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Nurse jobs and pay in Colorado: what 2,507 open postings say (September 2026)


This page is built from the open postings on hospital and health-system career sites in Colorado listed on Betterleap's job board: 2,507 open positions from 58 employers as of September 26, 2026, 1.2% of all open postings on the board, which ranks Colorado #26 of 51 states. Registered nurses are 55.3% of the state's postings (574). Every figure below is a count or a posted pay range, never a job description; the method is at the end.

Where the jobs are in Colorado

#CityOpen postingsof which RNEmployers
1Denver, CO74814814
2Almont, CO5514928
3Grand Junction, CO147474
4Littleton, CO108494
5Lakewood, CO107344
6Parker, CO106625
7Highlands Ranch, CO66223
8Castle Rock, CO58243

Every city links to its live listings; the state's registered-nurse listings are at RN jobs in Colorado.

Health systems hiring the most in Colorado

Counted by open postings on the system's own career site, so a system that lists every unit and shift separately ranks higher than one that posts one evergreen requisition per role.

Which roles Colorado employers are hiring

What nursing jobs pay in Colorado

For reference, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 54,490 registered nurses employed in Colorado with a mean wage of $47.78 an hour ($99,370 a year), OEWS May 2025.

Where enough Colorado postings state a pay range with both ends (28.7% of them do), the median midpoint of the posted range, converted to hourly (annual divided by 2,080), with the middle half of postings and the BLS May 2025 state mean for the same occupation:

RolePostings with a rangeMedian posted midpointMiddle half of postingsBLS meanPosted vs BLS
registered nurses133$47.00/hr$45.50 to $47.00$47.78/hr-1.6%

Licensing: working as a nurse in Colorado

Colorado is a member of the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) according to NCSBN's compact map (read September 26, 2026, which lists 40 member states). A nurse whose primary state of residence is Colorado can hold a multistate license and practice in every other compact state without a new application, and a nurse with a multistate license issued elsewhere can accept a job in Colorado without waiting for an endorsement. The state's board of nursing contact page is on NCSBN.

Licensing is issued by the state board of nursing: an approved nursing program, the NCLEX-RN (or NCLEX-PN), a background check and the board's application. The board's own pages are the source of truth for fees and timelines; this page does not restate them.

How this is built

  • Scope: open postings on public hospital and health-system career sites, counted as of the date shown; job descriptions are never republished. Only postings whose location is in Colorado count here; a posting listing several sites counts once, at its first site.
  • Pay point: midpoint of the posted range, hourly (annual ÷ 2080), only where both ends and the unit are posted. The top of a posted range is never used as "the pay". A posted median is published only with at least 100 postings and within a third of the BLS mean.
  • Freshness: counts are refreshed monthly and the page shows its date; a posting that leaves an employer's site drops out.
  • References: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, state estimates; NCSBN Nurse Licensure Compact map data, read September 26, 2026.

Data as of September 26, 2026.

Frequently asked questions

How many open nursing jobs are there in Colorado right now?

2,507 open postings from 58 hospital and health-system employers in Colorado as of September 26, 2026, 574 of them for registered nurses. Denver has the most (748), then Almont (551).

What do registered nurses earn in Colorado?

The BLS OEWS May 2025 mean for registered nurses in Colorado is $47.78 an hour, $99,370 a year, across 54,490 employed RNs. Open postings that state a range (133 of them) have a median midpoint of $47.00 an hour, -1.6% versus the BLS mean.

Is Colorado a Nurse Licensure Compact state?

Yes. Colorado is an NLC member per NCSBN's compact map (read September 26, 2026), so a multistate license issued by another compact state is valid there.

Which hospitals are hiring nurses in Colorado?

By open postings on their own career sites: AdventHealth (398), Denver Health & Hospital Authority (375), Intermountain Healthcare (327) and 5 more listed above, as of September 26, 2026.

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