Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations
BLS May 2025 wages Peer-group outlier SOC 29-1151

Nurse Anesthetists

Median pay sits 29% below the mid peer in Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations (neighbors include Surgeons, All Other, Psychiatrists, Prosthodontists, Obstetricians and Gynecologists).

Full salary details → About this data

Same-major-group titles next to Nurse Anesthetists: Surgeons, All Other ($414K) , Psychiatrists ($282K) , Prosthodontists ($311K) , Obstetricians and Gynecologists ($293K) . Hash-ordered per card so residual SOC siblings do not share an identical peer sentence.

What Nurse Anesthetists publish as work

O*NET task statements for SOC 29-1151 - occupation-level descriptions, not every employer's posting. Sibling cards diverge here because the task set is entity-keyed.

  1. 1. Manage patients' airway or pulmonary status, using techniques such as endotracheal intubation, mechanical ventilation, pharmacological su…
  2. 2. Respond to emergency situations by providing airway management, administering emergency fluids or drugs, or using basic or advanced cardi…
  3. 3. Monitor patients' responses, including skin color, pupil dilation, pulse, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, ventilation, or urine…
  4. 4. Select, order, or administer anesthetics, adjuvant drugs, accessory drugs, fluids or blood products as necessary
  5. 5. Select, prepare, or use equipment, monitors, supplies, or drugs for the administration of anesthetics
  6. 6. Assess patients' medical histories to predict anesthesia response
  7. 7. Perform or manage regional anesthetic techniques, such as local, spinal, epidural, caudal, nerve blocks and intravenous blocks
  8. 8. Develop anesthesia care plans
  9. 9. Obtain informed consent from patients for anesthesia procedures
  10. 10. Prepare prescribed solutions and administer local, intravenous, spinal, or other anesthetics, following specified methods and procedures
  11. 11. Perform pre-anesthetic screenings, including physical evaluations and patient interviews, and document results
  12. 12. Calibrate and test anesthesia equipment

Nurse Anesthetists: O*NET ranks Reading Comprehension first

Importance-ranked O*NET profile for SOC 29-1151 - lead skill Reading Comprehension at 4.1 ; lead knowledge Medicine and Dentistry. Sibling cards diverge here even when peer titles overlap.

Top skills

  1. 1. Reading Comprehension 4.1
  2. 2. Critical Thinking 4.1
  3. 3. Active Listening 4.0
  4. 4. Speaking 4.0
  5. 5. Active Learning 4.0
  6. 6. Monitoring 4.0
  7. 7. Complex Problem Solving 4.0
  8. 8. Judgment and Decision Making 4.0

Knowledge areas

  1. 1. Medicine and Dentistry 4.8
  2. 2. Customer and Personal Service 4.6
  3. 3. Biology 4.6
  4. 4. Chemistry 4.3
  5. 5. Mathematics 4.3
  6. 6. Education and Training 4.3
Pay vs Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations peers
-29%
vs mid peer median $335,550
This role $236,590/yr
$237K
National median
↑ +9%
Growth 2024-2034
2,700
Annual openings
51,840
Estimated US jobs
Surgeons, All Other
Highest-pay peer · $414K

Typical Entry and Preparation Assignments

Entry education Master's degree

Top Paying States for Nurse Anesthetists

1. New Hampshire $275,980
2. Vermont $283,060
3. New York $321,030
4. Alaska $341,210
5. California $292,410
6. Montana $277,380
7. Massachusetts $295,550
8. West Virginia $278,530
9. New Jersey $291,350
10. Illinois $286,830

Other Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations titles

  1. 1. Prosthodontists $311,180
  2. 2. Obstetricians and Gynecologists $292,910
  3. 3. Psychiatrists $281,870
  4. 4. Emergency Medicine Physicians $335,550
  5. 5. Surgeons, All Other $414,010
  6. 6. Dermatologists $328,730

Among Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations peers on this card, Nurse Anesthetists sits 29% below the mid peer median ($335,550). Its own median is $236,590.

Employment Projections expect +9% change between 2024 and 2034 (much faster than average vs baseline 3.1%). About 2,700 annual openings are projected. BLS assigns Master's degree as typical education needed for entry. These are occupation-level assignments, not universal requirements. BLS does not publish a separate occupation-specific safety rate for this role; its broad SOC-group rate is excluded from this career card's grade.

Highest published state median in this ranking: New Hampshire at $275,980. The table records differences without proving causes. Highest-pay peer shown here: Surgeons, All Other at $414,010. Compare the same statistic in the relevant local wage area before treating the national median as a personal benchmark; OEWS excludes employer benefits.

