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Nurses

Director of nursing salary

Open director of nursing jobs post a median of $70.50 an hour, with the middle half paying $51.75–$88.75: about $146,600 a year full time. Measured from 29 jobs at 17 employers that state their pay, read from each employer's own job board.

$70.50
Median posted /hr
$52–$89
Middle half /hr
$146,600
A year, full time
estimate, 2,080 hours
$59.55
BLS median /hr
May 2025

The jobs themselves: Director of nursing jobs · A specialty of nurse manager pay

What directors of nursing are paid

Each bar counts the open jobs posting an hourly rate in its step of pay (a range at its midpoint). The middle half of employers' rates is in the darker color.

Posted hourly rates of 29 open jobs. The chart spans the 2nd to the 98th percentile; the lowest rate posted is $35, the highest $200.14.

Posted on open jobs

$51.75–$88.75/hr

Middle half of 26 employer rates (each employer's advertised range once), median $70.50. 8% of the 356 open director of nursing jobs state an hourly rate. 4 more state an "up to" ceiling, a weekly travel rate, a per-visit fee, or a rate far from the rest (a differential read as pay), left out.

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Director of nursing pay by employer

What each employer posts for directors of nursing, the employers with the most jobs stating pay first. An employer with at least 5 such jobs has a page of its own with every range it posts.

EmployerMedian postedPosted rangeJobs stating pay
CommonSpirit Health$81.50$49.54–$119.266
Atlantic Health$125.75$87.69–$200.144
Genesis HealthCare$40$40–$52.503
Tenet Healthcare$73.50$45.26–$109.712
Benedictine$43.50$39–$52.752
Alameda Health System$101.25$76–$126.671
Cedars-Sinai$88$65.21–$110.861
Advocate Health$85.25$68.20–$102.301
Plumas District Hospital$81.25$66.89–$95.371
Samaritan Health Services$77.25$61.84–$92.751
Shriners Children's$74.50$54.81–$93.981
Trinity Health$68.75$54.94–$82.401
Richmond University Medical Center$60$601
Mille Lacs Health System$56$44.78–$67.171
NaphCare$47$45–$491
Helia Healthcare$40$38–$421
Fundamental Healthcare$36$35–$371

Median of each employer's own jobs (a range at its midpoint), and the lowest and highest rate it posts. Jobs stating pay link to the employer's open jobs.

Director of nursing jobs that state a yearly salary

Some jobs state a salary for the year instead of an hourly rate. They are measured on their own here, never converted.

97 open jobs from 63 employers state a yearly salary: a median of $125,000, the middle half $109,500 to $150,000, from $71,000 to $336,107 posted.

Best-paid open director of nursing jobs

The open jobs posting the highest hourly rates tonight, at most two from one employer.

Every open job: Director of nursing jobs

What BLS measures

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys what people employed in the occupation earn, at every level of experience. A posting advertises what a new hire is offered, so the two measure different things.

Hourly wages, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national. Each figure opens its BLS page.
BLS occupation10th pct25th pctMedian75th pct90th pctEmployed
Medical and Health Services Managers (11-9111)$35.29 (source: BLS OEWS, Medical and Health Services Managers, opens in a new tab)$45.53 (source: BLS OEWS, Medical and Health Services Managers, opens in a new tab)$59.55 (source: BLS OEWS, Medical and Health Services Managers, opens in a new tab)$79.85 (source: BLS OEWS, Medical and Health Services Managers, opens in a new tab)$107.86 (source: BLS OEWS, Medical and Health Services Managers, opens in a new tab)597,080 (source: BLS OEWS, Medical and Health Services Managers, opens in a new tab)

The posted median ($70.50) is $10.95 above the BLS median ($59.55 (source: BLS OEWS May 2025, Medical and Health Services Managers, opens in a new tab)). Posted ranges run from a new hire's rate to an experienced one's, and their midpoint is counted here.

Director of nursing salary: common questions

How much does a director of nursing make an hour?

Open director of nursing jobs on CareJobs.Now that state an hourly rate post a median of $70.50, with the middle half between $51.75–$88.75 (29 jobs from 17 employers, each employer's advertised range counted once). Postings advertise a base rate, usually before shift differentials and bonuses. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics measured a median of $59.55/hr ($123,860 a year) for medical and health services managers in May 2025.

How much does a director of nursing make a year?

At the posted median of $70.50 an hour, full time (2,080 hours a year) comes to about $146,600, and the middle half to $107,600 to $184,600. That is arithmetic on the hourly rate, not a salary any job states. 97 open jobs state a yearly salary instead, a median of $125,000.

Where do these figures come from?

From the pay CareJobs.Now's open jobs state, read every night from each employer's own job board: 29 of 356 open director of nursing jobs (8%) state an hourly rate. No pay is estimated for a job that states none, "up to" ceilings and weekly travel rates are left out, and each employer's advertised range counts once in the median, so no single employer sets it.

More pay by job: Nurses

Director of nursing jobs →Every healthcare salary →Pay explorer →

Sources and method

Only pay a job states is used: a plain hourly or yearly figure or range in US dollars, read from the job's own posting. A range counts at its midpoint. In the median and the middle half each employer's advertised range counts once, so an employer posting one range in many towns does not set the figure; an employer's own figures count its jobs one by one. "Up to" ceilings, weekly travel rates and rates under a third or over three times the occupation's median are left out. The yearly estimate is the hourly rate times 2,080 hours (40 a week). A job counts under its occupation and every occupation above it, and under every state it is open in. A page exists while at least 8 jobs from 3 employers state a rate. BLS figures are as published.
  1. CareJobs.Now job board: the pay open jobs state, read nightly from each employer's own careers site, published October 24, 2026
  2. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: Medical and Health Services Managers (SOC 11-9111), published May 15, 2026
  3. BLS OEWS May 2025: Medical and Health Services Managers by state, published May 15, 2026
  4. BLS Employment Projections 2025-2035: Medical and Health Services Managers (Occupational Outlook Handbook), published August 27, 2026

Cite this page

CareJobs.Now. (2026). Director of nursing salary. Data as of October 24, 2026. https://carejobs.now/salaries/director-of-nursing

How the board counts