diff --git a/flax/nnx/statelib.py b/flax/nnx/statelib.py
index 5f9f28d957..9063bc8196 100644
--- a/flax/nnx/statelib.py
+++ b/flax/nnx/statelib.py
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@
 V = tp.TypeVar('V')
 
 FlatState = dict[PathParts, V]
+ExtractValueFn = tp.Callable[[tp.Any], tp.Any]
+SetValueFn = tp.Callable[[V, tp.Any], V]
 
 
 class NestedStateRepr(reprlib.Representable):
@@ -158,6 +160,28 @@ def from_flat_path(
     nested_state = traversals.unflatten_mapping(flat_state)
     return cls(nested_state)
 
+  def to_pure_dict(self,
+                   extract_fn: ExtractValueFn | None = None
+                   ) -> dict[str, tp.Any]:
+    # Works for nnx.Variable and nnx.VariableState
+    if extract_fn is None:
+      extract_fn = lambda x: x.value if hasattr(x, 'value') else x
+    flat_values = {k: extract_fn(x) for k, x in self.flat_state().items()}
+    return traversals.unflatten_mapping(flat_values)
+
+  def replace_by_pure_dict(self,
+                           pure_dict: dict[str, tp.Any],
+                           replace_fn: SetValueFn | None = None):
+    # Works for nnx.Variable and nnx.VariableState
+    if replace_fn is None:
+      replace_fn = lambda x, v: x.replace(v) if hasattr(x, 'replace') else v
+    current_flat = self.flat_state()
+    for kp, v in traversals.flatten_mapping(pure_dict).items():
+      if kp not in current_flat:
+        raise ValueError(f'key in pure_dict not available in state: {kp}')
+      current_flat[kp] = replace_fn(current_flat[kp], v)
+    self.update(traversals.unflatten_mapping(current_flat))
+
   @tp.overload
   def split(self, first: filterlib.Filter, /) -> State[K, V]: ...
 
diff --git a/tests/nnx/state_test.py b/tests/nnx/state_test.py
index e1884134ff..3cfde22e0d 100644
--- a/tests/nnx/state_test.py
+++ b/tests/nnx/state_test.py
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
 from absl.testing import absltest
 
 from flax import nnx
+import jax
+from jax import numpy as jnp
 
 
 class StateTest(absltest.TestCase):
@@ -75,6 +77,21 @@ def __init__(self, *, rngs: nnx.Rngs):
     assert module.layers[1].kernel.value.shape == (2, 3)
     assert state.layers[1].kernel.value.shape == (2, 3)
 
+  def test_pure_dict(self):
+    module = nnx.Linear(4, 5, rngs=nnx.Rngs(0))
+    state = nnx.state(module)
+    pure_dict = state.to_pure_dict()
+    assert isinstance(pure_dict, dict)
+    assert isinstance(pure_dict['kernel'], jax.Array)
+    assert isinstance(pure_dict['bias'], jax.Array)
+    state.replace_by_pure_dict(jax.tree.map(jnp.zeros_like, pure_dict))
+    assert isinstance(state, nnx.State)
+    assert isinstance(state.kernel, nnx.VariableState)
+    assert jnp.array_equal(state.kernel.value, jnp.zeros((4, 5)))
+    assert state.kernel.type == nnx.Param
+    nnx.update(module, state)
+    assert jnp.array_equal(module(jnp.ones((3, 4))), jnp.zeros((3, 5)))
+
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
   absltest.main()
\ No newline at end of file