Nurse Practitioner Salary in Virginia (2023)

Written By: Pattie Trumble, MPP, MPH

The average salary of a nurse practitioner in Virginia is comparatively low, considering that Virginia has a high cost of living, and that once NPs have worked under a practice agreement with a supervising physician for five years (9,000 hours), they can apply for full practice authority. Keep in mind, though, that Virginia’s NP salary statistics average together NPs who practice autonomously and NPs who practice with physician oversight. That latter category is likely to be paid a significantly lower salary. Nine thousand hours is one of the longest mandatory physician collaborations in any of the 22 states that currently extend practice authority to NPs. The commonwealth’s professional physicians’ associations defend the mandate on the grounds that medical residents typically work 10,000 hours under supervision before they are allowed to practice autonomously as physicians. Are you wondering how much does a nurse practitioner make in Virginia? Keep reading for the inside scoop on nurse practitioner salary in Virginia for 2023.

What is the Starting Salary of a Nurse Practitioner in Virginia?

The average entry-level nurse practitioner salary in Virginia is $37.82 an hour, which multiplies out to $6,560 a month or $78,660. This is on the low end of starting salaries for NPs and probably reflects the fact that nurse practitioners fresh out of graduate school must accept employment with a healthcare provider who is willing to work with them within the stipulations of a practice agreement if those nurse practitioners want to fulfill the 9,000-hour requirement that will permit them to practice autonomously. In Virginia, healthcare providers have leverage over entry-level NPs, in other words. This means healthcare providers don’t have to offer special incentives for NP labor.

Starting nurse practitioner salary in Virginia is still more than twice as much as the average salary for entry-level level positions throughout the U.S. ($40,153), however, and more than two and a half times as much the average salary for entry-level level positions throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia ($32,221).

What is the Average Salary of a Nurse Practitioner in Virginia?

What is the average salary of a nurse practitioner in Virginia? According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, on average, NPs working in the commonwealth of Virginia earn $112,320 annually, which breaks down to $9,360 a month or $54.00 an hour. Virginia ranks 31st out of the 50 states in terms of nurse practitioner salary.

Average NP salary typically varies according to factors like geographical location, specialization and practice setting. NPs working in Richmond, the state capital, make nearly 25 percent more than nurse practitioners who work in Harrisonburg, a small city in the relatively impoverished Shenandoah Valley. Due to the rapid expansion of neonatal intensive care units across Virginia and other parts of the U.S., neonatal nurse practitioners are in high demand yet they only comprise 3 percent of the total nurse practitioner workforce; small wonder, then, that NNPs are the highest-paid nurse practitioners in Virginia. NPs who work in practice settings where revenue generation depends, in part, upon their efficiency are likely to receive higher salaries as an incentive to keep up the good work.

Average salary may not tell the full story of NP earning capacity in the Old Dominion State, though. For example: Most of the nurse practitioners who live in the wealthy northern counties bordering the District of Columbia work in D.C.-based medical centers where the average nurse practitioner salary is $124,540 annually. Additionally, nurse practitioners with full practice authority, who own and operate their own practices, belong to a distributed workforce that may not figure into calculations of average salary.

Nurse Practitioner Salary in Virginia by Years of Experience

In Virginia, nurse practitioners’ salaries are positively correlated with their years of professional experience. NPs in the Old Dominion State can expect to earn $78,660 annually at their first job after graduating from one of the best nurse practitioner programs in Virginia. Once they’ve accumulated four years of experience, they can expect to earn $98,150 a year, an increase of 13 percent. With two decades of experience under their belts, NPs earn nearly 75 percent more than they did when they were first starting out.

Breaking the five-year mark translates into the biggest nurse practitioner salary jump: NPs with five to nine years of experience make 17 percent more than NPs with one to four years of experience. In part, this salary hike may exist as an incentive to keep nurse practitioners on an employer payroll since after five years of experience, many nurse practitioners will qualify for full practice authority. With full practice authority, NPs have the option of opening up a solo practice and working for themselves rather than for an employer.

Total Annual Nurse Practitioner Compensation (Including Other Benefits) in Virginia

While pay is a significant factor in any decision to stay at a particular job, it’s not the only factor. Perks like medical insurance, paid time off and retirement contributions can also be an incentive. Collectively, these perks are called “benefits”; they are compensation paid over and above salary. Employees like benefits because they represent income that is not taxable; employers like benefits because they improve employee morale and foster loyalty.

Nurse practitioners in the Old Dominion State get an impressive benefits packages. In addition to paid vacation, health insurance and 401(k) contributions, 72.4 percent of them get professional liability insurance and 53.2 percent of them get reimbursement for licensure and professional certifications. Virginia NPs working in the private sector get benefits whose cash equivalence is $47,495, which is 42 percent of their yearly salary of $112,420; this brings their total compensation to $159,915 annually. Virginia NPs working in the public sector get benefits whose cash equivalence is $68,445, which is 62 percent of their yearly salary of $111,200; this brings their total compensation to $179,645 annually.

