Maine has about 1.4 million residents and, by median age, the oldest population of any state. Registered nurses average $91,700 a year, 29th among the fifty states and the District of Columbia.
Licensure
The Maine State Board of Nursing licenses registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and advanced practice registered nurses. Its office is on Capitol Street in Augusta, telephone (207) 287-1133. Rules and applications are at maine.gov/boardofnursing.
Maine implemented the Nurse Licensure Compact in 2001, among the first states to do so. A nurse living in Maine holds one multistate license good in every other compact state. New Hampshire, Maine's only domestic neighbor, is a member.
Nurse practitioner practice
Maine is a full practice state. Nurse practitioners evaluate patients, order and interpret tests, and prescribe under the nursing board's authority. A period of supervised clinical practice comes at the start of a nurse practitioner's career, and after that practice is independent. See nurse practitioner practice authority.
Nursing education
The University of Southern Maine and the University of Maine at Orono run the state's public baccalaureate programs, with Husson University in Bangor and Saint Joseph's College carrying private ones. The Maine Community College System supplies associate degree and practical nurse graduates across a state where the nearest campus can be a long drive.
Pay and workforce
An old population drives the work. Maine has proportionally more residents over 65 than any other state, so geriatrics, home health, hospice and long term care take up more of the nursing market than they do elsewhere.
Hospital work concentrates around Portland, where MaineHealth and its Maine Medical Center are the largest employer, with Northern Light Health based in Bangor. The rest of the state is rural. Critical access hospitals cover wide areas, and island and coastal communities rely on visiting nurses and small clinics, in some cases reached by boat. See rural and frontier nursing.
Travel and flexible work
Maine is one of the most contract-dependent nursing markets in the country. Across NurseRecruiter's full archive of job listings, 2009 to 2026, it ranks fourth of the fifty states and the District of Columbia for travel assignments advertised per employed registered nurse. An old population needing more care, 16,280 registered nurses to provide it, and a geography of small hospitals spread over a large state is the combination behind that. See where the assignments are.
Of the Maine registered nurses with a profile on this site, 41 percent say they will consider travel assignments and 44 percent per diem shifts, close to the national figures of 39 and 46 percent. Compact membership since 2001 means a traveller from any other member state can start here without a further licence, which is a large part of why the assignments get filled. See travel nursing and per diem nursing.
Related
- Nurse Licensure Compact
- Nurse practitioner practice authority
- Critical access hospitals
- Rural and frontier nursing
- Where the assignments are
- Nursing by state
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau, state population estimates for July 1, 2025. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, registered nurses (29-1141), May 2025. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- Maine State Board of Nursing, contact details and licensing information. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- Nurse Licensure Compact, member states. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- American Association of Nurse Practitioners, State Practice Environment. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- NurseRecruiter job listings, 2009 to September 2026, and nurse profiles, for travel postings per employed nurse and stated willingness. Method and limits are set out in where the assignments are.