Nursing careers · Canada
How Much Do Nurses Make in Canada? 2026 Pay by Province
A registered nurse in Canada earns a median of $43.27 an hour, according to the federal government's Job Bank. On a standard 37.5-hour week, that is about $84,400 a year before overtime and shift premiums. The range runs from about $58,500 for new graduates to more than $106,000 near the top of the scale. Pay depends far more on your role and province than on your employer: nurse practitioners earn a median of $61.54 an hour, and practical nurses earn $31.32.
How much do nurses make in Canada? The quick answer
Job Bank, run by Employment and Social Development Canada, publishes low, median and high hourly wages for every occupation and refreshes them each year. The current nursing figures were updated on November 19, 2025. Here is what the three main regulated nursing roles earn nationally:
| Role | Low | Median | High | Median per year* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Licensed / registered practical nurse (LPN, RPN)NOC 32101 | $25.00 | $31.32 | $38.00 | $61,100 |
| Registered nurse (RN) and registered psychiatric nurseNOC 31301 | $30.00 | $43.27 | $54.37 | $84,400 |
| Nurse practitioner (NP)NOC 31302 | $42.00 | $61.54 | $75.00 | $120,000 |
*Our estimate: hourly median × 1,950 hours (37.5 hours a week for 52 weeks), rounded to the nearest $100. Base pay only; it excludes overtime, shift and weekend premiums, and the percentage in lieu of benefits that part-time staff often receive.
Read the low and high columns as the ends of the career ladder rather than as good and bad jobs. In unionized hospital settings, the low end is roughly a first-year nurse and the high end is a nurse who has reached the top of the wage grid.
Registered nurse salary by province
Province matters because nurses in most of Canada are paid under provincial collective agreements. The table shows Job Bank's hourly figures for registered nurses (NOC 31301, which also includes registered psychiatric nurses), with our annual estimate of the median.
| Province / territory | Low | Median | High | Median per year* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | $30.00 | $43.27 | $54.37 | $84,400 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | $33.65 | $44.00 | $52.00 | $85,800 |
| Prince Edward Island | $31.50 | $42.00 | $49.98 | $81,900 |
| Nova Scotia | $30.20 | $41.50 | $50.00 | $80,900 |
| New Brunswick | $31.00 | $44.77 | $49.00 | $87,300 |
| Quebec | $27.00 | $40.00 | $50.00 | $78,000 |
| Ontario | $29.00 | $42.00 | $55.00 | $81,900 |
| Manitoba | $34.00 | $45.00 | $52.40 | $87,800 |
| Saskatchewan | $38.00 | $47.13 | $52.20 | $91,900 |
| Alberta | $30.00 | $47.50 | $54.49 | $92,600 |
| British Columbia | $35.00 | $47.58 | $57.00 | $92,800 |
| Yukon | $33.00 | $48.50 | $60.88 | $94,600 |
| Northwest Territories | $45.00 | $58.00 | $69.23 | $113,100 |
| Nunavut | $45.00 | $57.99 | $71.57 | $113,100 |
Source: Job Bank wage report for registered nurses, updated November 19, 2025. *Estimate at 1,950 hours a year.
Three patterns stand out:
- The West pays the most among provinces. British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan all have medians above $47 an hour, about $92,000 a year.
- The North pays the most overall. Northwest Territories and Nunavut medians sit near $58 an hour, which reflects remote postings and the higher cost of living. Northern roles often add isolation allowances on top of base pay.
- Quebec and the Maritimes sit lower. Quebec's median is $40.00 and Nova Scotia's is $41.50. Ontario, home to the most nurses, sits near the middle at $42.00, with the Ottawa region higher at $45.00 and Toronto at $40.59.
These are the latest published figures, not a forecast. Nursing contracts are renegotiated every few years, so grids change. In British Columbia, for example, the nurses' union reported in June 2026 that members voted 67% to reject a tentative agreement, so B.C. wage grids were still in bargaining at the time of writing (BCNU). Always check the current collective agreement for the exact grid where you plan to work.
RN vs RPN/LPN vs nurse practitioner pay
Canada has four regulated nursing groups: registered nurses, registered psychiatric nurses, licensed or registered practical nurses, and nurse practitioners. Your education sets your pay ceiling more than anything else.
