The average starting salary for nurse practitioners held at $180,000 in 2025-26, unchanged from the year before, according to a Sept. 16 white paper from AMN Healthcare.
The flat year follows two straight years of growth. Average NP starting pay rose from $151,000 in 2022-23 to $164,000 in 2023-24, then to $180,000 in 2024-25. That puts this year’s figure 19% above 2022-23.
Demand for the role remains high. Nurse practitioners topped AMN’s list of most-requested search assignments for the sixth year in a row, with 209 searches in 2025-26, down from 222 the year before.
The “2026 Review of Physician and Advanced Practitioner Recruiting Incentives” uses a representative sample of the 1,293 permanent physician and advanced practitioner searches run by AMN Healthcare’s Physician Solutions division between April 1, 2025, and March 31, 2026. Salary figures cover “base salary or guaranteed income only,” leaving out production bonuses, signing bonuses, allowances and benefits.
Average NP starting salaries by year (all positions):
| Year | Low | Average | High |
| 2025-26 | $90,000 | $180,000 | $342,000 |
| 2024-25 | $85,000 | $180,000 | $338,395 |
| 2023-24 | $85,000 | $164,000 | $310,000 |
| 2022-23 | $115,000 | $151,000 | $271,000 |
Average NP starting salaries by setting:
| Year | Nonacademic | Academic |
| 2025-26 | $187,000 | $173,000 |
| 2024-25 | $180,000 | $167,000 |
| 2023-24 | $164,000 | $151,000 |
Some incentives shrank this year. The average signing bonus for NPs and physician assistants decreased from $12,869 to $12,567. The average relocation allowance fell from $9,016 to $6,694.
Educational loan repayment went the other way. The average offer to NPs and PAs rose from $50,000 to $60,000, but the report said the jump “may be a one-year aberration.”
AMN tied steady NP demand to several forces. Twenty-seven states and Washington, D.C., now allow NPs full practice authority. NPs are also staffing retail clinics, urgent care centers and telehealth platforms, working in specialties such as dermatology, orthopedic surgery, gastroenterology and cardiology, and filling gaps in mental health care, especially in underserved communities.
“Demand for NPs is expected to remain strong for at least the next several years,” the report said.
The pay picture differs for other advanced practitioners. Average CRNA starting salaries dipped about 1% to $286,250 in 2025-26.
