Maryland nurse salary 2026: RN, NP & travel pay

Maryland sits just under the national RN average — $99,010 versus the national mean of $101,420 — which tells you almost nothing useful until you know where. Baltimore's academic medical corridor runs Johns Hopkins Hospital, University of Maryland Medical Center, and MedStar Health in proximity that rivals any major market on the East Coast. The case mix — cardiac surgery, solid organ transplant, neurosurgery, Level I trauma — is among the most complex nationally, and pay reflects that at the unit level even when the state mean looks unremarkable. CRNAs: the BLS May 2025 OEWS reported $163,470 for Maryland, which got cited across the internet as the state benchmark. That number is a small-sample artifact. The real market rate, per TheCRNA.com 2026 data, is $238,659 — consistent with what Hopkins actually pays for complex cardiac and transplant anesthesia. NPs face mandatory collaborative practice agreements; Maryland has not granted full practice authority as of 2026. The state has been an eNLC compact member since January 19, 2018, making travel nurse placement straightforward.

Maryland Nurse Salary at a Glance — 2026

RN Salary in Maryland: The Academic Medical Corridor

The BLS May 2025 OEWS puts Maryland's mean RN wage at $99,010/year ($47.60/hr) — just 2.4% below the national mean of $101,420. That narrow gap masks significant within-state variation. The Baltimore metropolitan area anchors the state's nursing economy: Johns Hopkins Hospital, UMMC, and MedStar Health collectively employ thousands of RNs and set wage floors that pull statewide averages up. Nurses in western Maryland and the Eastern Shore earn meaningfully less than Baltimore city rates; DC suburban nurses in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties earn at or above the Baltimore tier but face housing costs that partially offset the premium.

Johns Hopkins Hospital posts BSN RN wages of approximately $38–$50/hr depending on unit and years of experience. The range reflects both acuity tiers — med-surg starting rates versus cardiac ICU and transplant step-down rates — and the Hopkins pay progression tied to the career ladder. University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) runs a competitive academic medical center pay scale; UMMC is the state's only Level I Trauma Center in Baltimore and houses one of the Mid-Atlantic's largest transplant programs. Both systems offer shift differentials (typically $4–$7/hr for nights, $2–$4/hr for weekends) that meaningfully boost effective wages for 12-hour shift bedside nurses.

MedStar Health operates the largest hospital network in the Maryland-DC region — MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, MedStar Washington Hospital Center, MedStar Union Memorial Hospital, MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center, MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital, and several others. MedStar competes directly with Hopkins and UMMC for clinical staff and adjusts pay scales accordingly, particularly for ICU, cardiac, and surgical specialties. Luminis Health (formerly Anne Arundel Medical Center and Doctors Community Hospital) and Sinai Hospital of Baltimore represent the community-hospital tier, posting wages that lag the academic centers by $3–$6/hr at equivalent experience levels.

Maryland has state income tax with a top rate of 5.75% at the state level, plus local income taxes that vary by county — Baltimore City adds 3.2%, Montgomery County 3.2%, Anne Arundel County 2.81%. The effective combined marginal rate for many Maryland nurses is 8–9%. This matters when comparing Maryland offers to neighboring Virginia (no local income tax in most jurisdictions) or DC (where DC income tax rates apply separately). Use a take-home calculator before accepting any offer that spans the state line.

Travel Nurse Salary in Maryland

Maryland travel nurses averaged $98,153/year posted on ZipRecruiter 2026 — with an estimated total package including housing and M&IE stipends of approximately $117,000. The posted rate is essentially flat with the Maryland staff RN mean of $99,010, which reflects the effect of compact state status: Maryland's eNLC membership since January 2018 means the state is easy to staff from any of the 40+ compact states, compressing the scarcity premium that drives higher travel wages in non-compact markets.

The compact advantage is direct for travel nurses: if you hold a multistate license from any compact state, you can work Maryland contracts without a separate endorsement application. Johns Hopkins, UMMC, and MedStar — the major travel-contract consumers — all benefit from this speed of placement. For agencies, faster placement means competitive contract fulfillment. For nurses, it means you can activate a Hopkins or UMMC contract in days rather than weeks.

