ICU nurse pay in California
$119,600median posted offer#4 of 30 states for ICU
ICU nurses in California are being offered a median $119,600 a year across 95 live postings that state pay — 16% above the national ICU median of $103,220. Updated July 22, 2026.
Where does your pay sit in ICU in California?
Checked against 95 live postings that state pay. Your number stays in your browser.
Enter your pay to see your percentile.
Posted offers on live listings — not take-home pay or a promise of what any one nurse will earn.
Other specialties in California
- Rehab 5 postings$153k
- Emergency Room 5 postings$151k
- Nurse Practitioner 28 postings$149k
- Telemetry 8 postings$146k
- Surgery 6 postings$146k
- Palliative Care 10 postings$143k
- Telehealth 7 postings$140k
- Perioperative Care 12 postings$139k
Or see all nurse pay in California (686 postings), or ICU pay across every state.
What to do with this
- See the rolesJobs in California paying around $119,600Every posting behind these numbers is a live job you can open and apply to.
- Offer in hand?Run it through the offer reality calculatorAnnualize it honestly and see what it's worth where you'd actually live — then compare offers side by side.
- 3-minute fit quizFind out which roles actually fit youPay is one axis. Shift, specialty, setting, and commute decide whether the job is worth it.
- CommunityAsk nurses what they really take homeDifferentials, ratios, and the offer nobody posts. Bring your number and compare notes.
Want the craft behind the numbers — differentials, negotiating, travel packages? Read the pay & salary guides.
Questions nurses ask
- How much do ICU nurses make in California?
- Across 95 live ICU postings in California that state pay, the median offer is $119,600 a year. The middle half runs $102,180–$131,575, and the top 10% start at $151,476.
- Is California a good state for ICU nurses?
- On posted pay, California ranks #4 of 30 states for ICU. The median there is 16% above the national ICU median of $103,220. Pay is one axis — shift, ratios, and cost of living decide whether the job is actually worth it.
- Where do these numbers come from?
- Midpoint of stated salary ranges on live nursing job postings; values outside $20,000–$800,000/yr treated as parse artifacts and excluded; groups under 5 postings suppressed. Community-reported figures are anonymous, unverified, and reported separately.