Abstract Rationale, Aims and Objectives: To examine the relationship between nurse employment setting and nurse job change as related to work stress. Method: A retrospective quantitative analysis. The secondary data was from the 2008 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses (NSSRN). The outcome measure was job change related to nursing work stress (yes vs. no). The independent variable was nurse work settings, including covariates. Results: Nurses working in medical/physician practice, an insurance company or other private claims/benefits/utilization, and other settings, including nurses who were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, moderately dissatisfied, and extremely dissatisfied, had higher odds for job change due to stress when compared to inpatient unit community hospital /medical center, non-federal and moderately satisfied the reference category, respectively. Nurses who were unsure and had no plans to remain in the profession had higher odds for job change due to stress than a nurse who said yes to staying in the profession, the reference category. However, nurses in the 65 to 69 age cohort had substantially lower ([OR] = .482, p = .003) odds for not changing jobs due to stress compared to the age group between 50 to 54, the reference category. Conclusion: Among nurses, workplace job dissatisfaction translates to job change related to nursing work stress, while nurses aged 65 to 69 stayed at the job despite work stress. Given the current coronavirus (COVID-19) high-stress pandemic environment, healthcare organizations must do more to mitigate work-related job stress to prevent attrition and job change. KEYWORDS nurses, job change, work stress, and workplace