If you’re asking about the United States in 2026, the answer depends heavily on whether we’re talking about an employed Certified Nurse-Midwife (CNM), a Certified Midwife (CM), a staff midwife, an independent contractor, or a midwife who owns her own practice.
For an employed CNM, current salary estimates put the national average around $112,000–$115,000 per year, or roughly $54–$55/hour. Salary.com reports an average of $112,475/year as of July 2026, with the middle 50% ranging from about $102,700 to $125,300.
A practical 2026 range
| Level / Situation | Approximate Annual Compensation |
|---|---|
| Lower end / entry positions | $90,000–$100,000 |
| Typical employed CNM | $100,000–$125,000 |
| Experienced / higher-paying position | $120,000–$140,000+ |
| Highly compensated / specialty / leadership | $140,000–$175,000+ |
These are broad benchmarks, not guarantees. Location, experience, call requirements, specialty, employer, benefits, and workload can change compensation substantially.
For example, current Salary.com estimates put Michigan around $110,765/year, with Detroit around $112,486 and Grand Rapids around $107,537.
The federal Indian Health Service’s 2026 CNM pay table provides another useful benchmark: nationwide base salaries range from approximately $110,727 at GS-09 Step 1 to $177,306 at GS-13 Step 10, before considering applicable locality adjustments or other compensation.
But here’s the important distinction for midwives who own businesses
Salary is not the same thing as business-owner income.
A midwife who works for an employer might earn:
$110,000 salary + benefits
while a midwife who owns a practice might generate:
$250,000 in practice revenue
and only pay herself:
$100,000–$130,000
after malpractice insurance, supplies, staff, billing, rent, administrative expenses, technology, taxes, and other overhead.
Conversely, a well-run practice can potentially provide the owner with substantially more earning potential than a traditional employed position.
That’s why I would encourage midwives to stop asking only:
“What is a midwife’s salary?”
and start asking:
“What should a midwife be earning based on the value she provides, the hours she works, the responsibilities she carries, and the revenue she generates?”
That’s a much more useful business question.
For independent contractors, the number should be higher
An independent contractor shouldn’t necessarily compare a 1099 rate directly to an employee’s salary.
An employee may receive:
- Health insurance
- Retirement contributions
- Paid time off
- Paid holidays
- Disability coverage
- Malpractice coverage
- CME/education
- Payroll tax contributions
- Administrative support
A contractor may receive none of those.
So a $60/hour contractor rate isn’t automatically equivalent to a $60/hour employee wage.
The total compensation package matters.
The real question for Midwifery Business Consultation
For midwives, I think the more important conversation is:
Are you being compensated appropriately for the value you create?
That requires looking at:
Clinical hours
Administrative hours
On-call responsibilities
Birth attendance
Charting
Phone availability
Travel
Risk
Licensure and education
Years of experience
Revenue generated
Benefits
Practice overhead
=
True compensation
A midwife who is earning $110,000 while working 50–60 hours a week, taking frequent overnight call, and carrying substantial professional responsibility may actually be earning a very different effective hourly rate than a midwife earning the same salary while working a predictable 40-hour schedule.
That distinction is critical when negotiating compensation or evaluating whether owning a practice makes financial sense.
If you want, I can also break down what a midwife should realistically earn per hour, per birth, per prenatal visit, and per year as a practice owner—which is much more useful for a Midwifery Business Consultation blog post.
