Somewhere in Palm Desert, California, a nurse practitioner is being offered $45,000 a year. Somewhere else — North Dakota, of all places — the average high-end offer clears $268,000. Same credential. Same country. Same week.

The nurse practitioner market in August 2026 is not one market. It is fifty of them, stitched loosely together by a shared license and very little else. We pulled 1,776 active listings across every region of the country, from Anchorage to Miami, and the spread is wide enough to drive a locum RV through.

The thesis is simple: geography is doing more of the compensation work than specialty ever will.
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The Nurse Practitioner Job Market at a Glance

Total listings: 1,776
Listings with disclosed salary: 764
Full national range: $45,000 – $400,000
National average range: $144,761 – $186,129

Nurse practitioners are in demand essentially everywhere. Active postings appeared in 50 states plus the District of Columbia — AK, AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, and WY.

The interesting part is not the ceiling or the floor. It is the width. A $355,000 gap between the lowest and highest disclosed figure tells you that “nurse practitioner” is doing an enormous amount of definitional heavy lifting — one line item covering everything from part-time urgent care shifts to full-scope medical directorships. The 43% salary transparency rate (more on that later) makes the averages directional rather than definitive.

Read the average range as a benchmark, not a promise.
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How States Stack Up

Overperformers

• North Dakota ($223,600 – $268,320): Four listings, two with salary, and it leads the country. Scarcity pricing in plain view.
• Nebraska ($218,400 – $287,040): The highest single average high in the dataset, from six listings. The Plains are paying.
• Alabama ($191,500 – $255,000): Two salaried listings, but they’re both aggressive.
• Tennessee ($190,667 – $248,213): A rare state that pays above average without a critical shortage narrative.
• Kansas ($187,200 – $247,520) and Wyoming ($187,200 – $247,520): Identical bands, both hunting for candidates.
• Indiana ($185,120 – $260,832): Volume is modest, ceilings are not.
• Delaware ($174,200 – $231,400): Small state, serious money.
• Michigan ($170,560 – $221,728), Louisiana ($169,867 – $236,427), South Carolina ($169,267 – $231,200), North Carolina ($169,330 – $218,694), Iowa ($167,267 – $223,600), Virginia ($166,741 – $220,268), Utah ($166,400 – $218,400), Minnesota ($164,234 – $209,360), New Hampshire ($160,800 – $210,880), Montana ($159,767 – $212,113), Missouri ($158,971 – $209,486), Pennsylvania ($157,404 – $206,644), Kentucky ($157,387 – $221,173), South Dakota ($156,000 – $230,048), Texas ($154,664 – $210,831), Idaho ($154,613 – $208,000), Wisconsin ($153,700 – $215,827), California ($151,898 – $189,104), Washington ($151,144 – $178,042), Georgia ($150,570 – $193,464), Oregon ($149,676 – $194,693), New Mexico ($148,350 – $215,330), DC ($147,000 – $217,840), Maine ($147,133 – $182,311), and Maryland ($146,350 – $205,415) all clear the national average low.

Near-average

• Ohio ($144,407 – $174,567): Textbook midpoint. If your offer sits here, it’s market.
• Mississippi ($143,200 – $184,200): Small sample, but tracking national norms.
• Arizona ($140,569 – $185,369) and Florida ($140,518 – $185,209): The Sun Belt benchmark twins.
• Alaska ($137,800 – $181,100): Cost-of-living-adjusted, this is a pay cut.
• Nevada ($137,429 – $178,029), Illinois ($136,469 – $177,256), West Virginia ($132,200 – $165,367), Hawaii ($130,143 – $155,371), Colorado ($129,091 – $172,326): All within shouting distance of national norms, though several — Hawaii and Colorado especially — punch below their cost of living.

Underperformers

• Oklahoma ($115,000 – $140,000): The floor. Both ends of the range sit below the national average low. One salaried listing, admittedly, but that’s the number on the wall.
• Vermont ($121,287 – $149,664): Twelve salaried listings say this is not a fluke.
• Rhode Island ($122,000 – $153,000): Small, expensive, underpaid.
• New Jersey ($123,731 – $161,491): Suburban cost of living, non-suburban paychecks.
• Arkansas ($124,450 – $171,700): Low floor, decent ceiling.
• New York ($126,603 – $160,347): 143 listings, and the state still can’t crack the national average. More on this in a moment.
• Massachusetts ($126,741 – $157,107): Boston prices, not Boston pay.
• Connecticut ($127,121 – $161,753): Ditto.

