How much do flight nurses make in 2026?
Flight nurses are paid from the registered nurse series: BLS OEWS May 2025 gives the SOC 29-1141 national median as $97,550 a year ($46.90 an hour), with the bottom 10% near $68,940 and the top 10% at $137,470. There is no air-medical wage in the survey, so the honest position for flight nursing is the upper part of that distribution — but the reason is unusual. Programmes recruit from the top of the critical-care and emergency pool: several years of high-acuity experience, CFRN certification from the Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing, and advanced airway and transport competencies are typical entry requirements, so the people in these jobs would already be paid above the RN median on the ground. The pay structure then differs from hospital work: many programmes run 24-hour or 12-hour crew shifts with fewer total shifts per month, so annual earnings depend heavily on how overtime and standby are handled. Registered nurse employment is projected to grow 4.9% through 2034 with roughly 189,100 openings a year. → Full flight nurse career guide, career path, credentials & placement →
Note: $97,550 blends every experience level and every setting in this occupation. For pay by level alone, see Pay by Level below.
- Flight Nurses earn a national median $97,550/yr ($46.90/hr) (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 29-1141); the P10 to P90 range is $68,940 to $137,470.
- BLS publishes one registered nurse wage, so flight nursing has to be read as the upper part of the $68,940 to $137,470 RN range rather than as a separate series.
- The premium reflects who gets hired as much as the job itself: programmes recruit experienced critical-care and emergency nurses with CFRN and advanced airway competencies.
- Crew scheduling changes the maths — 24-hour or 12-hour shifts with fewer shifts a month mean overtime rules and standby pay matter more than the hourly base.
US Flight Nurse Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
Pay by Level · BLS OEWS May 2025
How much do flight nurses earn at each level?
BLS OEWS publishes one blended wage for the whole occupation and does not break pay out by credential or practice level. The levels below distribute the published percentile range across the credential tiers this role actually hires at.
Level medians are aligned to the BLS OEWS May 2025 percentile distribution for SOC 29-1141; GlobalCybers does not yet publish a verified placement sample for this role, so no verified median is shown.
Methodology & Sources
How the numbers on this page are built
Published (BLS): BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 29-1141, United States national estimate. Public, methodologically rigorous, but sampled on a rolling 3-year basis and published ~10 months after collection — so it reflects wages that are already 1–2 years old by the time you read them.
Level and certification medians: distributed across the published BLS percentile range for this SOC code (P10 through P90) according to the credential tiers this occupation actually hires at. They are modeled reference points, not separately surveyed wages.
State and metro figures: modeled — the BLS national median multiplied by the GlobalCybers state wage index, and for metros by the published metro index for that state. They are estimates of local pay, not BLS state or metropolitan-area observations, and are labelled as modeled in the tables below.
No verified placement sample:GlobalCybers does not yet publish a placement median for this role, so no "verified" figure appears anywhere on this page.
Pay by Career Level
How much does a flight nurse earn at each career stage?
Flight nursing pay follows transport competency, certification stack and crew responsibility. Each median is anchored to the BLS OEWS registered nurse distribution (SOC 29-1141).
By State
Which states pay flight nurses the most in 2026?
These are modeled state estimates — the BLS national registered nurse median scaled by the GlobalCybers state wage index — not BLS state observations. Air medical geography is base-driven: programmes cluster where distances, terrain and trauma-centre placement make air transport viable, so the jobs exist in specific corridors rather than everywhere. Nurse Licensure Compact membership matters more here than in most specialties, because crews routinely cross state lines mid-mission.
6 of 51 state guides shown, ranked by median. Bar is relative to California ($112,180), the highest-paying state shown. See all 51 state salary guides →
By Metro
Which cities pay flight nurses the most?
Modeled metro estimates: the registered nurse national median scaled by the state wage index and then by that state's published metro index. They estimate local wage levels and are not BLS metropolitan-area observations.
BLS OEWS MSA estimates, May 2025. Nominal pay — weigh each metro against its cost of living before relocating.
Certification Impact
Which certifications raise a flight nurse’s pay the most?
Median annual pay before and after each credential, based on GlobalCybers placement data cross-referenced with BLS. License upgrades move the needle most; stackable certs add on top.
Impacts are not additive, the licensing rows share the same career ladder. Browse all 167 certifications →
Trade Comparison
How does flight nurse pay compare to related roles?
BLS OEWS national median across the closest trades. Flight Nurses sit mid-pack on median but carry one of the widest P10–P90 spreads, licensing and specialization drive the upside.
BLS OEWS May 2025. Verify flight nurse wages on BLS.gov →
Take-Home Pay
What does a flight nurse actually take home after taxes?
The medians above are gross base wage.
Estimates use 2026 federal brackets, standard deduction, and 7.65% FICA. Actual take-home varies with filing status, deductions, and local tax.
FAQ
Flight Nurse Salary, Frequently Asked Questions
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