Wyoming nurse salary 2026: RN, NP & travel pay

Registered Nurse (RN) Salary in Wyoming

The Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025, released May 15, 2026) places the Wyoming RN mean annual wage at $88,600, equivalent to $42.60 per hour. That figure sits 12.7% below the national RN mean of $101,420 — a gap that looks significant until you factor in that Wyoming has no state income tax. A Wyoming nurse earning $88,600 takes home roughly the same after-tax income as an RN earning $93,000–$95,000 in a state with a 5–6% income tax rate. The comparison to states like Minnesota, Oregon, or Connecticut narrows considerably once you run the net number.

Wyoming employs approximately 5,300 registered nurses statewide — the smallest RN workforce of any state in the contiguous United States. The thin labor pool is not a statistical artifact; it reflects Wyoming's population of roughly 580,000 spread across 97,000 square miles. Many Wyoming counties qualify as frontier under federal HRSA definition, meaning fewer than six people per square mile. That geographic and workforce reality creates persistent structural demand for RNs at every experience level, from new graduates willing to practice broadly in critical access hospital settings to experienced ICU and OR nurses the state genuinely cannot train fast enough to replace.

Wyoming Medical Center in Casper is the state's dominant wage anchor. Now Banner Wyoming Medical Center, it was verified in 2023 as the state’s only Level II trauma center by the American College of Surgeons, and as one of the largest hospitals in the state it sets the compensation benchmark that other Wyoming facilities calibrate against. Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, the state's second-largest employer and the primary hospital for the capital city and Laramie County, runs close behind. Outside these two urban centers, the Wyoming nursing market is a network of community hospitals and critical access facilities where RN starting salaries typically range from $28–$36/hr and experienced nurses cap out in the $42–$52/hr range depending on unit and facility.

RN Salary by Percentile

Specialty & Advanced Practice Salaries in Wyoming

Wyoming's specialty salary picture reflects the dynamics of a frontier state with a small RN pool and serious workforce shortages in advanced practice. General RN pay runs below the national mean, driven by the absence of large academic medical systems setting competitive wage floors and by Wyoming's overall cost structure. But ICU nurses, NPs, and CRNAs occupy a different market — one defined by genuine scarcity in a state where Wyoming Medical Center's Level II Trauma ICU is the only high-acuity critical care facility for a vast geographic region. Advanced practice nurses practicing in full independence across Wyoming's frontier counties command premiums that reflect the operational reality: if the NP leaves, many communities have no healthcare provider at all.

NP Salary & Scope of Practice

Wyoming nurse practitioners average $126,060 per year — competitive for a frontier state, and backed by one of the most expansive NP practice environments in the country. Wyoming has full practice authority for NPs, with no transitional period and no supervisory or collaborative agreement requirement. A Wyoming-licensed NP can diagnose, order diagnostic tests, prescribe Schedule II–V controlled substances, and independently manage complete treatment plans from the first day of practice. There is no requirement to complete a supervised practice period before achieving independence. In a state where 11 of 23 counties have no hospital at all and multiple counties qualify as federally designated frontier, that full authority is not an ideological position — it is how primary care functions in places where no physician has practiced in years. Wyoming NPs are filling gaps in healthcare delivery that no other provider class is willing or able to fill.

CRNA Salary in Wyoming

Wyoming CRNAs earn approximately $226,061 per year per TheCRNA.com's 2026 blended dataset — roughly 9% below the national CRNA mean of $248,320. Wyoming's small CRNA employment pool means BLS data can be volatile from year to year with wide confidence intervals; TheCRNA.com's methodology, which blends self-reported and employer-reported data, produces a more stable estimate for small-workforce states. Wyoming has opted out of the federal physician supervision requirement for CRNAs under the CMS election authority, meaning Wyoming CRNAs can practice independently at all Medicare-certified hospitals in the state. At Wyoming Medical Center in Casper and Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, CRNAs handle the bulk of anesthesia services and earn at the high end of the Wyoming range. Rural critical access hospital CRNA positions often include total compensation packages — signing bonuses, loan repayment, or housing assistance — that push first-year total compensation above the base annual figure.

Wyoming Nurse Salary by City and Region

Wyoming's nursing market is a series of isolated regional markets separated by hundreds of miles of high desert and mountain terrain. There is no single metro area that anchors the state the way Burlington anchors Vermont or Charlotte anchors North Carolina. Casper and Cheyenne are the two largest cities and the two largest nursing employers, but both are mid-sized markets by any national standard. Outside those two centers, nurses are effectively choosing between regional community hospitals serving geographically captive populations — which limits competition and wage pressure but also limits the career mobility and specialty depth available in denser markets. The significant exception is Teton County and Jackson Hole, where a resort economy and extreme housing costs create a unique labor market unlike anywhere else in Wyoming.

