Purpose: The study was done to compare emotional labor and job satisfaction for nurses working in nursing homes and hospitals. Methods: Data were collected from surveys with questionnaires from a sample of 80 nursing home nurses and 82 hospital nurses, and included measures of emotional labor and job satisfaction in the study instrument. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, and stepwise multiple regressions with the SPSS/WIN 19.0. Results: In nursing home nurses emotional labor was positively related to length of experience as an RN. The significant predictors of emotional labor were religion (β=.40, p<.001) and length of experience as an RN (β=.35, p=.001) explaining 23% of the variance in emotional labor. In hospital nurses emotional labor was negatively related to job satisfaction. The significant predictors of emotional labor were job satisfaction (β=-.49, p<.001), and religion (β=.29, p=.002) explaining 35% of the variance in emotional labor. Conclusion: The study results show emotional labor of nurses is influenced by the job satisfaction and religion of nurses indicating a need to increase job satisfaction and explore religious life in order to decrease emotional labor in nurses.