Vermont nurse salary 2026: RN, NP & travel pay

Registered Nurse (RN) Salary in Vermont

The Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025, released May 15, 2026) places the Vermont RN mean annual wage at $96,650, equivalent to $46.47 per hour. That sits 4.7% below the national RN mean of $101,420 — a gap that looks large on paper but narrows considerably once you account for specialty premiums, union wage step progression, and Vermont's outsized ICU differential. Vermont employs approximately 7,500 registered nurses statewide, making it one of the smallest RN labor markets in the country by absolute employment headcount, exceeded only by Wyoming and North Dakota in the contiguous US.

UVM Medical Center in Burlington is the dominant wage anchor. As Vermont's only Level I Trauma center and the sole academic medical center in the state, UVMMC sets the wage floor and ceiling for the majority of Vermont hospital RNs. Nurses at UVMMC work under a contract negotiated by the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (VFNHP), an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers. VFNHP wage schedules run from approximately $36/hr at step 1 to $56/hr at senior experience steps — with Resource Department nurses on nights earning up to $64.62/hr including differentials and a $7/hr Resource premium. The union structure means wages are transparent, step-based, and resistant to the across-the-board stagnation common at non-union facilities.

Outside Burlington, the market thins rapidly. Rutland Regional Medical Center, Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin, Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans, and the state's six critical access hospitals collectively employ the remainder of Vermont's hospital RN workforce. These facilities pay below UVMMC rates in most cases — staff RN positions in rural Vermont facilities typically start in the $30–$38/hr range, with experienced nurses reaching $42–$50/hr at non-CAH facilities and $36–$45/hr at critical access hospitals where volume is lower but independent practice scope is higher.

RN Salary by Percentile

Specialty & Advanced Practice Salaries in Vermont

Vermont's specialty salary picture mirrors the structural pattern common to small-state markets: general RN pay runs below the national mean, while advanced practice and critical specialty pay pushes above it. The mechanism is scarcity — Vermont has one academic medical center, a heavily rural geography, and a statewide RN workforce of roughly 7,500. CRNAs and NPs are not interchangeable with general RNs; their specialized training is difficult to replace from a thin local labor market, so their wages reflect a higher effective scarcity premium than the general RN wage captures.

NP Salary & Scope of Practice

Vermont nurse practitioners average $130,580 per year — competitive for a small-population state. Vermont has a transitional full practice authority model. New NPs with less than 2,400 hours and 24 months of experience in their specialty must practice with a collaborative provider agreement. Once an NP completes that transition period and submits an APRN Attestation of Completion form to the Vermont Office of Professional Regulation, the collaborative requirement is lifted and the NP practices fully independently — diagnosing, ordering tests, prescribing Schedule II–V controlled substances, and managing complete treatment plans without physician oversight. In a state where 9 of 14 counties qualify as rural under HRSA definitions, that independence is not an abstract policy preference; it's the operational model that allows primary care to function outside Burlington.

CRNA Salary in Vermont

Vermont CRNAs earn approximately $251,022 per year — 1.1% above the national CRNA mean of $248,320. Vermont's eight acute care facilities (one Level I Trauma, one community hospital, and six critical access hospitals) all require anesthesia coverage, and most cannot sustain full-time anesthesiologist coverage. CRNAs carry the bulk of anesthesia services statewide. UVM Medical Center, which runs the most complex surgical and obstetric cases in the state, anchors the high end of CRNA compensation and anchors CRNA wage expectations statewide. Rural CAH positions carry additional recruitment packages — signing bonuses, loan repayment through NHSC-eligible designations, and sometimes employer-provided housing assistance — that push total first-year compensation above the annual mean.

Vermont Nurse Salary by City and Region

Vermont's nursing market is largely a single-market state. Burlington and the Chittenden County area contain roughly 40% of the state's hospital beds and the dominant wage-setting employer. Outside the Burlington metro, nursing salaries decline with facility size and patient volume, though rural facilities occasionally offset lower base rates with supplemental differentials and benefits. Vermont's geography — running 160 miles north-to-south with the Green Mountains splitting east and west — means commute times between major facilities are substantial, and nurses effectively commit to the local market when they accept a position.