Nurse Anesthetists pay-rank #20 in Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations

Among 71 detailed Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations with a published OEWS median, Nurse Anesthetists is pay-rank #20, the upper third of that major group. The order is ROW_NUMBER on national median (title as tiebreak), not a worker-level percentile.

Other upper-third titles · closest medians

Full Salary Details Compare this role

Data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025. Projections from BLS Employment Projections program, 2024-2034.

SOC 29-1151 · national median $236,590 · upper third of Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations (#20/71). Open the full OEWS map or a named state before treating the card median as a local ask.

Nurse Anesthetists salary map

State, metro, and percentile for SOC 29-1151

New Hampshire · top state for Nurse Anesthetists

$276K published median

Vermont · #2 state pay

$283K · behind New Hampshire

Surgeons, All Other

Highest-pay peer vs Nurse Anesthetists · $414K

Psychiatrists

Lower-pay peer beside Nurse Anesthetists · $282K

Compare Nurse Anesthetists

Head-to-head OEWS medians with another SOC
Compare Nurse Anesthetists with another occupation →

Peer-comparison next reads

Compare Nurse Anesthetists

Against another occupation

Surgeons, All Other card

Top peer in this major group

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations titles sit near Nurse Anesthetists at the top of the pay table? ▼
Nurse Anesthetists is pay-rank #20 of 71 detailed Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations with an OEWS median, upper third. Nearest upper-third titles: Family Medicine Physicians ($244K), Dentists, All Other Specialists ($225K), Neurologists ($249K), General Internal Medicine Physicians ($257K). Rank is ROW_NUMBER on national median.
What do nurse anesthetists do day to day? ▼
O*NET lists published task statements for Nurse Anesthetists. Leading ones include: Manage patients' airway or pulmonary status, using techniques such as endotracheal intubation, mechanical ventilation, pharmacological su…; Respond to emergency situations by providing airway management, administering emergency fluids or drugs, or using basic or advanced cardi…; Monitor patients' responses, including skin color, pupil dilation, pulse, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, ventilation, or urine…; Select, order, or administer anesthetics, adjuvant drugs, accessory drugs, fluids or blood products as necessary. These are occupation-level task descriptions, not every employer's job description.
Which O*NET skills rank highest for nurse anesthetists? ▼
For SOC 29-1151, O*NET importance scores lead with Reading Comprehension (4.1), Critical Thinking (4.1), Active Listening (4.0), Speaking (4.0). Knowledge areas emphasize Medicine and Dentistry, Customer and Personal Service, Biology. These are occupation-level profiles, not a hiring checklist for every employer.
What is the OEWS national median for Nurse Anesthetists? ▼
May 2025 OEWS reports $236,590 as the national median for Nurse Anesthetists. The published 10th-90th range is $155,250 to $339,500. Beside Surgeons, All Other ($414,010), this is the occupation-level national figure, not a local offer.
What employment change does BLS publish for Nurse Anesthetists? ▼
The 2024-2034 projection for Nurse Anesthetists is +9%. Projected annual openings: about 2,700. Relative to the current all-occupations baseline of 3.1%: much faster than average.
What typical entry education does BLS assign to Nurse Anesthetists? ▼
BLS assigns Master's degree as the typical-education-needed-for-entry category for Nurse Anesthetists. These are occupation-level labels, not every employer's hiring rule.
Which three states show the highest OEWS medians for Nurse Anesthetists? ▼
New Hampshire ($275,980), Vermont ($283,060), New York ($321,030) lead this ranking. The table does not identify why those state estimates differ.

Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Wage and state figures use BLS OEWS May 2025; growth and education use BLS Employment Projections for 2024-2034; safety fields cite BLS CFOI/SOII; task statements cite O*NET where shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.

Disclaimer: Wage and outlook figures on this page are provided for informational purposes only and do not constitute career, financial, or salary-negotiation advice. Actual pay varies by employer, experience, and local conditions; consult a career counselor or the hiring employer for guidance specific to your situation.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OES Occupational wage estimates by area and industry · 2025

Federal sources on this Nurse Anesthetists card
  • BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS / OES) - national median and percentiles for SOC 29-1151. bls.gov/oes
  • O*NET OnLine - task and skill statements for Nurse Anesthetists. onetcenter.org
  • BLS Employment Projections - 2024-2034 change and openings for this occupation. bls.gov/emp
  • U.S. Census Bureau ACS - demographic and labor-force context for state and metro geography. census.gov/programs-surveys/acs
  • IRS Statistics of Income (SOI) - payroll-tax aggregate context for wage comparisons. irs.gov/statistics