ICU travel contracts at Hopkins and UMMC consistently post above the Maryland travel average — $65–$80/hr all-in is realistic for experienced ICU travel nurses working high-complexity cardiac or surgical units. ER travel rates at MedStar and community system facilities run closer to $55–$68/hr depending on census and contract length. Cardiac and transplant step-down travel rates at UMMC and Hopkins fall in the $58–$72/hr range. All travel stipend income (housing, M&IE) is non-taxable to the IRS provided you maintain a legitimate tax home — Maryland's state income tax rules follow federal treatment for stipends.

Geography matters for Maryland travel nurses: the Baltimore-Washington corridor means many contracts place nurses within commuting range of both cities. Nurses with a Virginia compact license working DC-area MedStar contracts that straddle the Maryland-DC-Virginia border need to confirm which state's license governs each facility — MedStar Washington Hospital Center is in DC, not Maryland, which is a different license jurisdiction despite MedStar being Maryland-headquartered.

Nurse Practitioner Salary and Scope of Practice in Maryland

Maryland NPs average $127,100/year ($61.11/hr) per BLS May 2025 OEWS — modestly above the national NP mean, reflecting the wage-pulling effect of dense academic medical center employment in the Baltimore-DC corridor. The structural constraint, however, is Maryland's NP scope of practice law: as of 2026, Maryland requires NPs to maintain a collaborative practice agreement with a physician. Maryland has not enacted full practice authority legislation.

In practical terms, the collaborative agreement requirement means Maryland NPs in private or independent practice must secure and maintain a physician partner willing to sign the agreement, typically for an annual fee. This creates real cost and dependency for NPs operating outside large health systems. NPs employed by Johns Hopkins Health System, UMMC, MedStar, or Luminis Health operate inside system structures where the collaborative obligation is absorbed by the employer — which is why employed NPs at Maryland academic centers earn at or near the $127,100 state average without personally bearing the administrative burden of the agreement.

The scope constraint hits hardest in rural and underserved areas — the Eastern Shore, western Maryland counties — where physician collaborators are scarce and NP-led primary care clinics are most needed. Maryland has a documented primary care shortage in these regions, and the collaborative requirement is a documented contributing barrier. Advocacy organizations including the Maryland Nurses Association have consistently pushed for full practice authority legislation, but no bill had passed as of mid-2026.

For NPs evaluating Maryland positions: academic medical center employed roles are the best combination of pay and administrative simplicity. Hopkins and UMMC NP pay tracks above the state mean for acute and specialty NPs (hospitalist, cardiology, surgical specialties). Primary care NP roles at community health centers and federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) in Maryland pay less than academic center rates but often carry NHSC loan forgiveness eligibility — worth evaluating if you carry significant student loan debt from a DNP or MSN program.

CRNA Salary in Maryland: The BLS Anomaly Explained

Maryland CRNAs average $238,659/year ($114.74/hr) per TheCRNA.com 2026 data. You may have seen $163,470 cited as Maryland's CRNA salary — that's the BLS May 2025 OEWS figure, and it's wrong in the sense that it doesn't reflect the actual market rate. Here's why: BLS OEWS state-level salary estimates for specialized occupations with small sample sizes (Maryland has relatively few CRNAs compared to Texas or California) can produce wide confidence intervals and statistically unreliable point estimates. The $163,470 figure appears to be one of those artifacts — a number that passed the BLS quality filter but significantly understates what Hopkins and UMMC actually pay.

Johns Hopkins Hospital is the anchor CRNA employer driving Maryland's top-end pay. Hopkins runs one of the most complex case mixes of any hospital nationally: cardiac surgery (including LVAD and heart transplant), pediatric cardiac surgery at Johns Hopkins Children's Center, solid organ transplant (kidney, liver, heart), neurosurgery, and liver-kidney-pancreas transplant at the Comprehensive Transplant Center. The complexity and call requirements for this case mix command CRNA compensation at or above $238,659 for experienced providers — some Hopkins CRNA positions with extensive call reach $250,000–$275,000 in total compensation. UMMC runs a comparable case complexity and competes for CRNA talent at similar rates.

The practical implication: if you are a CRNA evaluating Maryland or negotiating with a Hopkins-affiliated or UMMC-affiliated group, use the $238,659 TheCRNA figure — not the BLS $163K number. The BLS anomaly has caused some newly credentialed CRNAs to accept offers below market. Community hospital and ambulatory surgery center CRNA positions in Maryland pay less than the academic tier — typically $180,000–$210,000 — but involve lower acuity and more predictable schedules without weekend cardiac call.