Nurse Practitioner Salary in Virginia by Practice Setting

The average nurse practitioner salary in Virginia for NPs working in outpatient care centers is 5 percent higher than for NPs working in hospital settings: $122,930 compared to $117,000. This may be related to the fact that outpatient care centers are more successful profit centers than hospitals; they see a more continuous flow of patients, and patients are often there for specific procedures that NPs help facilitate. NPs are an essential part of the revenue generation model in outpatient care centers and are compensated accordingly.

Virginia NPs working in physicians’ offices, on the other hand, make 6 percent less than Virginia NPs working in hospital settings. Nearly 50 percent of Virginia’s 5,790 nurse practitioners are affiliated with physician practices, and it may be inferred that a significant portion of these nurse practitioners have less than five years of experience. By working in physicians’ offices, NPs are able to accumulate the 9,000 hours they need for full practice authority. It’s quite plausible this quasi-residency is counted as a non-monetized perk since without a physician protocol agreement, these NPs would never be able to qualify for full practice authority.

While some Virginia nurse practitioners with full practice authority continue to run complementary practices within physicians’ office, others may opt to start their own solo practices. It’s been estimated that primary care nurse practitioners earn approximately $177,357 a year in states without mandated physician consultation requirements.

Nurse Practitioner Salary in Virginia by Specialty

1.Adult Gerontology-Acute Care Nurse Practitioner:

Adult gerontology-acute care nurse practitioners specialize in the care of hospitalized patients above the age of 18. One of their training focuses are senior citizens over the age of 65 who comprise the single largest age group of patients discharged from Virginia’s hospitals. This was also the age group that was hospitalized most often in Virginia due to complications of COVID-19, so the services of AG-ACNPs have been in high demand throughout the state over the past year. The average adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioner pay in Virginia is $54.76 an hour or $113,890 annually.

2.Adult Gerontology-Primary Care Nurse Practitioner:

Virginia’s adult gerontology-primary care nurse practitioners also have specialized training in senior citizens’ healthcare needs, but AG-PCNPs provide primary care. Though Virginia isn’t confronting the same primary care crisis that many other states face, its rural population tends to be significantly older than the residents of its urban and suburban cities and counties. These older residents have a greater demand for health care services—in particular, primary care services. The average adult-gerontology primary care nurse practitioner salary in Virginia is $51.78 an hour, which multiplies out to $107,690 a year.

3.Dermatology Nurse Practitioner:

Virginia’s dermatology nurse practitioners mostly live and work in the affluent northern Virginia, in counties like Loudon, Fairfax and Arlington. They’re employed by dermatology practices and cosmetic surgeons. The average dermatology nurse practitioner salary in Virginia is $53.99 an hour or $112,320 annually.

4.Family Nurse Practitioner:

Family nurse practitioners may be the most versatile of all NPs who practice in Virginia because they are trained to manage healthcare needs and promote wellness across the entire lifespan of the individual. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, nurse practitioners can manage 80 to 90 percent of the care provided by primary care physicians without any negative impact on patient outcomes.

More than one million Virginians live in areas that have been designated primary care health professional shortage areas (HPSAs), so Virginia’s family nurse practitioners have the potential to meet a lot of the state’s unresolved healthcare needs. The Old Dominion State provides incentives to attract family nurse practitioners who are willing to work in HPSAs, including loan repayment programs. Meanwhile, however, though more than 13 percent of Virginia’s population lives in rural areas, fewer than 10 percent of Virginia’s nurse practitioners are employed there. The average family nurse practitioner salary in Virginia is $53.71 an hour or $111,710 annually.

5.Neonatal Nurse Practitioner:

The highest-paid nurse practitioner in Virginia is the neonatal nurse practitioner. Neonatal nurse practitioners care for infants deemed high-risk due to low birth weight or complications of prematurity; these NPs work in specialized neonatal intensive care unit nurseries. The average neonatal nurse practitioner salary in Virginia is $57.65 an hour or $119,920 a year. In 2019, 9.9 percent of all Virginia births was preterm, so there is a high demand for the services of NNPs.

6.Pediatric-Acute Care Nurse Practitioner:

In addition to their medical needs, hospitalized children and adolescents also have other specific needs that are determined by their developmental phase. Pediatric-acute care nurse practitioners have the specialized training that allows them to respond to both sets of needs. The average pediatric-acute care nurse practitioner salary in Virginia is $56.18 an hour or $116,850 a year, which is 3 percent more than what acute care NPs caring for hospitalized adult patients earn.

