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2026 VA Nurse Pay Scale

How VA sets registered nurse pay, what the grades and levels mean, and how to find your own facility's rate.

VA registered nurse pay is set by each medical centre, not by a national table. Your rate depends on your facility’s station, your grade and level, and your step — and the same position can pay $99,434 more at one VA hospital than another. This page explains the structure and how to find your own facility’s schedule.

Grades, levels and steps

The structure trips people up because two of its three parts are not in the statute. 38 U.S.C. 7404(b) creates five grades. VA’s own qualification standard and Handbook 5007 subdivide only the first of them.

VA nurse grade structure showing which grades carry levels
GradeLevelsShown on pay files as
Nurse ILevels 1, 2 and 3VN 01, VN 02, VN 03
Nurse IINoneVN 00
Nurse IIINoneVN 00
Nurse IVNoneVN 00
Nurse VNoneVN 00

That is what the query “VN 00 pay scale” is asking about: a nursing-plan position at a grade with no level subdivision. It is a field value, not a pay grade in its own right.

Levels within Nurse I are not cosmetic. Under Handbook 5007, an employee at Level 1 step 1 advances two steps on attaining Nurse I Level 2 qualifications. At one facility, Level 2 begins at step 3 and Level 3 at step 5 within the same grade.

How much facility matters

Holding schedule title, grade, level and step completely constant across 420 facilities in the 50 states and D.C.:

2026 VA registered nurse pay range for an identical position
MeasureAnnual rateFacility
Lowest$54,453stn 589COLMO, Marshfield MO
Median$75,766—
Highest$153,887stn 662, Alameda CA

Facilities outside the contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii — and the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in the Philippines — are set separately by the Secretary under 7451(a)(3)(B), so they are excluded above rather than compared directly.

Finding your facility’s schedule

  1. Find your facility station number. VA publishes pay by station, not by city name. Your station number appears on your SF-50 and in the job announcement. Marshfield, Missouri is 589COLMO; Alameda, California is 662.
  2. Open your facility Local Pay System file. VA publishes Local Pay System files per medical centre under the Office of Human Resources pay pages, listed by station rather than as one national table.
  3. Match schedule title, grade, level and step. A rate is only comparable when all four match. Registered Nurse-0610, Grade 1, Nurse Level 2, Step 1 is a different rate from Grade 1, Level 3, Step 1 at the same facility.

Statutory ceilings

2026 statutory pay ceilings for Title 38 nursing positions
PositionCeiling basis2026 amount
Advanced practice nurseExecutive Schedule level I$253,100
Physician assistantExecutive Schedule level I$253,100
Registered nurseExecutive Schedule level II$228,000
Certified registered nurse anaesthetistExempt from the above, per 7451(c)(2)(B)$292,300
Other covered positionExecutive Schedule level IV$197,200

Sources

5 of 5 references are official U.S. government publications. Pay tables and hiring rules change — each link shows when we last verified it.

  1. [1]38 U.S.C. § 7451 — Nurses and other health-care personnel: competitive pay — United States Code, U.S. Government Publishing Office. Verified .
  2. [2]38 U.S.C. § 7404 — Grades and pay scales — United States Code, U.S. Government Publishing Office. Verified .
  3. [3]VA Handbook 5007, Pay Administration — U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Verified .
  4. [4]2026 CRNA pay plans — U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Verified .
  5. [5]Salary Table 2026-EX — Executive Schedule rates, the basis for Title 38 nurse caps — U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Verified .

Common questions

What does VN 00 mean on a VA pay schedule?
VN is the pay plan code for nursing. It covers registered nurses, advanced practice nurses and physician assistants — physician assistants are not on a separate plan, which surprises people. The two digits after it are the nurse level. Nurse I is the only grade with levels, numbered 1, 2 and 3, so a Nurse II through Nurse V position carries level 00. If you see VN 00 on an announcement or an SF-50, it means a nursing-plan position at a grade that has no level subdivision.
What is the VA nurse pay scale for 2026?
There is no single one. Under 38 U.S.C. 7451(d)(2) the director of each VA medical centre sets nurse rates against the local labour market, using Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data where it exists. Across 420 facilities in the 50 states and D.C., an identical Registered Nurse-0610 Grade 1, Level 2, Step 1 position ranges from $54,453 to $153,887 in 2026, with a median of $75,766. To find your rate you need your facility's own schedule, not a national table.
What are the Nurse I through Nurse V grades?
38 U.S.C. 7404(b) establishes five grades: Nurse I, II, III, IV and V. Only Nurse I is subdivided, into levels 1, 2 and 3 — and those levels come from VA's qualification standard and Handbook 5007, not from the statute itself. Grades II through V carry no level. Each grade is divided into equal steps; most facilities use 12, but 557 schedules across 89 stations use more, up to 26, because the statute allows a grade's range to run to 133 percent of its minimum and up to 175 percent with written justification to Congress.
Is there a maximum VA nurse salary?
Yes, tied to the Executive Schedule by 38 U.S.C. 7451(c)(2)(A). In 2026 the ceiling is $228,000 for registered nurses and $253,100 for advanced practice nurses and physician assistants. Certified registered nurse anaesthetists are the exception: 7451(c)(2)(B) lets their maximum exceed those caps, and in 2026 it reaches $292,300.
How often does VA nurse pay change?
At least annually, and often more. Rates rise whenever there is a General Schedule adjustment, on the same date and by the same percentage — so 2026 rates rose 1 percent effective January 11, 2026. Separately, a facility director must decide within 30 days whenever a new BLS survey is released, and that adjustment takes effect the following pay period. Roughly one in five nurse schedules moved after January in 2026, with effective dates running into August.
Can VA reduce a nurse pay rate?
No. 38 U.S.C. 7451(e)(1) prevents a rate being reduced through the local pay-setting process. The statute also stops a director avoiding a survey by arguing there is no current recruitment problem, under 7451(e)(2), and gives employees a right to report concerns under 7451(e)(6). One thing you cannot see: the survey data underlying a facility's decision is exempt from Freedom of Information Act disclosure under 7451(d)(5), so the resulting rates are public but the inputs are not.
Do VA nurses get GS locality pay?
No, and this is the most common mix-up. Registered nurses are pure Title 38, paid on a facility schedule that already reflects the local labour market, so there is no separate locality percentage on top. Hybrid Title 38 staff — pharmacists, psychologists, social workers and similar — are paid on the General Schedule and do receive normal GS locality pay. The local market is priced into the base rate for nurses and added as a percentage for hybrid staff.