Travel Nursing in Vermont

Vermont's travel nursing market is small but consistent. The state's eight hospitals generate year-round baseline travel demand driven by the structural shortage — Vermont trains fewer nurses than it employs, has no large neighboring metro to draw casual float staff from, and serves a population that skews older (Vermont has the second-oldest median age in the US after Maine). That chronic gap fills with travelers, particularly at UVM Medical Center for ICU, NICU, and surgical specialties, and at rural critical access hospitals for med-surg, ER, and generalist positions where staff positions go unfilled for months.

Posted travel RN base rates in Vermont average $107,529 annually in taxable base compensation ($51.70/hr taxable), with total packages including housing stipend and per diem typically reaching $110,000–$135,000 depending on specialty and location. Burlington positions at UVMMC run at the higher end; CAH positions in the Northeast Kingdom typically include housing assistance that partially compensates for a lower posted package. Summer brings a predictable seasonal spike — Vermont's tourism-season emergency volumes (hiking injuries, skiing in the shoulder months, Vermont's substantial summer outdoor recreation population) push ER and general floor volume higher from May through October.

Vermont joined the NLC in February 2022, removing the single-state licensing barrier for travel nurses coming from compact states. For non-compact travelers, the Vermont Office of Professional Regulation processes endorsement applications, though allow 4–6 weeks for processing. Most Vermont hospitals work with national staffing agencies — AMN, Aya Health, Travel Nurse Across America, and Trusted Health are consistently active in the Vermont market.

High-Demand Travel Specialties in Vermont

• ICU / Critical Care: UVM Medical Center Level I Trauma ICU and NICU; experienced critical care travelers ($65+/hr taxable) prioritized; highest demand in MICU and surgical ICU; Vermont's only tertiary trauma ICU so complexity is real
• Emergency / Trauma: UVMMC Level I Trauma ED; rural CAH ER positions for generalists willing to work small-volume settings independently
• Med-Surg: Consistent demand across all Vermont hospitals; rural CAH positions are the most accessible for nurses with generalist experience
• Labor & Delivery / OB: UVMMC runs a Level III NICU; L&D travelers with tertiary experience specifically recruited; limited volume at rural facilities makes tertiary NICU experience rare and valued
• Psych / Behavioral Health: Vermont has one of the highest mental health service utilization rates in the US; inpatient psych demand runs year-round at UVMMC and Brattleboro Retreat

Cost of Living & Take-Home Pay in Vermont

Vermont is expensive for a rural state. Burlington's housing market runs among the tightest in northern New England: median home prices in Chittenden County have climbed above $450,000, and a 2-bedroom rental in Burlington proper runs $2,000–$2,700/month. Outside Burlington, housing costs drop — Rutland, Barre, and rural counties run 20–40% below Burlington prices — but wages drop proportionally, often leaving nurses in smaller markets with similar housing-to-income ratios. Vermont's overall cost of living index runs roughly 10–15% above the national average, driven by energy costs, food prices, and the housing shortage in desirable areas.

Vermont has a state income tax on earned wages. The rate is graduated: 3.35% (up to $45,400), 6.6% ($45,400–$110,050), 7.6% ($110,050–$229,550), and 8.75% above that. An RN earning Vermont's mean of $96,650 single-filing would owe approximately $4,900–$5,500 in Vermont state income tax annually, reducing effective take-home relative to zero-income-tax states like New Hampshire (which borders Vermont and employs many Vermont nurses who choose to commute). A CRNA at $251,022 moves into the 7.6% bracket and would owe approximately $15,000–$18,000 in Vermont state tax — a meaningful number when evaluating Vermont against comparable-salary New Hampshire or Maine markets.

Nursing Licensure & Compact Status in Vermont

Vermont is an active member of the Nurse Licensure Compact, effective February 2022. Nurses who hold Vermont as their primary state of residence and meet all NLC eligibility requirements can obtain a multistate license through the Vermont Office of Professional Regulation, valid for practice in all active NLC compact states. Travel nurses licensed in compact states may work Vermont assignments under their home-state multistate license without a separate Vermont application, provided Vermont is not their primary state of residence.

