Virginia has about 8.9 million residents. Registered nurses average $93,850 a year, 27th among the fifty states and the District of Columbia.
Licensure
The Virginia Board of Nursing licenses registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, nurse practitioners and nurse aides through the Department of Health Professions. Its office is on Mayland Drive in Henrico, telephone (804) 367-4515. Rules, applications and license verification are at dhp.virginia.gov.
Virginia implemented the Nurse Licensure Compact in 2005. A nurse living in Virginia holds one multistate license good in every other compact state, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina included.
The District of Columbia is not a member, so a Virginia nurse working in a Washington hospital needs a separate D.C. license by endorsement, a common situation in the northern Virginia suburbs.
Nurse practitioner practice
Virginia is in the restricted group. Nurse practitioners are regulated jointly by the boards of nursing and medicine and normally work under a written practice agreement with a patient care team physician.
There is a way out, and it is the reason Virginia gets cited in practice authority debates: a nurse practitioner who has completed a set number of years of full time clinical practice may apply to the board to practice autonomously without an agreement. The classification still describes the default rule. See nurse practitioner practice authority and collaborative practice agreements.
Nursing education
The University of Virginia School of Nursing in Charlottesville and the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Nursing in Richmond are the state's academic programs. George Mason University and Old Dominion University carry large public programs in the north and in Hampton Roads, Hampton University runs a long established historically Black nursing school, and the Virginia Community College System supplies associate degree graduates statewide.
Pay and workforce
Northern Virginia is the largest market, with Inova Health System the dominant employer and a workforce that overlaps heavily with the District of Columbia and Maryland. Richmond holds VCU Health, Charlottesville the University of Virginia Medical Center, and Hampton Roads Sentara Health.
Virginia has one of the highest concentrations of military hospitals and veterans in the country, so federal nursing takes a bigger share of the market here than in most states, and a nurse at a federal facility may hold a license from any state. Southwest Virginia and the Eastern Shore are rural, with small hospitals, critical access hospitals and long distances to a tertiary center. See rural and frontier nursing.
Related
- Nurse practitioner practice authority
- Nurse Licensure Compact
- Licensure by endorsement
- Nursing in the District of Columbia
- 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.
- Virginia 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.