NICU nurse pay in California
$118,290median posted offer#1 of 2 states for NICU
NICU nurses in California are being offered a median $118,290 a year across 6 live postings that state pay — 7% above the national NICU median of $110,656. Updated September 10, 2026.
Where does your pay sit in NICU in California?
Checked against 6 live postings that state pay. Your number stays in your browser.
Enter your pay to see your percentile.
Posted offers on live listings — not take-home pay or a promise of what any one nurse will earn.
Other specialties in California
- Nursing Unit & Program Directors 9 postings$200k
- Infusion 55 postings$187k
- Executive Nurses & Nurse Administrators 22 postings$182k
- Interventional Radiology 5 postings$163k
- Cath Lab 5 postings$156k
- Gastroenterology 5 postings$153k
- Hospice & Palliative Medicine 9 postings$153k
- PCU 8 postings$151k
Or see all nurse pay in California (2,862 postings), or NICU pay across every state.
What to do with this
- See the rolesSee NICU roles in CaliforniaEvery posting behind these numbers is a live job you can open and apply to.
- Offer in hand?Run it through the offer reality calculatorTurn it into a full-year number, see what it's worth where you'd live, and compare offers side by side.
- 3-minute PULSEFind the work that brings out your bestPay is one axis. Your pace, decision style, connection, scope, and energy rhythm shape the rest.
- CommunityAsk nurses what they really take homeDifferentials, ratios, and the offer nobody posts. Bring your number and compare notes.
Want the craft behind the numbers — differentials, negotiating, travel packages? Read the pay & salary guides.
Questions nurses ask
- How much do NICU nurses make in California?
- Across 6 live NICU postings in California that state pay, the median offer is $118,290 a year. The middle half runs $113,214–$125,986, and the top 10% start at $135,855.
- Is California a good state for NICU nurses?
- On posted pay, California ranks #1 of 2 states for NICU. The median there is 7% above the national NICU median of $110,656. Pay is one axis — shift, ratios, and cost of living decide whether the job is worth it.
- Where do these numbers come from?
- Midpoint of stated salary ranges on live nursing job postings; values outside $20,000–$800,000/yr treated as parse artifacts and excluded; groups under 5 postings suppressed. Headline figures blend every employment type; `employmentTypes` splits the same postings into staff, travel, PRN and agency bands, each annualized on the posting's own stated terms (weekly travel rates at 52 weeks), so a rate is only ever ranked against its own band. Community-reported figures are anonymous, unverified, and reported separately.