• NLC member: Yes — effective February 2022; multistate licenses valid for all active NLC compact states; no separate VT license required for compact-state travel nurses
• NP scope: Transitional full practice authority — NPs with <2,400 hours and <24 months in specialty require a collaborative provider agreement; after attestation of transition-to-practice completion, NPs practice fully independently; Vermont Office of Professional Regulation licenses APRNs (not the BON directly)
• CRNA scope: Independent CRNA practice recognized; Vermont has not opted out of Medicare physician supervision under the CMS federal supervision option, but hospital-level policies govern anesthesia service structure; UVMMC and most Vermont facilities use CRNAs as independent or supervisory-model practitioners depending on service line
• License renewal: Biennial; 12 contact hours CE per renewal period for RNs and LPNs; APRNs with prescriptive authority require pharmacology CE; renewal through Vermont Office of Professional Regulation online portal
• Processing time: Vermont endorsement processing averages 4–6 weeks; compact-state travelers processing under their home multistate license have no Vermont-specific wait time for travel assignments

Vermont Nursing Job Market

Vermont's nursing job market is structurally a single-anchor market. UVM Medical Center in Burlington employs the largest share of Vermont's hospital RN workforce by a wide margin, operates the state's only Level I Trauma center and Level III NICU, and sets the wage and benefit benchmarks that other Vermont facilities calibrate against. The VFNHP union contract — with transparent step wages, guaranteed differentials, and staffing committee participation rights — makes UVMMC the most desirable employer for experienced nurses seeking predictable compensation progression. The waitlist for competitive UVMMC specialty units (MICU, NICU, SICU, Level I Trauma ED) reflects that pull.

Outside Burlington, the market segments by facility type. Rutland Regional Medical Center is the largest independent community hospital and serves southwestern Vermont — including a catchment area covering nearly 100,000 people. RRMC competes for nurses primarily with UVMMC and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (NH), which offers a strong referral center salary market 45 minutes to the east. Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin serves the geographic center of the state and operates as part of a network that facilitates some transfer of nurses between facilities. Northwestern Medical Center, an independent community hospital in St. Albans, operates as the primary acute care provider for Franklin and Grand Isle counties and competes intensely with Quebec's border-region healthcare employers for bilingual nurses.

The Northeast Kingdom — Essex, Orleans, and Caledonia counties — represents Vermont's most underserved nursing market. Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital in St. Johnsbury and North Country Hospital in Newport both carry CAH designation, experience higher-than-average vacancy rates, and rely heavily on travelers and per diem staff. Rural Health Education Partnerships and NHSC loan repayment programs apply to both facilities, making them compelling options for nurses carrying significant student loan balances who can tolerate a less urban practice environment.

Major Employers

• UVM Medical Center (UVMMC): Burlington; 540+ beds; Level I Trauma, Level III NICU; Vermont's only academic medical center; VFNHP/AFT union; highest step wages in the state; UVM Larner College of Medicine affiliation; dominant market anchor for Chittenden County
• Rutland Regional Medical Center: Rutland; ~188 beds; Level II Trauma; largest non-UVMMC acute care hospital; non-union; southwestern Vermont catchment; competes with UVMMC and DHMC for experienced staff
• Central Vermont Medical Center: Berlin; ~122 beds; Level III Trauma; UVMHN network affiliate; serves Barre/Montpelier metro and central Vermont population corridor
• Northwestern Medical Center: St. Albans; 70 beds; CAH; independent; serves Franklin and Grand Isle counties; bilingual (French/English) patient population along Quebec border; active travel nurse recruitment
• Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital: St. Johnsbury; 25 beds; CAH; Level IV Trauma; serves the Northeast Kingdom; NHSC-eligible; one of the most rural acute care hospital markets in New England
• North Country Hospital: Newport; 25 beds; CAH; Orleans County; border proximity to Quebec drives unique bilingual staffing needs; NHSC-eligible; high travel utilization
• Brattleboro Memorial Hospital: Brattleboro; 61 beds; CAH; Windham County; southern Vermont; nurses in this market often compare against DHMC (NH) and Cooley Dickinson/Baystate (MA) offers
• Brattleboro Retreat: Brattleboro; 144 beds; inpatient psychiatric and addiction medicine; largest freestanding psychiatric facility in Vermont; psych RN positions in high demand; dedicated behavioral health nursing environment
• Porter Medical Center (UVMMC affiliate): Middlebury; 25 beds; CAH; Addison County; UVMMC system affiliation brings academic benefits; serves college-town community including Middlebury College
• Gifford Medical Center: Randolph; 25 beds; CAH; Orange County; rural geographic center of Vermont; independent; NHSC-eligible; high community-need designation