West Virginia has about 1.8 million residents. Registered nurses average $86,970 a year, 39th among the fifty states and the District of Columbia.
Licensure
Registered nurses and advanced practice registered nurses in West Virginia are licensed by the Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses, usually called the RN Board. Practical nurses come under a separate board. The RN Board is on MacCorkle Avenue SW in South Charleston, telephone (304) 744-0900. Rules and applications are at wvrnboard.wv.gov.
West Virginia was among the first states to implement the Nurse Licensure Compact, in 2000. A nurse living here holds one multistate license good in every other compact state, which covers all five of West Virginia's neighbors: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Kentucky. That counts for a lot in a state whose northern and eastern panhandles sit closer to Pittsburgh and Washington than to Charleston.
Nurse practitioner practice
West Virginia is in the reduced practice group. A nurse practitioner works under a collaborative relationship with a physician for prescribing. After three years under that arrangement, the state allows an application for prescriptive authority without it, subject to limits on controlled substances. See nurse practitioner practice authority.
Nursing education
The West Virginia University School of Nursing in Morgantown is the state's academic nursing school and teaches at sites around West Virginia. Marshall University in Huntington and Wheeling University carry further baccalaureate programs, and the community and technical colleges supply associate degree and practical nurse graduates in counties where they are the only local route into the profession.
Pay and workforce
West Virginia University Medicine, based in Morgantown, and Charleston Area Medical Center are the largest hospital employers, with Marshall Health and Mon Health covering other regions.
Most of the state is mountainous and rural, served by critical access hospitals, and the southern coalfield counties have some of the poorest health outcomes in the country. West Virginia sat at the center of the opioid epidemic and has had the highest overdose death rate of any state for years, which turns up in emergency, neonatal and behavioral health nursing across the state. Its population is also among the oldest by median age, so long term care and home health take up a large part of the market. See rural and frontier nursing.
Notable nurses
Nellie Wade, later the oldest practicing nurse in Florida, trained at Wheeling Hospital in a Cadet Nurse Corps unit during the Second World War.
Related
- Nurse Licensure Compact
- Nurse practitioner practice authority
- Critical access hospitals
- The Cadet Nurse Corps
- 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.
- West Virginia Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses, 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.