Introduction Nurses, as the largest human resource element of health care systems, have a major role in providing ongoing, high‐quality care to patients. Therefore, due to the importance of this issue, this study aimed to determine job motivation of the nurses in pre‐hospital and educational hospitals emergency in the southeast of Iran. Methods In this study, a cross‐sectional method was used, and it was conducted in educational hospitals and pre‐hospital emergencies under supervision of the Kerman University of Medical Sciences in 2017. Using a valid and reliable questionnaire, we assessed job motivation of the nurses using a census method (N = 275). Data were analyzed by implementing descriptive statistics including mean and standard deviation (SD), and analytical statistics such as Kolmogorov‐Smirnov, ANOVA, t‐test, X2, Pearson, and multivariate regression tests using SPSS 16 and P ≤ 0.05. Results Among the pre‐hospital emergency nurses, the average of the educational factors was 25.33, financial factors was 6.34, psychological factors was 20.07, welfare factors was 0.63, and administrative factors was 8.16. Among the nurses of the educational hospitals emergency, these factors were 25.33, 6.51, 20.34, 16.55, and 8.39, respectively. Two group's nurses were at the intermediate level of the job motivation. Conclusion Dynamic and predetermined goals of emergency include providing services as soon as possible and stabilizing patient's condition during the golden and vital time of rescue. Findings suggest that national and local policies in Iran may need to examine factors that contribute to the promotion of the motivation as well as focusing on how to improve them.