- Practical nurses (LPN, or RPN in Ontario) usually complete a two-year college diploma. National median: $31.32 an hour, about $61,100 a year.
- Registered nurses complete a four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing (or an accelerated degree). National median: $43.27 an hour. That is about $12 more per hour than a practical nurse, or roughly $23,000 a year.
- Nurse practitioners are experienced RNs with a graduate degree who can diagnose, order tests and prescribe. National median: $61.54 an hour, about $120,000 a year, with the high end at $75.00.
| Province | Practical nurse (LPN/RPN) | Nurse practitioner |
|---|---|---|
| Newfoundland and Labrador | $29.58 | $54.00 |
| Prince Edward Island | $31.00 | $50.65 |
| Nova Scotia | $30.42 | $55.88 |
| New Brunswick | $31.50 | $59.00 |
| Quebec | $30.00 | $57.69 |
| Ontario | $31.00 | $62.00 |
| Manitoba | $33.57 | $55.00 |
| Saskatchewan | $38.09 | $56.14 |
| Alberta | $32.00 | $53.25 |
| British Columbia | $34.57 | $59.53 |
Sources: Job Bank wage reports for licensed practical nurses and nurse practitioners, updated November 19, 2025. Territorial NP data was not available.
Saskatchewan stands out for practical nurses, with a median of $38.09. Ontario pays nurse practitioners the most among provinces, with a median of $62.00. A common career path is to start as an RPN, bridge into a BScN, and later complete an NP master's. Each step raises your ceiling.
How nurse pay actually works
Salary averages are useful for comparing careers, but your paycheque is built from a few specific pieces:
- The wage grid. Unionized nurses are paid by step. You start at step one and move up roughly once a year of service until you reach the top rate, often after eight or more years. Two nurses on the same unit can earn very different hourly rates.
- Premiums. Night, evening and weekend shifts add a premium per hour, and statutory holidays and overtime are paid at higher rates. A nurse who regularly works nights can earn noticeably more than the grid rate alone suggests.
- Full-time vs part-time. Part-time and casual nurses often get a higher hourly rate, because they receive a percentage of pay in lieu of benefits. Full-time nurses get benefits, paid sick time and pension contributions instead. Many hospital nurses are in defined-benefit pension plans, which are worth a lot over a career.
- Setting. Hospitals, long-term care, community health, and private or agency work each have their own pay structure. Agency and travel nursing can pay more per hour but usually comes without job security or benefits.
When you compare offers, compare the full package: grid step, premiums, benefits, pension and the schedule you will actually work. The highest hourly number is not always the best job.
How many hours do nurses work?
Most full-time nurses in Canada work about 36 to 40 hours a week, usually scheduled as 37.5. What makes nursing different is when those hours fall. Hospitals run around the clock, so ward nurses rotate through days, nights, weekends and holidays. Many units use 12-hour shifts, which works out to about three shifts a week: some weeks three and some weeks four. Others use 8-hour shifts, five days a week. Clinic, school and community nurses are more likely to work regular daytime hours (BLS describes the same pattern for U.S. nurses).
Statistics Canada's May 2026 analysis of nurses and allied health professionals (StatCan) gives a picture of real working time in 2025:
- 81.9% worked full-time. The rest worked part-time or casual, often by choice, for schedule flexibility.
- 23.8% worked overtime in a typical week. Of those, 58.7% were paid for it and 24.2% were not.
- 2.0 hours of overtime a week on average, compared with 1.3 hours for all occupations. That is down from a pandemic peak of 2.5 hours in 2022.
- 14.5 sick days a year on average, back to roughly pre-pandemic levels after reaching 19.0 days in 2020 and 2022.
Long weeks still happen. An earlier Statistics Canada study found that 9.5% of full-time nurses worked 49 or more hours a week in 2022, up from 6.2% in 2019 (StatCan). The same data shows the emotional load: in 2024–25, 35.2% of health workers frequently dealt with angry or dissatisfied patients, more than double the rate for all occupations.
For someone choosing a career, the practical takeaway is this: expect shift work early on, and expect to have more control over your schedule as you gain seniority.
Is nursing in demand in Canada?
