As of April 01, 2026, the average hourly rate for a Nursing Manager in the United States is $65, which translates to an annual salary of about $136,029.
However, the hourly wage can vary significantly based on several factors. Here’s a detailed look at the typical pay range per hour:
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A Nursing Manager's salary isn't a fixed number. It's shaped by several important factors. Below, we'll explore how your years of experience, geographic location, education and company size can directly affect your earning potential.
Experience is a primary driver of a Nursing Manager's salary. As you build your skills and take on more complex tasks, your compensation generally increases. Here's how the average salary grows at different career stages:
| Job Role | Years of Experience | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Charge Nurse | 0-3 years | $102,348 |
| Nursing Supervisor | 3-5 years | $116,277 |
| Nursing Manager | 5+ years | $136,029 |
| Nursing Senior Manager | 5+ years | $164,778 |
| Nursing Director | 5+ years | $202,371 |
What Am I Worth?
Your salary can change significantly depending on where you work. States with a higher cost of living and strong industrial sectors often pay more to attract Nursing Managers. For example, consider the average annual salaries in these key locations:
Demanded Skills for the Role:
| Skills | Demand Percentage |
|---|---|
| Leadership | 9.73% |
| Acute Care | 2.58% |
| Assisted Living | 1.48% |
| Skill | Salary | Salary % Increase |
|---|---|---|
|
Risk Management
|
$145,551 |
7%
|
|
Alignment
|
$141,470 |
4%
|
|
Clinical Nursing
|
$140,110 |
3%
|
|
Care Management
|
$140,110 |
3%
|
|
Communication Skills
|
$140,110 |
3%
|
|
Quality Improvement
|
$138,750 |
2%
|
Your level of education can impact your salary potential. While many Nursing Managers enter the field with a Bachelor's Degree degree, higher education can lead to more specialized and higher-paying roles.
According to our 100% employer-reported salary data, the median salary for a Nursing Manager with a Bachelor's Degree is between $119,641 and $126,006).
Nursing Manager Salaries by Degree Level
| Degree Level | % of user with this level of education |
|---|---|
| No Diploma | 0.3% |
| High School | 3.5% |
| Associates | 23.8% |
| Bachelors | 46.0% |
| Masters | 25.6% |
| Doctorate | 0.9% |
Understanding how a Nursing Manager's annual salary breaks down can help with budgeting. Below, you can see the average hourly rate, weekly pay, and monthly pay for this role. Use the buttons to switch between different pay periods.
Last Updated on April 01, 2026Salaries for a Nursing Manager can change over time, reflecting shifts in market demand and the overall economy. The median salary increased from $107,758 in 2023 to around $107,811 in 2025, reflecting changes in demand, location, experience, and the wider economy. For a detailed analysis of Nursing Manager salary trends, .
| Year | Average Annual Salary |
|---|---|
| 2022 |
View More
|
| 2023 | $107,758 |
| 2024 | $108,119 |
| 2025 | $107,811 |
| 2026 |
View More
|
| 2027 |
View More
|
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Compensation PlanningHere are companies hiring for Nursing Manager and their salaries, click below for more details.
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Manages daily operations of a nursing unit in a hospital or other medical facility to maintain standards of patient care. Responsible for implementing all nursing services in compliance with current local, state, and federal standards and regulations. Monitors the quality of patient care and services and makes recommendations and/or adjustments as needed. Requires a bachelor's degree in nursing. Requires Registered Nurse (RN). Typically requires Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS). Typically reports to a director. Manages subordinate staff in the day-to-day performance of their jobs. True first level manager. Ensures that project/department milestones/goals are met and adhering to approved budgets. Has full authority for personnel actions. Typically requires 5 years experience in the related area as an individual contributor. 1-3 years supervisory experience may be required. Extensive knowledge of the function and department processes.
Specify the abilities and skills that a person needs in order to carry out the specified job duties. Each competency has five to ten behavioral assertions that can be observed, each with a corresponding performance level (from one to five) that is required for a particular job.
Leadership: Knowledge of and ability to employ effective strategies that motivate and guide other members within our business to achieve optimum results.
Acute Care: Acute care is a branch of secondary health care where a patient receives active but short-term treatment for a severe injury or episode of illness, an urgent medical condition, or during recovery from surgery. In medical terms, care for acute health conditions is the opposite from chronic care, or longer term care. Acute care services are generally delivered by teams of health care professionals from a range of medical and surgical specialties. Acute care may require a stay in a hospital emergency department, ambulatory surgery center, urgent care centre or other short-term stay facility, along with the assistance of diagnostic services, surgery, or follow-up outpatient care in the community. Hospital-based acute inpatient care typically has the goal of discharging patients as soon as they are deemed healthy and stable. Acute care settings include emergency department, intensive care, coronary care, cardiology, neonatal intensive care, and many general areas where the patient could become acutely unwell and require stabilization and transfer to another higher dependency unit for further treatment.
Assisted Living: Assisted living exemplifies the shift from "care as service" to "care as business" in the broader health care arena predicted more than three decades ago. A consumer-driven industry, assisted living offers a wide range of options, levels of care, and diversity of services (Lockhart, 2009) and is subject to state rather than federal regulatory oversight. "Assisted living" means depends on both the state and provider in question: variations in state regulatory definitions are significant and provider variables include everything from philosophy, geographic location and auspice, to organizational size and structure.
Salary.com salary estimates, histograms, trends, and comparisons are derived from both employer job postings and third-party data sources. We also provide multiple percentiles of salary information for your reference, click here to know Why the Salary Midpoint Formula Is Crucial to Getting Pay Equity Right. With more online, real-time compensation data than any other website, Salary.com helps you determine your exact pay target.
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