Whether you are a staff Acute nurse or a travel Acute nurse, knowing your earning potential makes all the difference. If you are curious and want to know how much acute care nurses are making in 2025, then you are in the right place. In this blog, we will give you detailed Acute Care Nurse’s Salary numbers, from hourly rates to top-paying states, so you can plan your career and your paycheck.
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What is an Acute Care Nurse?
Acute care nurses are registered nurses who take care of critically ill patients. These patients have severe, complex, or sudden-onset medical conditions that require immediate action. The patient’s condition can get serious at any time and needs timely intervention, and therefore, highly skilled registered nurses are needed to take care of such patients. These nurses are found in:
- Intensive Care Units (ICU)
- Progressive Care Units (PCU)
- Emergency Departments (ED)
- Post-surgical Units
Types of Acute Care Nurses and Their Salaries in 2025
It is important to discover the types of acute care nurses, as their salaries vary depending on their role, specialization and employment type.
- Acute Care RN Staff Nurse
- Acute Care Travel Nurse
- Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (ACNP)
Staff Acute Care Nurse
Staff Acute Care nurses work in the hospital and provide care to the patients who have acute, short-term, and often severe medical conditions. Staff Acute Care nurses work 36 to 48 hours a week. They work 8-hour or 12-hour shifts. A Typical staff nurse’s schedule looks like the following:
12-hour shift:
Staff acute nurses work 3 days off, 3 days on rotation for a 12-hour shift, which totals 36 hours, but sometimes work 4 days a week, which is 48 hours in total.
Day shift: 7:00 am to 7:00 pm
Night shift: 7:00 pm to 7:00 am
8-hour shift:
These nurses work 8 hours every day for 5 days a week, making a total of 40 hours a week. Their typical schedule looks like the following.
Day shift: 7:00 am to 3:00 pm
Evening shift: 3:00 pm to 11:00 pm
Night shift: 11:00 pm to 7:00 am
How much do staff Acute Nurses make in 2025 (non-travel nurses)?
An average Acute Care Staff nurse makes up to $55.26 per week in 2025. There are many factors that affect Acute Care Staff nurse salary, such as healthcare facility, location, state, experience, etc, but the average in Oct 2025 is $55.26.
Acute Care Travel Nurses
Travel Acute Nurse is a registered nurse who works on short-term contracts, typically 8 to 13 weeks, and travels from one city to another to fill the gaps where Acute Nurses are needed. Acute care nurses choose to travel for the following reasons:
- Higher hourly pay as compared to a staff nurse.
- Exploring new cities and healthcare facilities to gain more experience that can boost their resume.
- Freedom and flexibility in choosing schedules, contract location, pay, etc.
What is the salary of Acute Care Travel Nurses in 2025?
The Acute Care Travel RN salary depends on their contract length, location, demand, stipends, etc. The average salary of travel acute RN is $2,400–$3,800+ per week, depending on contract, location, and demand.
Some of the factors that affect travel nursing pay are as follows:
- Benefits such as health insurance, dental insurance, and vision insurance.
- Housing stipends, meal incentives, and travel reimbursements.
- Bonuses such as a sign-on bonus, referral bonus, and completion bonus.
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Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (ACNP)
Acute care nurse practitioners (ACNPs) are advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) who have advanced education, usually a Master’s or Doctorate in nursing, and can diagnose, treat, and manage acute illness. They provide specialized care to patients who have severe, complex, or urgent medical conditions and typically work in hospitals, ICUs, and specialty care units. Their pay is higher than staff nurses because of their education and experience.
What is the salary of an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (ACNP) in 2025?
The salary of an Acute Care Nurse practitioner (ACNP) is higher than staff nurse. The average salary of an ACNP is $57/hr or $2,270 per week.
What are the factors affecting the Acute Care Nurse salary?
There are different factors that affect acute care nurses’ salaries. Let’s break down for staff acute care nurses and travel acute care nurses.
Factors affecting staff acute care nurses’ salary:
- Experience plays an important role in affecting acute care nurse pay. The more experience you have, the higher the pay will be.
- Education and certification also play a key role in nursing salary, such as a BSN and MSN can increase nurses’ salaries. Additional certifications will also boost your resume and increase your chances of getting high-paying jobs.
- Shift timings: Acute care nurses working night shifts, on weekends, or on holidays will have higher hourly pay. Overtime is also the best way to increase nurses’ salaries.
- Geographic location is another factor that affects nurse pay; for example, places with a high cost of living will pay acute care nurses more compared to the low-cost living areas.
- Large hospitals and facilities will pay acute care nurses higher hourly pay and benefits that can affect nurse salaries.
Factors affecting the travel Acute Care Nurse salary:
- High demand: We know that travel nurses work on contracts when there is an urgent need for nurses. The pay of Acute Care Travel nurses varies by region, demand, and facility type. During high demand (such as flu season, pandemic), the facilities are ready to pay more.
- High acuity specialties are more in demand, which increases their pay, such as ICU, ER, and OR.
- Experience and Certifications: Travel acute nurses with additional certifications and more experience will have higher hourly pay, which can boost their salary. They can always negotiate and get the pay that they deserve. With SkillGigs, nurses can bid on jobs and get high travel nursing contracts that can boost their pay.
- Benefits: One of the major factors that affect travel nurse salary is the benefits and bonuses that they get with their assignments, such as health insurance, travel reimbursements, meal incentives, housing stipends, Bonuses, etc.
How can you earn more with SkillGigs?
Do you know that you can earn more with SkillGigs without recruiters getting your cut? Yes, with SkillGigs, you have the freedom to choose your own assignment, location, pay, and so much more. How can you make more with SkillGigs?
- Bid on the jobs and set your own rates. You can also negotiate directly with the employer and get the high pay that you deserve.
- Once you sign a contract with SkillGigs, you can get $500 bonus.
- With SkillGigs, you have access to work in top healthcare facilities that pay you the highest.
- Which states pay Acute Care Nurses the most?
The top high-paying states for Acute Care RN are as follows:
California: $148K/year for staff RNs, travel nurses $62–72/hr 9
New York: $114K/year, Washington: $116K/year
Massachusetts: $113K/year
Arizona: $100K/year
The average salary of an Acute Care RN in the US in 2025 is $55.26/hr
Conclusion
Whether you choose to work as a staff acute nurse or travel acute nurse, it is important to understand the salary trend in 2025 to make more money and informed career decisions. Different factors affect acute care nurse salary, such as location, healthcare facilities, demand, benefits, bonuses, type of specialty, education, certification, experience, etc. In 2025, staff acute care nurses are making an average of $55.26 per hour, but by leveraging high-paying travel nursing contracts with SkillGigs, you can make more and take control of your nurse salary and bonus that you deserve.
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