How Much Does a Critical Care Nurse Make?
Credit: RubberBall Productions / Brand X Pictures / Getty ImagesDo you have a calling to work in high-stakes nursing? Critical care nurses engage in rewarding, high-stress work. These nurses devote more attention to fewer patients, allowing them to create stronger bonds. The job also offers autonomy and strong salaries.
How much does a critical care nurse make? This guide breaks down critical care nurse pay and includes ways these health professionals can boost their earnings.
Average Salary for Critical Care Nurses
Critical care nurse salaries typically start higher than pay for RNs. Payscale data from July 2025 indicates this specialty nursing position makes an annual average salary of $84,380 or $37.79 an hour. In general, registered nurses make higher earnings than the national average for all other occupations.
As of 2024, the median pay for all occupations reached $49,500, which remains below the median annual pay for RNs of $93,600. Work experience and continued education influence salary potential for critical care nurses. Experienced and late-career critical nurses can earn $42.26-$45.68 an hour.
The Highest-Paying States for Critical Care Nurses
A critical care nurse’s location can significantly influence their pay. While the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) does not record data for critical care nurses specifically, salary rates for RNs offer insight into states that pay the most.
BLS data indicates that RNs earn the highest pay in California, Hawaii, Oregon, the District of Columbia, and Massachusetts. Critical care nurses in the top-paying state of California earn an annual mean wage of $148,330. In Massachusetts, the fifth top-paying state, nurses make an annual mean salary of $112,610.
Factors such as demand in large metropolitan or rural areas can also influence critical care nurse pay, including any bonuses used to recruit and keep nurses. California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania employ the most RNs of any state.
4 Ways to Increase Pay As a Critical Care Nurse
Critical care nurses can pursue professional advancements and salary increases through professional and educational opportunities. The following list offers ways that critical care nurses can increase their earning potential.
- 1
Consider Pursuing Certifications
Professional nursing organizations offer certifications that require clinical hours and current RN or advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) licensure. Applicants must also pass an exam. Nurses pursue certification to validate their knowledge in specialty areas of nursing.
Get your initial certification in acute and critical care nursing for adults, pediatrics, or neonatal patients through the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. Managers, supervisors, and administrators can also consider CCRN-K certification.
- 2
Increase Education Level
Nurses who gain higher degrees almost always increase their pay. It takes a master of nursing degree or a doctor of nursing practice degree to become an APRN and earn some of the top salaries in the field. APRNs — nurse anesthetists, nurse practitioners, and nurse midwives — earn a median salary of $132,050.
- 3
Gain Experience in Administrative Roles
Why train for nursing administrator roles? Nursing administrative positions offer high pay and career advancement opportunities beyond providing direct patient care. With experience, RNs can leave the clinical setting and gain leadership experience to become head nurses, unit managers, and chief nursing officers.
Medical and health services managers make a mean annual wage of $117,960. RNs can gain leadership experience through internships and mentorships.
- 4
Switch Practice Setting
Geographic and industry settings can determine a critical care nurse’s salary as much as credentials and education. RNs make the most in nonscheduled air transportation, pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing, and merchant wholesalers and nondurable goods. Nurses in these industries earn $101,240-$112,630 on average. California, Hawaii, Oregon, the District of Columbia, and Alaska pay nurses the highest average salaries.
Frequently Asked Questions About Critical Care Nurse Salaries
Aside from the difference in title, these types of nurses largely handle the same type of work and patients. ICU and critical care nurses both provide round-the-clock care and monitoring for patients with serious health conditions.