7.Pediatric-Primary Care Nurse Practitioner:

Fourteen percent of Virginia’s children live beneath the Federal Poverty Level, which puts them at risk for developing chronic health problems. Virginia’s pediatric-primary care nurse practitioners have the specialized training that can help these children. P-PCNPs are distributed throughout the state. In urban and suburban parts of the state, they are often affiliated with pediatricians’ practices while in more rural parts of the state, they may set up their own solo practices. The average pediatric-primary care nurse practitioner salary in Virginia is $52.03 an hour or $108,210 annually.

8.Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP):

The National Alliance on Mental Illness estimates that approximately 6 percent of all Virginia adults have had a serious mental illness within the past year. Many parts of the state have been designated by the federal government as Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas (MHPSAs). Virginia’s psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners have the education and the skills to help remediate this shortage. Since demand for their services is high, P-MHNPs are compensated well in the Old Dominion State. The average psychiatric nurse practitioner salary in Virginia is $117,650 a year or $56.56 an hour.

9.Women's Health Nurse Practitioner:

Women’s health nurse practitioners attend to the gynecological needs of women across the lifespan. They also focus on health education and preventive care, which makes them a category within primary health care providers. WHNPs work with OB/GYN practices and community health clinics throughout all parts of Virginia. The average women’s health nurse practitioner salary in Virginia is $108,200 a year or $52.02 an hour.

Nurse Practitioner Salary in Virginia by City

1.Virginia Beach:

Virginia Beach is a resort town, located at the spot where Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. The medical centers such as Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, Sentara Leigh Hospital and Bon Secours-DePaul Medical Center that residents rely upon for treatment and related healthcare services are located in nearby Norfolk. The average nurse practitioner salary in Virginia Beach is $109,470 annually or $52.63 an hour.

2.Richmond:

The three leading causes of death in Richmond are heart disease, cancer and stroke, all of which have behavioral components that can be influenced by preventative interventions. But Richmond has a lower percentage of primary healthcare providers than the commonwealth of Virginia as a whole. Heroin and opioid use continue to be problems for the city. Top-ranked hospitals in the greater metropolitan area include VCU Medical Center, Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital and Bon Secours-Richmond Community Hospital. The average salary of a nurse practitioner in Richmond, VA, is $54.55 an hour, which comes to $113,460 a year.

3.Roanoke:

Poverty levels in Roanoke track higher than they do elsewhere in the Commonwealth of Virginia: 44 percent of the city’s residents live below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level as compared to 27 percent for Virginia as a whole. This has an effect on residents’ health status. Obesity, access to healthy foods, alcohol and substance abuse, and mental health issues are cited as health challenges in the 2018 Roanoke Valley Community Health Assessment. The average salary of a nurse practitioner in Roanoke is $104,390 annually or $50.19 an hour.

4.Lynchburg:

The greater metropolitan Lynchburg area has an obesity rate of 32 percent. Chronic diseases associated with obesity include diabetes, high blood pressure and coronary heart disease. The city of Lynchburg also has the highest mortality rate due to prescription opioid overdoses in the entire Commonwealth of Virginia. The entire area around Lynchburg except for Campbell County has been designated a Health Professional Shortage Area for Primary Care. The average NP salary in Lynchburg, VA, is $49.18 an hour or $102,290 annually.

5.Harrisonburg:

Health problems affecting Harrisonburg and surrounding areas in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley include obesity, teen pregnancy, substance abuse, diabetes and mental health illnesses. Twenty-three percent of the population smokes, and 56 percent of the population can be classified as overweight or obese. There is no public transportation in the area, so residents without cars and homebound older adults have trouble accessing primary care. The average NP salary in Harrisonburg, VA, is $100,670 or just under $49 an hour, which is low relative to the rest of the state and probably hinders attempts to attract the primary care providers this area needs so desperately.

NP Pay in Virginia VS. Other Nursing Careers

Nurse practitioners in Virginia make 47 percent more than registered nurses without graduate degrees. The average salary for a nurse in Virginia is $76,680. This is slightly higher than the average salary for all nurses across the U.S., which is $73,550.

However, at $112,320, the average salary for a nurse practitioner in Virginia is 4 percent less than the average salary for a nurse practitioner in the U.S. as a whole ($114,510). This raises the possibility that some nurse practitioners who attend graduate programs in Virginia will leave the state to practice elsewhere where NP compensation is higher.

NP Pay in Virginia VS. Other Healthcare Careers

Nurse practitioners in Virginia are the most highly paid of the so-called ancillary health occupations, but they make significantly less than health professionals like pharmacists and optometrists who must complete doctoral-level programs before they’re allowed to practice. In contrast, most nurse practitioners begin clinical practice after earning a Master’s degree.