Yes, although the extreme shortage of 2022 has eased. CIHI counted 354,824 registered nurses in Canada in 2025, with 238,162 working in direct patient care. Internationally educated nurses made up 16.8% of the supply (CIHI).
Statistics Canada reports that vacancies for registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses fell by 5,500 (−23.6%) in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared with a year earlier. Health-occupation vacancies were down almost a third from their pandemic peak. Demand is still strongest outside big cities. In 2024, the vacancy rate for RNs, RPNs and nurse practitioners in remote regions was 13.7%, about double the 6.7% in accessible regions. Practical nurses had the highest vacancy rate of any health occupation, at 12.8%.
Translation: new graduates still find work, and nurses who are open to rural, northern or long-term care roles have the most options and often the best incentives.
Do nurses make more in the US than in Canada?
On paper, often yes. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median registered nurse wage of US$97,550 a year ($46.90 an hour) as of May 2025 (BLS). The Canadian median of roughly $84,400 is in Canadian dollars, so the gap after currency conversion is larger than it looks. U.S. nurses, though, usually pay more for health insurance and work under very different employment protections, and moving countries means passing the NCLEX-RN and meeting state licensing rules. Compare take-home pay and benefits, not just the headline number.
How to become a nurse in Canada
The fastest path to the higher RN pay band is a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, followed by the NCLEX-RN licensing exam. Admission is competitive: Ontario university programs typically look for averages in the mid-80s to low 90s in English, Biology, Chemistry and Math. Some schools also require the CASPer situational judgment test. At McMaster, for example, CASPer counts for 20% of the admission decision.
Our companion guide, nursing school requirements in Canada, compares the prerequisites, averages and CASPer rules for McMaster, Western, Queen's, U of T and UBC, and lists every nursing program on the 2026–27 CASPer list. If your program uses CASPer, start with our CASPer guide for nursing applicants and practise with healthcare scenarios.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a registered nurse make in Canada?+
The national median is $43.27 an hour, which is about $84,400 a year on a 37.5-hour week. The range runs from $30.00 an hour at the low end, close to entry level, to $54.37 at the high end (Job Bank, updated November 19, 2025).
How much do nurses make an hour in Ontario?+
Registered nurses in Ontario earn a median of $42.00 an hour, with a range of $29.00 to $55.00. Ontario registered practical nurses earn a median of $31.00, and nurse practitioners earn $62.00.
Which province pays nurses the most?+
Among provinces, British Columbia ($47.58), Alberta ($47.50) and Saskatchewan ($47.13) have the highest median RN wages. The Northwest Territories ($58.00) and Nunavut ($57.99) pay more, reflecting remote work and the cost of living.
How many hours a week do nurses work in Canada?+
Full-time nurses typically work about 37.5 hours a week, often as three or four 12-hour shifts. In 2025, 81.9% of nurses and allied health professionals worked full-time and 23.8% worked overtime, averaging 2.0 extra hours a week (Statistics Canada).
How much do new grad nurses make in Canada?+
New graduates usually start at the first step of their province's wage grid. That is close to the low end of Job Bank's range, around $30 an hour nationally, or roughly $58,500 a year before premiums and overtime. Pay rises with each step, usually yearly.
How much does a nurse practitioner make in Canada?+
The national median is $61.54 an hour, or about $120,000 a year, with the high end at $75.00 an hour. Ontario has the highest provincial NP median at $62.00.
Is nursing a good career in Canada?+
For most people who want hands-on health care work, yes. Pay is stable and unionized, pensions are common, demand remains strong outside major cities, and there are clear routes to higher pay through specialization or a nurse practitioner degree. The trade-off is shift work and emotionally demanding patient care.
Sources and method
Wage figures are from Government of Canada Job Bank wage reports for registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and nurse practitioners, all updated November 19, 2025 and checked October 27, 2026. Annual figures are our estimates at 1,950 hours a year. Hours, overtime and vacancy data are from Statistics Canada (May 12, 2026) and Statistics Canada (2023). Workforce counts are from CIHI (July 2026), and U.S. figures are from the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook. Collective agreements change; check your employer's current wage grid. CasperCoach is an independent CASPer preparation service and is not affiliated with any of these organizations.