BackgroundBurnout among nurses is a significant problem in healthcare establishments and has negative implications on clinical outcomes. International studies have shown the prevalence of burnout ranged from 10 to 70%. However, this is unknown among nurses in private hospitals in Addis Ababa. The study was intended to assess the levels of burnout and the associated factors among nurses working in private hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2020.MethodsAn institution-based cross-sectional study was used. A probability sampling, specifically, a simple random sampling technique was employed to collect data, and the Maslach burnout inventory human services survey (MBI-HSS) instrument was adapted to measure the levels of burnout. The data obtained was edited manually and entered into EPI-data version 4.6 and then exported to SPSS version 25 for analysis. Logistic regression was used to identify the association between the dependent and independent variables and variables with p < 0.25 on bivariate analysis were taken into multivariate logistic regression, and then variables with p < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.ResultA total of 385 questionnaires were distributed to participants, but only 368 (96%) of them were collected and included in this study. The majority 56% and 69.8% of them were females and belonged to the age group of 20–29 years, respectively. Two hundred seven (56.5%) of them reported suffering from a high level of burnout. In the multivariate logistic regression analysis, night duty shift [AOR = 2.699; 95% CI: (1.043–6.987)], excessive workload [AOR = 6.013; 95% CI: (3.016–11.989)], staff shortage [AOR = 6.198; 95% CI: (3.162–12.147)], persistent interpersonal conflict [AOR = 2.465; 95% CI: (1.225–4.961)], and nurses' poor health status [AOR = 3.4878; 95% CI: (1.815–8.282)] demonstrated a statistical significant association with the professional burnout.Conclusions and RecommendationsNurses' burnout in private hospitals of Addis Ababa was highly prevalent. Therefore, ensuring adequate staffing and minimizing the workload of nurse professionals are mandatory to prevent it.