Travel Nursing in Wyoming

Wyoming's travel nursing market is one of the most persistently undersupplied in the mountain west. The state's 5,300-nurse workforce cannot cover every specialty shift at every facility across 97,000 square miles, and Wyoming does not have the nursing school pipeline to change that in the near term. Posted travel RN base rates in Wyoming average $97,210 annually in taxable base compensation, with total packages including housing stipend and per diem typically reaching $100,000–$125,000 depending on specialty and location. ICU and OR travelers at Wyoming Medical Center run at the high end; med-surg and generalist travelers at rural CAH facilities typically see lower packages but less competition and more immediate placement.

Wyoming joined the Nurse Licensure Compact, which eliminates the separate Wyoming license requirement for travel nurses coming from compact states. For travelers from non-compact states, the Wyoming State Board of Nursing processes endorsement applications — allow 4–8 weeks. The state's compact membership has measurably reduced the licensing barrier that previously slowed Wyoming travel placements, particularly for nurses from high-demand states like Texas, Florida, and Georgia who had pre-existing compact licenses.

Seasonal demand spikes around outdoor recreation patterns. Summer in Wyoming brings Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park tourism, with corresponding trauma and emergency volumes at Casper, Jackson, and Cody-area facilities. Winter brings snowmobile and skiing injuries, particularly in Teton County. Both peaks drive short-notice travel openings at premium rates. Nurses with ER, trauma, and general surgery experience can typically negotiate at the top of the Wyoming travel rate range during seasonal peaks.

High-Demand Travel Specialties in Wyoming

• ICU / Critical Care: Banner Wyoming Medical Center in Casper is an ACS-verified Level II trauma center with a full-service ICU; experienced critical care travelers prioritized year-round; limited ICU beds in the state means any vacancy creates immediate and sustained travel demand
• Emergency / Trauma: WMC Level II Trauma ED; rural CAH EDs for generalist travelers comfortable with high autonomy, limited backup, and broad scope; strong seasonal demand during summer tourism peaks
• Med-Surg / Generalist: Persistent demand across all Wyoming hospitals; CAH positions most accessible for nurses without specialty certifications; some CAH positions require cross-training to ER or ICU given low census volumes
• OR / Surgical: Limited trained OR nurses statewide; WMC and CRMC both recruit OR travelers with first-assist experience; longer assignment durations common due to training overhead for WY-specific patient populations
• Behavioral Health / Psych: Wyoming has significant unmet behavioral health need, particularly in frontier and reservation counties; inpatient psych travelers at Cheyenne Regional and any facility with a behavioral health unit are consistently sought
• L&D / OB: Low-volume L&D traveler positions at Casper and Cheyenne; nurses with high-risk OB experience can access WMC's Level III NICU program

Cost of Living & Take-Home Pay in Wyoming

Wyoming's cost of living runs below the national average in most of the state — with one glaring exception. Outside Teton County (Jackson Hole) and the Casper metro, Wyoming housing costs run 15–30% below the national average. Laramie, Sheridan, Gillette, and Rock Springs are affordable markets by any national comparison. Cheyenne has seen housing cost appreciation in recent years but remains well below Denver or Salt Lake City. For an RN earning $88,600 in Casper or Cheyenne, the effective purchasing power is materially higher than the national mean RN salary suggests when you account for housing costs AND the zero state income tax.

Wyoming's no-income-tax status applies to all earned wages, self-employment income, and investment income — there is no state income tax of any kind. An RN earning Wyoming's mean of $88,600 single-filing pays zero Wyoming state income tax and retains approximately $4,000–$6,000 more per year than a comparable nurse in a state with a 5–6% income tax rate. A CRNA at $226,061 retains approximately $10,000–$15,000 more per year than a comparable CRNA in Colorado (4.4% rate) or Idaho (5.8% rate). When evaluating competing offers across state lines, the Wyoming after-tax comparison consistently looks better than the gross salary comparison suggests.

The exception is Teton County. Jackson Hole has the highest cost of living in Wyoming by a wide margin — and among the highest in the United States. Median home prices in Teton County exceed $2 million. Rent for a functional 1-bedroom apartment in Jackson proper regularly runs $3,000–$5,000 per month. Nurses working at St. John's Medical Center in Jackson who do not live in employer-affiliated housing or commute from Teton Village, Driggs ID, or Victor ID typically find that the above-average gross salary is consumed by housing costs before savings accumulate. This is the one Wyoming market where cost of living actually impairs the nursing value proposition.

Nursing Licensure & Compact Status in Wyoming

Wyoming is an active member of the Nurse Licensure Compact. Nurses with Wyoming as their primary state of residence and who meet all NLC eligibility requirements can hold a multistate license through the Wyoming State Board of Nursing, valid for practice in all active NLC compact states. Travel nurses licensed in compact states can accept Wyoming assignments under their home-state multistate license without a separate Wyoming application, provided Wyoming is not their primary state of residence.

