Medical-Surgical nurse pay in California
$125,959median posted offer#2 of 19 states for Medical-Surgical
Medical-Surgical nurses in California are being offered a median $125,959 a year across 16 live postings that state pay — 27% above the national Medical-Surgical median of $99,366. Updated July 22, 2026.
Where does your pay sit in Medical-Surgical in California?
Checked against 16 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 Medical-Surgical pay across every state.
What to do with this
- See the rolesJobs in California paying around $125,959Every 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 Medical-Surgical nurses make in California?
- Across 16 live Medical-Surgical postings in California that state pay, the median offer is $125,959 a year. The middle half runs $103,480–$159,099, and the top 10% start at $184,720.
- Is California a good state for Medical-Surgical nurses?
- On posted pay, California ranks #2 of 19 states for Medical-Surgical. The median there is 27% above the national Medical-Surgical median of $99,366. 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.