How much do operating room nurses make in 2026?
Operating room 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. BLS publishes no perioperative-specific wage, so operating room pay has to be read inside that band. The mechanics differ from most nursing specialties in one important way: elective surgery runs on daytime lists, so the extra money comes from call rather than from permanent nights. A circulating nurse who carries first call for emergency cases earns standby pay plus a callback rate at time-and-a-half or better, and in a busy trauma or transplant service that can be the largest single addition to annual pay. CNOR certification from the Competency and Credentialing Institute is the recognised perioperative credential and is commonly tied to a differential or clinical-ladder step. Registered nurse employment is projected to grow 4.9% through 2034 with roughly 189,100 openings a year. → Full operating room 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.
- Operating Room 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 rather than a perioperative one, so operating room pay sits inside the $68,940 to $137,470 RN distribution.
- Call and callback pay, not night differentials, are the defining premium in the operating room, and in trauma or transplant services they can dominate annual earnings.
- CNOR certification and specialty-service depth in cardiac, neuro or orthopaedic surgery are what move a circulating nurse from the median toward the $112,350 P75.
US Operating Room Nurse Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
Pay by Level · BLS OEWS May 2025
How much do operating room 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 an operating room nurse earn at each career stage?
Perioperative pay follows service-line competency, call responsibility and certification rather than a licence step above the RN. Each median is anchored to the BLS OEWS registered nurse distribution (SOC 29-1141).
By State
Which states pay operating room 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. For perioperative nurses the local question is where the surgery is: markets with academic and quaternary hospitals have specialty lists and call rotas that pay premiums, while markets dominated by ambulatory surgery centres offer daytime schedules with little or no call and correspondingly less premium pay. Nurse Licensure Compact membership still governs how quickly you can move between member states.
6 of 51 state guides shown, ranked by median. Bar is relative to California ($112,180), the highest-paying state shown. See all role salary guides →
By Metro
Which cities pay operating room 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 an operating room 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 operating room nurse pay compare to related roles?
BLS OEWS national median across the closest trades. Operating Room 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 operating room nurse wages on BLS.gov →
Take-Home Pay
What does an operating room 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
Operating Room Nurse Salary, Frequently Asked Questions
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