Optometrists, in fact, provide a useful point of comparison with nurse practitioners since optometry is also a health-related practice with clinical components whose practitioners—like NPs—had to fight with physicians for full practice authority. Optometrists earn 13 percent more than nurse practitioners. the American Association of Colleges of Nursing has called for making doctoral degrees rather than master’s degrees the educational benchmark for advanced nursing practice. If and when this recommendation is implemented, you can expect to see the salary imbalance between NPs and optometrists mitigated.

Why is the Outlook Bright for Nurse Practitioner Salary in Virginia?

The Healthcare Workforce Data Center administered by Virginia’s Department of Health Professions projected that Virginia’s nurse practitioner workforce would grow by more than 43 percent between 2014 and 2024. This means the addition of more than 1,500 new NP positions throughout the state during that 10-year period. As employers compete for nurse practitioner services, it’s likely that the average nurse practitioner salary in Virginia will rise.

Summing It Up

This article has explored the determinants that go into answering the question: How much does a nurse practitioner make in Virginia? The average salary of a nurse practitioner in Virginia for 2023, however, is only one of the factors you should be looking at if you’re a nurse practitioner reviewing employment options. Job satisfaction depends as much upon the interest you have in your work, the appreciation you get for your work, job security and a good work/life balance as it does upon compensation prospects. If you find a nurse practitioner position that’s a good fit with your skills and specific interests, you can always raise your compensation by pursuing additional certifications within your field.

TOP QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY OUR EXPERT

1.How many Nurse Practitioners are currently employed in Virginia?

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 6,560 nurse practitioners are currently employed throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.

2.How much does a nurse practitioner make per hour in Virginia?

The average nurse practitioner salary per hour in Virginia is $54.00. Nurse practitioners typically reach this milestone when they’ve been at the job between five and nine years. By the time they’ve accumulated 10 to 19 years of experience, Virginia-based NPs can expect their salaries to jump by 15 percent to $61.39 an hour. By the time Virginia-based NPs have worked two decades or more, they can expect to make $73.14, which is 29 percent more than the average hourly wage.

3.How does the average salary of a nurse practitioner in Virginia compare to the average NP salary in the U.S?

On average, nurse practitioners earn $112,320 a year, which is more than 4 percent less than the average nurse practitioner salary across all parts of the U.S. ($118,040).

4.How much does a family nurse practitioner make in Virginia?

The average FNP salary in Virginia is $53.71 an hour, which multiplies out to $9,310 a month or $111,710 annually.

5.How much does a psychiatric nurse practitioner make in Virginia?

The average PMHNP salary in Virginia is $56.56 an hour, which comes out to $9,800 a month or $117,650 a year.

6.What are the 5 highest-paid Nurse Practitioners in Virginia?

With an annual salary of $119,920, neonatal nurse practitioners are the highest-paid nurse practitioners in Virginia. NNPs earn 2 percent more than psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners who are Virginia’s second-most highly paid NPs and 3 percent more than pediatric-acute care nurse practitioners who are Virginia’s third-most highly paid NPs.

7.What are the 5 highest paying cities for Nurse Practitioners in Virginia?

Within the Commonwealth of Virginia, the state capital Richmond pays nurse practitioners the highest average salary: $113,460. However, it’s worth noting that many nurse practitioners in the northern part of the commonwealth work in the District of Columbia where their pay is significantly higher.

8.How much do Nurse Practitioners earn in the various metros of Virginia?

Virginia-based nurse practitioners earn their highest salaries in Richmond, which is a city in the affluent northern part of the state that’s classified as part of the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. Winchester NPs earn $54.55 an hour or $117,590 annually. Most of Virginia’s nurse practitioners work in Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, where they earn $109,470 annually on average. This is 21 percent more than nurse practitioners earn who work in Harrisonburg in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Harrisonburg-based nurse practitioners earn $48.40 an hour or $100,670 a year.

9.Where do the majority of Nurse Practitioners practice in Virginia?

More than twice as many Virginia nurse practitioners work in physicians’ offices than work in hospitals: the numbers are 3,090 versus 1,480.

10.What are the approximate number of annual job openings for nurse practitioners in Virginia for 2023?

In 2023, 150 new nurse practitioner jobs will be created in Virginia. In addition, 300 NP positions whose previous occupants either retired or moved out of state will need to be filled. That means that the total number of job openings for Virginia NPs in 2023 will be 450.

11.What is the job outlook for NPs in Virginia?

The job outlook for nurse practitioners in Virginia is excellent. The occupation is expected to grow by 31 percent between 2018 and 2028.

Pattie Trumble, MPP, MPH
Pattie Trumble is a nurse who worked in both California and New York for many years as an emergency room nurse. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley, and an Associate Degree in Nursing from the Samuel Merritt Hospital School of Nursing. After 10 years of providing direct care, she went back to school and earned concurrent Master’s degrees in both public policy and public health from the University of California, Berkeley. Thereafter, she worked for various public health agencies in California at both the community and state levels providing economic and legislative analysis.