,390, this is not a marginal benefit — it is worth $20,000–$27,000 per year in real after-tax dollars, depending on which state you are comparing against.

Oregon levies a top marginal rate of 9.9% on income above $125,000. A Portland CRNA earning the same $274,390 gross owes roughly $22,000–$24,000 in state tax. A Washington CRNA earning that figure owes zero. The after-tax equivalence: a Washington CRNA at $274,390 takes home the same state-tax-adjusted income as an Oregon CRNA at approximately $296,000–$298,000, or a California CRNA at approximately $293,000–$303,000 (after California's 10.3%–13.3% bracket).

This has a compounding effect on retirement savings. An extra $22,000 per year invested at a 6% average return over a 20-year CRNA career adds roughly $860,000 to a retirement portfolio — all from the state-tax line alone, before factoring in any wage premium. For CRNAs comparing Washington against high-income-tax states, the long-term math favors Washington materially.

Washington does levy a capital gains tax of 7% on gains above $262,000 (enacted 2023, affirmed by the state Supreme Court 2023), which can affect CRNAs who sell equity or investment positions. It does not apply to wages, retirement account distributions, or real estate sale gains, so the wage income advantage is fully intact.

🧠 From a Travel Nurse with 10 Years Multi-State Experience

When I worked travel contracts in the Pacific Northwest, the take-home difference between a Washington assignment and an Oregon one was consistently $1,500–$2,000 more per month even when the gross contract rate was the same — just from state tax. For permanent CRNAs making $274K, that gap is even more pronounced. I have watched nurses take a pay cut on paper to move to Washington and come out ahead. The state income tax calculation should be on the front page of every offer letter comparison you do.

Independent Practice: Washington's Opt-Out Model Since 2003

Washington became an opt-out state in October 2003, one of the early group to do so. As of 2026, 27 states have exercised the federal opt-out from CMS's physician supervision condition for CRNA practice under Medicare and Medicaid.

What opt-out means practically: CRNAs in Washington can provide anesthesia services — including pre-anesthetic evaluation, case management, and post-anesthetic care — without a supervising or medically directing physician co-signature under CMS conditions of participation. In practice, care delivery at most large academic centers still involves anesthesiologists in a collegial attending-CRNA model, but the legal dependency is removed. This matters most at ambulatory surgery centers, critical access hospitals, and rural facilities where an anesthesiologist simply is not present.

Washington's Nurse Practice Act (RCW 18.79) independently authorizes CRNAs to practice to the full extent of their education and training. This is separate from the CMS opt-out and means that even for commercially insured patients, the state licensing framework does not impose physician supervision as a requirement. CRNAs prescribe controlled substances under DEA Schedule 2–5 authority under their own DEA number in Washington — no physician co-prescription required.

The practical compensation effect: opt-out status allows facilities to staff a rural OR with a CRNA alone, which means rural access shortage premiums are real in Washington. Critical access hospitals in the Yakima Valley, Tri-Cities, and Olympic Peninsula routinely post CRNA rates 15–25% above the Seattle system base to attract independent practitioners who can run a case from induction to emergence without a physician physically present.

Travel CRNA in Washington: Rates and the Rural Opportunity

Travel and locum CRNA assignments in Washington command $160–$230+ per hour. A Spokane ambulatory surgery center posted a part-time CRNA role in Q3 2026 at $230/hr. Thirteen-week contract packages in the Seattle metro run $4,500–$6,500 per week all-in (taxable base plus per-diem housing and meals). Eastern Washington and rural assignments run higher on an hourly basis because the supply of CRNAs willing to work in the Yakima Valley or the peninsula is meaningfully smaller than in Seattle.

Spokane is the state's most active non-Seattle CRNA travel market. Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center (509 beds, the largest hospital in the Inland Northwest), MultiCare Deaconess, and several ASCs have been posting CRNA contracts throughout 2025–2026. Permanent Spokane postings show $255,000–$295,000/yr — lower than First Hill Seattle on the base but often with a lower cost of living and no state income tax still in force.

The critical access hospital corridor is the highest-rate environment in the state. Hospitals with 25 or fewer beds that qualify as critical access receive Medicare cost-based reimbursement, and CRNA coverage is frequently the only way they can maintain a surgical service line. Rates for locum CRNAs at CAHs in Washington have been advertised at $200–$250/hr, with 7-on-7-off scheduling. If you are a CRNA comfortable working independently in a resource-limited environment, Washington's CAH network offers some of the highest per-hour rates available anywhere in the Western states.

Washington CRNA Pay by Region

Region	Market Context	Typical Range
Seattle / First Hill	Academic, Level I, teaching premium	$250,000–$312,000
Eastside / Bellevue / Kirkland	Community, ASC, tech-sector insured	$235,000–$270,000
South Sound / Tacoma / Puyallup	MultiCare regional, community OR	$235,000–$275,000
Everett / Snohomish County	Providence regional, Level II	$235,040–$291,200
Spokane / Eastern WA	Providence Sacred Heart, MultiCare Deaconess	$255,000–$295,000
Yakima / Tri-Cities	Regional community, access shortage	$240,000–$285,000
Rural / Critical Access Hospitals	Independent practice, CAH cost reimbursement	$200–$250/hr (locum)

CRNA Salary in Washington 2026: $274K BLS Median, No Income Tax, and the Seattle Academic Premium

The Numbers: Washington CRNA Salary in 2026

Seattle Systems: What Each Major Employer Offers

Washington's Tax Advantage: The Numbers Behind No Income Tax

Independent Practice: Washington's Opt-Out Model Since 2003

Travel CRNA in Washington: Rates and the Rural Opportunity

Washington CRNA Pay by Region

See What a Washington CRNA Actually Takes Home

Frequently Asked Questions: Washington CRNA Salary

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