How Much Do Nurse Anesthetists Make? A Complete Guide

Certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) have administered anesthesia care since 1956. Each year, CRNAs provide 50 million patients with anesthetics. They also earn the highest salaries of all advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), making over six figures annually.

This guide breaks down salary data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and other resources to show how CRNA salaries vary by region, industry, and work experience. Find out in which states CRNAs earn the most.

Nurse anesthetists made a median salary of $203,090 in 2022, according to the BLS. This figure is nearly a 24% increase from 2016, when the median pay was $164,030.

The bottom quarter of nurse anesthetists made less than $174,000, and those in the top quarter percentile made over $227,000.

Salaries for nurse anesthetists vary based on various factors, including region, industry, and level of experience.

New Jersey and Wisconsin have the highest average CRNA salaries, both exceeding $280,000.

At slightly above $187,000 salaries per year, Alabama, Florida, and West Virginia have the lowest average annual salaries for CRNAs.

According to BLS, the most common workplaces for nurse anesthetists were offices of physicians and hospitals, where they earned an annual mean salary slightly above $200,000.

Offices of physicians are officially designated as facilities that provide routine, non-emergency healthcare. This includes specialized branches of medical care such as dermatology, pediatrics, dentistry, and women’s health.

The top-paying settings for CRNAs, however, were outpatient care centers and specialty (excluding psychiatric and substance use) hospitals, where they earned average salaries of $246,980 and $230,220, respectively.

Outpatient care centers provide routine preventative care, noncritical acute care, and minor surgical procedures. In contrast to hospitals, outpatient care facilities house patients who do not require overnight stays. Specialty hospitals, as their name suggests, provide expert care in specific areas, such as orthopedic surgery.

According to Payscale, nurse anesthetists’ hourly pay rises roughly 45% over the course of their careers.

Entry-level nurse anesthetists made roughly $73 per hour as of August 2023. As they entered midcareer, they made around $96. Experienced nurse anesthetists made more than $105 per hour.

Nurse anesthetists were the top earners among nurses, making an average salary of $205,770 in 2022.