Rhode Island has about 1.1 million residents in the smallest land area of any state. Registered nurses average $101,260 a year, 13th among the fifty states and the District of Columbia.
Licensure
The Rhode Island Board of Nurse Registration and Nursing Education licenses registered nurses and licensed practical nurses through the Department of Health. Its office is in the Cannon Building on Capitol Hill in Providence, telephone (401) 222-5700. Rules and applications are on the Department of Health's nursing licensure page.
Rhode Island implemented the Nurse Licensure Compact in 2024. A nurse living here holds one multistate license good in every other compact state, including Connecticut, which joined in 2025. Massachusetts, where many Rhode Island nurses work, has enacted the compact without implementing it, so a Massachusetts license obtained by endorsement is still required there.
Nurse practitioner practice
Rhode Island is a full practice state. Nurse practitioners evaluate patients, order and interpret tests, and prescribe under the nursing board's authority, with no physician agreement required. See nurse practitioner practice authority.
Nursing education
The University of Rhode Island College of Nursing in Kingston and the school of nursing at Rhode Island College in Providence train most of the state's nurses between them, with Salve Regina University in Newport running a further baccalaureate program and the Community College of Rhode Island supplying associate degree graduates.
Pay and workforce
Nearly all of the state's hospital nursing work is in and around Providence. Brown University Health, which includes Rhode Island Hospital, Hasbro Children's Hospital, The Miriam Hospital and Butler Hospital, is the dominant employer, with Care New England behind it.
The state is small enough that Boston is within commuting distance of most of it, and Boston's higher wages pull steadily at Rhode Island hospitals. Butler Hospital, founded in 1844, is one of the oldest psychiatric hospitals in the country, and it gives behavioral health a larger place in the local nursing market than the state's size would suggest.
Rhode Island has no critical access hospitals. It is one of five states with none, because no part of it is remote enough to qualify.
Related
- Nurse Licensure Compact
- Licensure by endorsement
- Nurse practitioner practice authority
- Registered nurse pay
- 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.
- Rhode Island Department of Health, nursing licensure, contact details and licensing information. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- Nurse Licensure Compact, member states and implementation dates. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- Critical Access Hospital locations list. Flex Monitoring Team. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- American Association of Nurse Practitioners, State Practice Environment. Accessed September 8, 2026.