Washington nurse salary 2026: RN, NP & travel pay

Washington state RNs average $121,540/year — about 20% above the national mean of $101,420. That baseline number matters less than the travel premium layered on top of it: Washington consistently posts the highest travel nurse pay in the country at $114,542/year, outpacing Hawaii, California, and New York. If you are a travel nurse deciding where to take your next contract, the math starts here.

Two forces push Washington wages well above national averages. First, Seattle’s tech economy creates a regional cost-of-living floor that hospital systems—competing with Amazon, Microsoft, and Boeing for workers—cannot ignore. Second, WSNA (Washington State Nurses Association) step-wage contracts lock in annual raises at every major Seattle hospital, with new grads at UW Medicine starting at $91,790 and 20-year nurses clearing $163,675. Add HB 1357’s nurse staffing plan requirements and you have a market where nurses have unusual leverage.

Washington State Nurse Salary at a Glance (2026)

Washington RN Salary: The Seattle Premium

The BLS state average of $121,540 masks significant geographic spread. Seattle-area nurses—specifically those on WSNA step contracts at UW Medicine, Swedish Medical Group, and Seattle Children’s—earn considerably more than the statewide figure. Glassdoor 2026 puts Seattle RNs at $118,989/year on average, with experienced nurses at step 15 clearing $148,242. Twenty-year nurses hit $163,675.

Outside the Puget Sound corridor, pay drops. Eastern Washington — Spokane, Yakima, the Tri-Cities — runs 10–18% below Seattle rates. Hospitals east of the Cascades face the same rural recruitment pressure as any low-population market, but without the tech-economy floor propping up wages. Spokane’s Providence Sacred Heart and MultiCare Deaconess are the dominant employers; their rates start strong for new grads but don’t compress the same way at the top of the scale.

Travel Nurse Salary in Washington State 2026

Washington posts the highest travel nurse pay in the country—$114,542/year based on ZipRecruiter 2026 aggregated contract data. That outruns Hawaii ($105,072), California, and New York. Why? Seattle-area hospitals anchor their rates against a tech-industry cost-of-living floor, and they compete directly with other premium-pay states for the same pool of travel nurses. If you’re on a 13-week contract, the weekly math is roughly $2,200/week in taxable + stipends depending on the agency and housing situation.

Washington is also an NLC compact state, which means nurses holding compact licenses from any of the 43 eNLC jurisdictions can take a Washington assignment without a separate state license application. That eliminates a 4–6 week licensing delay that hurts shorter contract cycles in non-compact states. For California nurses or nurses with non-compact licenses, factor in a Washington Endorsement application ($75 fee) and a 3–5 week processing window.

Nurse Practitioner Salary in Washington State 2026

Washington NPs average $143,620/year — roughly 5% above the national NP mean of $137,300. Washington is a full practice authority (FPA) state, meaning NPs can evaluate patients, diagnose, order tests, and prescribe medications without physician supervision. That scope advantage drives salary because health systems can deploy NPs more independently — and pay accordingly.

Psychiatric NPs and primary care NPs carry the heaviest demand in the state, particularly in rural and underserved areas east of the Cascades where physician shortages are severe. Washington’s Medicaid expansion and federally qualified health center (FQHC) network create a large pool of NP-led primary care positions — typically $130,000–$150,000 base with loan forgiveness eligibility under NHSC or state programs.

CRNA Salary in Washington State 2026

Washington CRNAs average $272,833/year per TheCRNA.com 2026 market data, which places Washington sixth of 51, $13 behind Oregon. New Jersey ($287,792), Wisconsin ($281,056), Alaska, Massachusetts and Oregon sit above it. The driver is straightforward: major Level I trauma centers in Seattle (Harborview, UW Medical Center, Swedish) run high-acuity OR volumes and compete for the same pool of CRNAs as Oregon and California.

Washington has full CRNA independent practice authority under state law, which expands employment options beyond anesthesia-group employment to independent contracting and locum positions. CRNA locum rates in the Puget Sound corridor frequently exceed $300,000 equivalent annualized for experienced practitioners with strong subspecialty rotations (cardiac, neuro, pediatric). Critical access hospitals in rural Eastern Washington also leverage CRNAs as the primary anesthesia provider — with a corresponding shortage premium.

ICU Nurse Salary in Washington State 2026: The Real Outlier

ICU nurses in Washington average $121,507/year — a full 43% above the national ICU mean of $85,205. That gap is wider than any other specialty in this state and reflects a specific dynamic: Seattle’s Level I centers (Harborview Medical Center, UW Medical Center–Montlake) run complex ICU populations — trauma, ECMO, transplant — that carry premium wage structures. Harborview is the only Level I adult trauma center in a four-state region (Washington, Alaska, Montana, Idaho), which concentrates the most critically ill patients and the nurses who can manage them.

WSNA contracts for ICU nurses add a critical care differential on top of base pay — typically $2.50–$5.00/hr — plus step progression. A 10-year ICU nurse at UW Medical Center with overnight differentials and the critical care add-on is realistically clearing $145,000–$155,000 total comp. Certification premiums (CCRN, CSC, CMC) add another $1.50–$3.00/hr at most WSNA facilities.

Washington Nursing Employers: Who Pays What

The Puget Sound corridor runs on a handful of dominant systems. Their WSNA contracts set the floor for the entire market.

Ranges are estimated from WSNA published wage scales, recent contract reports, and Glassdoor/Indeed 2026. Total comp with differentials and step progression will exceed stated ranges.

Washington Nursing Law: HB 1357, WSNA, and Your Rights

HB 1357 (and its successor amendments) requires Washington hospitals to submit annual nurse staffing plans to the state Department of Health and to operate nurse staffing committees with frontline staff representation. The law does not set mandatory fixed ratios, but it gives nurses the legal mechanism to document and escalate unsafe assignments — and it creates accountability at the system level. The distinction matters: it’s not California’s 5:1 ratio law, but it’s more enforceable than a hospital policy memo.

WSNA represents nurses at UW Medical Center (Montlake and Northwest), Seattle Children’s, MultiCare Good Samaritan, and multiple smaller facilities statewide. WSNA contract step systems are the primary driver of Washington’s above-average staff RN wages. In 2026, WSNA is in active contract cycles at several facilities, pushing for staffing ratios, overtime protections, and wage adjustments tied to Seattle’s cost of living. Even non-union nurses at Providence Swedish benefit — management matches competitive WSNA rates to avoid organizing drives.

NLC compact: Washington joined the enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact (eNLC). RNs and LPNs with compact licenses can practice in Washington without a separate state license. APRNs (NPs, CRNAs, CNMs) are not covered under the compact — they need a separate Washington APRN license regardless of compact status.