• NLC member: Yes — multistate licenses valid for all active NLC compact states; no separate Wyoming license required for compact-state travel nurses; Wyoming SBON processes endorsement for non-compact travelers (allow 4–8 weeks)
• NP scope: Full practice authority — no transitional period, no supervisory or collaborative agreement requirement; Wyoming NPs prescribe Schedule II–V controlled substances, diagnose, order and interpret tests, and manage complete care independently from day one of practice; Wyoming State Board of Nursing licenses APRNs
• CRNA scope: Independent CRNA practice; Wyoming has opted out of the federal CMS physician supervision requirement for CRNAs in Medicare-certified hospitals; CRNAs practice independently at Wyoming Medical Center, Cheyenne Regional, and all Wyoming CAH facilities
• License renewal: Biennial; Wyoming RN licenses require 30 continuing education contact hours per 2-year renewal period; APRN prescriptive authority holders must include pharmacology CE content; renewal through the Wyoming State Board of Nursing online licensing portal
• Processing time: Compact-state travelers: no Wyoming-specific license needed; non-compact endorsement: 4–8 weeks; Wyoming does not currently offer an expedited processing pathway for out-of-state endorsement

Wyoming Nursing Job Market

Wyoming's nursing job market is structurally and chronically understaffed. The state trains roughly 400–500 nurses per year across its nursing programs — primarily the University of Wyoming School of Nursing, Sheridan College, and Casper College — against a replacement and growth demand that consistently exceeds that supply. The net result is persistent vacancy rates, sustained travel nurse utilization across nearly every facility in the state, and wage pressure that, while not producing California-level salaries, does support above-average total compensation when housing costs and tax advantages are factored in.

Wyoming Medical Center in Casper is the dominant employer for nurses seeking specialty, critical care, and advanced procedure experience. WMC's Level II trauma verification, its role as the regional referral center for a multi-county catchment, and its ICU, NICU, cardiac catheterization and major surgical programs make it the first choice for experienced nurses who want complex patient acuity. WMC competes for travel nurses against Denver Health, University of Colorado Hospital, and other Front Range facilities that also draw from Wyoming's limited nursing pipeline.

Cheyenne Regional Medical Center in the state capital is one of Wyoming’s largest hospitals, verified by the American College of Surgeons in 2025 as a Level III trauma center with neurosurgical capability, and has a service area covering southeastern Wyoming. CRMC has invested significantly in recruitment and retention programs and tends to offer more competitive salary packages than smaller facilities, with some union-adjacent benefits through its non-union but structured wage scale. For nurses who want state capital infrastructure and a larger urban Wyoming market without the altitude and geographic remoteness of Casper, Cheyenne is the alternative anchor.

Outside these two centers, the market is dominated by critical access hospitals. Wyoming has 24 CAH facilities — the highest concentration of CAH per capita of any state. Each of these facilities qualifies for NHSC loan repayment eligibility and most serve HPSA-designated areas, making them highly relevant for nurses carrying graduate school debt. For an NP finishing with $80,000–$150,000 in graduate loans, combining a Wyoming frontier NP salary with NHSC repayment ($75,000+ over two years for full-time service) at a Wyoming CAH produces one of the fastest debt payoff trajectories available anywhere in the country.

Major Employers

• Wyoming Medical Center: Casper; 266 beds; ACS-verified Level II trauma center (the only one in Wyoming at its 2023 verification); ICU, NICU, cardiac cath, full surgical program; dominant pay anchor for central Wyoming
• Cheyenne Regional Medical Center: Cheyenne; 222 beds; ACS-verified Level III trauma center (2025); state capital hospital; serves Laramie County and Platte County; competitive salary scale; strong ER and surgical programs
• St. John's Medical Center: Jackson; 60 beds; Level III Trauma; Teton County; resort-market premium pay; extreme housing costs; Level III NICU; outdoor recreation trauma volume; unique workforce demographics
• Sheridan Memorial Hospital: Sheridan; 88 beds; CAH; northern Wyoming; Billings Clinic regional affiliate; serves Sheridan and Johnson counties; near Montana border; competing for nurses with Billings, MT market
• Campbell County Health: Gillette; 90 beds; Level III Trauma; Powder River Basin energy sector workforce; above-average community income from coal and gas sector; consistent RN recruitment packages
• Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County: Rock Springs; 99 beds; CAH; southwestern Wyoming; Green River and Rock Springs community; Trona mining and energy workforce; active travel nurse program
• Ivinson Memorial Hospital: Laramie; 99 beds; CAH; Albany County; serves University of Wyoming community; young patient population; I-80 corridor; proximity to Cheyenne competitive pressure on wages
• SageWest Health Care Riverton: Riverton; 62 beds; CAH; Fremont County; Wind River Indian Reservation catchment; IHS coordination; one of the highest-shortage-area-designation counties in Wyoming; NHSC-eligible
• Washakie Medical Center: Worland; 25 beds; CAH; Big Horn Basin; independent; serves Big Horn and Washakie counties; one of Wyoming's most isolated nursing markets; active NHSC loan repayment
• West Park Hospital: Cody; 119 beds; Level III Trauma; Park County; gateway to Yellowstone east entrance; seasonal trauma volume from summer tourism; NHSC-eligible; near Wyoming wilderness areas