Locum CRNA positions in Maryland — particularly filling rural hospital coverage gaps on the Eastern Shore and in western Maryland — run $150–$185/hr for short-term placements. The Baltimore metro locum market is tighter because Hopkins and UMMC absorb most available CRNA supply with competitive permanent offers.

ICU and ER Nurse Salary in Maryland

Maryland ICU nurses average $105,276/year ($50.61/hr) — a 6.3% premium over the state RN mean, consistent with national patterns of ICU pay differentials. The premium is narrower than in states like Missouri or Indiana because Maryland's overall RN baseline is higher — there's less distance to close between staff RN and ICU RN pay in a higher-wage market. Hopkins MICU, cardiac ICUs, and surgical ICUs pay at the top of the Maryland ICU range; suburban community hospital ICUs pay closer to the state average.

Maryland has no state-mandated nurse staffing ratios. ICU staffing at Hopkins and UMMC is governed by internal policy and AACN guidelines — both systems maintain 1:2 ratios for stable ICU patients and 1:1 for unstable or post-operative cardiac patients. Community hospitals manage staffing at their own discretion, subject to CMS Conditions of Participation. Nurses experiencing unsafe ICU assignments should document via the chain of command and report to the Maryland Board of Nursing if patient safety is compromised.

ER nurses average $84,182/year ($40.47/hr) — about 15% below the Maryland RN mean, consistent with the national pattern where ER base wages trail ICU and surgical specialties. Level I Trauma Center ER nurses at UMMC and Shock Trauma (R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, the nation's first and one of its most recognized trauma programs) earn above the state ER average; community ED nurses earn below it. For travel nurses targeting Maryland ER contracts, R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma and the Hopkins ED are the highest-acuity and typically highest-paying placements — filter for Level I designations when searching contract boards.

Major Hospital Systems: Baltimore Metro and DC Suburbs

Maryland's nursing labor market is organized around the Baltimore metro, the DC suburban corridor (Montgomery and Prince George's Counties), and the smaller regional markets of Annapolis, the Eastern Shore, and western Maryland.

Ranges based on ZipRecruiter 2026 and Indeed employer posting data. BSN RN mid-career rates. New graduates start at the lower end; experienced specialty-certified nurses reach the higher end or above. Hopkins and UMMC ranges reflect clinical career ladder tiers.

One important geography note: the DC suburbs in Montgomery County and Prince George's County carry a housing-cost premium over Baltimore city — median rents in Bethesda and Silver Spring are $300–$600/month higher than comparable Baltimore neighborhoods. Nurses accepting positions in the DC corridor for the pay premium should run housing-adjusted take-home calculations before assuming the nominal pay advantage holds. Maryland's state income tax plus local income tax (3.2% in both Montgomery and Prince George's Counties) also differs from the Virginia side of DC, where some Northern Virginia jurisdictions have lower effective combined rates.

Maryland Is an eNLC Compact State

Maryland joined the enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact on January 19, 2018 — one of the earliest adopters of the updated compact. Nurses holding a multistate license from any of the 40+ eNLC member states can practice in Maryland immediately without obtaining a separate Maryland endorsement. For travel nurses, this means same-day contract activation once credentialing and orientation are complete — typically 2–4 weeks rather than the 8–12 week wait for a standalone license endorsement in a non-compact state.

Maryland nurses benefit from compact reciprocity across the mid-Atlantic region. Virginia and Pennsylvania are both eNLC compact members, which makes the mid-Atlantic nursing corridor among the most travel-nurse-accessible regions in the country. A Maryland-primary-residence nurse with a multistate license can float across the Potomac to Virginia facilities or north to Pennsylvania without additional license applications. Delaware and West Virginia — also compact members — further extend the reachable practice geography.

One nuance: MedStar Washington Hospital Center and MedStar Georgetown University Hospital are in the District of Columbia — not Maryland — despite being operated by a Maryland-based system. DC has its own RN licensure board and is not an eNLC compact member as of 2026. Nurses whose primary Maryland contract site is a MedStar DC campus need a separate DC license — and DC's RN mean of $106,980 (BLS May 2025) is worth knowing before you contract there: see the DC nurse salary guide for hospital-by-hospital detail. Confirm facility addresses on any travel contract before assuming compact coverage applies.

If you move to Maryland from a non-compact state (New York, California, and Massachusetts are common origin markets for nurses drawn to Hopkins and UMMC), you'll apply for a Maryland RN license and automatically receive a multistate license once Maryland becomes your primary state of residence.