Volume Leaders

California (199), New York (143), North Carolina (120), Washington (89), Florida (88), Oregon (81), Massachusetts (80), Arizona (67), Texas (64), Georgia (59). California and North Carolina reward the volume with above-average pay. New York and Massachusetts do not. If you’re a nurse practitioner in New York for the money, you have already made your first mistake.
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What This Means If You’re a Physician

If your priority is maximum compensation: Look at the Plains and pockets of the South: North Dakota, Nebraska, Indiana, Tennessee, Alabama, Kansas, Wyoming. The dollars are real. The trade-off is optionality — most of these states carry single-digit listing counts, so if the one job doesn’t fit, there isn’t a second one waiting behind it.

If your priority is maximum optionality: California and North Carolina are the only two states that combine top-tier volume with above-average compensation. New York has the second-highest listing count in the country and pays like it is trying to talk you out of moving there.

If your priority is balance: Texas (64 listings, $154,664 – $210,831), Washington (89 listings, $151,144 – $178,042), and Georgia (59 listings, $150,570 – $193,464) offer real inventory and real money. Oregon (81 listings, $149,676 – $194,693) rounds it out.

The highest-profile national listing is a full-time Medical Director Nurse Practitioner role in Sacramento, California, posted by CompHealth at $143,520 – $186,576 — a leadership title that, oddly, pays right at the national average. Meanwhile a Dermatology NP role in Phoenix, Arizona (myDermRecruiter, $125,000 – $200,000) has a lower floor and a higher ceiling. Title inflation is real; verify scope before you verify prestige.

Cost-of-living red flags: Hawaii, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. All pay below the national average. None are cheap to live in.
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What This Means If You’re a Recruiter

Salary transparency rate: 764 ÷ 1,776 = 43.0%.

Fewer than half of all NP postings disclose compensation. That is not a small number — but it is not enough to give candidates confidence, and in a market this wide it functionally penalizes the postings that stay silent. Candidates are triaging on visible data. If your listing isn’t in it, you’re competing against imagination.

The pipeline implication is straightforward: high-volume, below-average states (New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey) will not close on compensation. Recruiters in those markets will need to lead with schedule, autonomy, patient panel, loan assistance, or lifestyle — because the paycheck is not going to do the work.

Conversely, the highest-paying states (ND, NE, IN, TN, AL, KS, WY) are underselling themselves with tiny listing counts and thin disclosure. If you are recruiting into those markets, publish the number. It is your single strongest lever.
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What’s Driving the Numbers

Scope and leadership do not automatically command a premium: The Sacramento Medical Director role pays at the national mean. A specialty NP job in Phoenix outpaces it on the high end. Title is not the same as leverage; specialty scope, prescriptive authority, and procedural volume appear to be doing more compensation work than org-chart position.

Part-time listings are distorting the floor: The national low of $45,000 comes from a part-time Palm Desert role. That figure drags the perceived range down without reflecting full-time reality. Candidates evaluating offers should compare against the average range ($144,761 – $186,129), not the full national floor. Employers advertising part-time roles inside a full-time dataset are contributing to a benchmark problem the whole market inherits.

Underserved markets are pricing in scarcity: North Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Kansas, Alabama, and Indiana all pay materially above the national average with materially below-average listing counts. That is not generosity. That is a market clearing price for a candidate who is not currently in the state and would need a reason to move.

The volume-pay relationship is broken — selectively: The lazy version of this analysis says “high volume = low pay.” The data says otherwise. California (199 listings) and North Carolina (120) pay above average. New York (143) and Massachusetts (80) pay below. The differentiator appears to be cost structure and payer mix — states with dense, tightly reimbursed employer networks compress wages regardless of demand.

The Bottom Line

The nurse practitioner market is enormous, geographically dispersed, and structurally uneven. Compensation is being set less by the credential and more by where the credential is standing. The high-volume coastal markets are not the high-pay markets, the high-pay states are not the high-volume ones, and roughly 57% of employers still haven’t decided whether they want to tell you what the job pays.

If you want the money, move somewhere cold. If you want the choice, move somewhere expensive. If you want both, try North Carolina.
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Salary data based on 764 listings with disclosed compensation. Figures may reflect part-time or specialized roles. This report is informational and should not replace professional judgment or financial planning.