Background Worldwide, occupational stress among care professionals, nurses in particular, is a major concern in health care systems. it is linked to high rates of job dissatisfaction, burnout, absenteeism, turnover, and stress-related illness. Recent acceleration in the spread of COVID-19’s causesmany crises which also affects health care system.At present, studies on the COVID-19 pandemic mostlyconcentrated on epidemiological investigation, preventioncontrol, diagnosis, and treatment. Fewer studies have investigated the level of occupational stress during the pandemic. There is limited research evidences also in Ethiopia during the COVID 19 pandemic, so this study will provide some information on the level of occupational stress in the study area. Objective:To assess the prevalence and associated factors of occupationalstress among nurses in the era of COVID 19 in Bahirdar public hospitals at Bahir Dar town in 2022. Method: The institution based cross sectional study design was conducted among nurses of public hospitals in Bahirdar town. Data collected by self administrated structured questionnaires based on nursing stress scale(NSS).The collected data was checked, coded, categorized and entered into epi-data version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 25 windows statistical software for data analysis. Binary logistic regression was used to assess the crude association between independent variables with the outcome variable Then, the result is summarized and presented by tables, charts and graphs. Result:367 nurses were included in the study with the response rate of 97.3%. The prevalence of occupational stress is 77.7%. In this study Work experience (AOR = 0.27, 95% CI 0.108-0.69), COVID related stress (AOR = 4.23, 95% CI 2.09-8.57), presenting COVID symptoms(AOR = 3.18, 95% CI 1.63-6.21) were found as associated factors for occupational stress. Death and dying, uncertainty concerning treatment and lack of support are the three subscales which are related to occupational stress. Conclusion& recommendation:In this studythe level of occupational stress is very high when compared to other studies done in Ethiopia. So Nursing managers and other concerned bodies should pay attention to the impact of job stress on nurses and take active and effective measures. Key words:occupational stress, work related stress, COVID-19, Nurses ,Bahirdar