Registered Nurses salary

SOC 29-1141 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$97,550

per year, nationally

Middle half

$80,330–$112,350

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

3.4M

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+4.9%

189,100 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$68,940$137,470

10th: $68,940
25th: $80,330
Median: $97,550
75th: $112,350
90th: $137,470

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Bachelor's degree
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: None

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where registered nurses earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	California	$140,270	110.7	338,940	0.86×
2	Hawaii	$136,320	110.0	12,940	0.95×
3	Oregon	$129,010	103.4	39,730	0.93×
4	Washington	$124,200	107.0	69,260	0.90×
5	Alaska	$109,480	102.4	7,510	1.06×
6	New York	$109,440	107.9	205,810	0.98×
7	New Jersey	$106,500	108.8	92,680	0.99×
8	Massachusetts	$104,550	105.8	88,200	1.12×
9	Nevada	$103,670	100.0	27,070	0.80×
10	Connecticut	$102,740	103.6	40,110	1.09×
11	District of Columbia	$102,540	109.9	11,440	0.75×
12	Minnesota	$101,510	98.6	70,110	1.09×
13	Rhode Island	$100,640	102.3	10,090	0.93×
14	Colorado	$100,260	103.1	54,490	0.87×
15	Maryland	$99,790	105.0	52,910	0.88×
16	New Hampshire	$99,700	104.2	15,390	1.04×
17	Delaware	$99,520	99.8	14,290	1.36×
18	Arizona	$99,500	100.7	73,150	1.04×
19	Vermont	$97,460	98.0	7,410	1.12×
20	Pennsylvania	$96,430	97.6	146,520	1.11×
21	Illinois	$95,990	100.0	138,910	1.05×
22	Texas	$95,970	97.1	271,380	0.89×
23	Wisconsin	$95,530	94.1	68,060	1.06×
24	New Mexico	$94,340	92.2	17,980	0.95×
25	Michigan	$94,300	96.2	104,950	1.10×
26	Virginia	$93,600	101.1	77,490	0.87×
27	Georgia	$93,550	96.3	100,950	0.95×
28	Idaho	$92,460	95.5	16,880	0.91×
29	Maine	$86,990	97.0	16,540	1.19×
30	Montana	$85,280	94.6	10,950	0.99×
31	Nebraska	$84,730	90.1	24,720	1.11×
32	Utah	$84,600	98.9	27,420	0.73×
33	North Carolina	$84,350	94.3	111,120	1.03×
34	Florida	$84,190	103.4	229,940	1.07×
35	Wyoming	$83,760	92.7	5,330	0.87×
36	Indiana	$83,500	93.3	68,980	0.99×
37	Oklahoma	$82,920	87.8	38,270	1.03×
38	Ohio	$82,510	92.8	143,730	1.19×
39	South Carolina	$82,360	93.7	49,750	0.99×
40	Missouri	$81,780	90.8	76,310	1.20×
41	Tennessee	$81,500	91.9	72,200	1.01×
42	Kentucky	$81,040	90.2	50,300	1.16×
43	North Dakota	$80,730	89.0	11,340	1.21×
44	Louisiana	$80,230	88.2	48,970	1.16×
45	West Virginia	$80,130	89.5	23,430	1.54×
46	Kansas	$79,320	90.1	33,800	1.08×
47	Arkansas	$78,940	86.9	29,400	1.04×
48	Iowa	$78,630	87.8	34,420	1.02×
49	South Dakota	$78,060	88.6	14,710	1.48×
50	Mississippi	$77,090	87.0	29,060	1.15×
51	Alabama	$77,080	88.8	54,340	1.18×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where registered nurses wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for registered nurses

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$216,740	110.4	22,930	0.93×
2	Vallejo, CA	$203,290	108.5	4,120	1.32×
3	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$186,610	115.6	41,750	0.81×
4	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$174,550	107.8	3,720	0.83×
5	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$171,460	106.7	23,590	1.00×
6	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$170,960	109.9	1,750	0.82×
7	Yuba City, CA	$149,320	104.2	1,080	0.97×
8	Kahului-Wailuku, HI	$144,350	109.4	1,270	0.79×
9	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$139,520	111.9	28,680	0.86×
10	Urban Honolulu, HI	$139,260	111.0	9,680	1.00×
11	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$138,820	108.6	2,180	0.82×
12	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$137,360	108.8	3,280	0.75×
13	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$135,560	113.6	109,360	0.80×
14	Bend, OR	$135,010	103.6	2,500	1.06×
15	Salinas, CA	$134,910	109.0	3,180	0.79×
16	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$134,580	105.1	5,460	0.87×
17	Redding, CA	$134,350	100.7	1,720	1.11×
18	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$133,940	106.4	35,290	0.95×
19	Modesto, CA	$132,590	104.1	4,850	1.14×
20	Salem, OR	$131,750	103.6	4,010	0.98×
21	Merced, CA	$131,620	98.3	1,050	0.61×
22	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$131,160	110.5	5,710	0.81×
23	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$130,310	105.4	24,220	0.92×
24	Bakersfield-Delano, CA	$128,810	100.9	5,620	0.76×
25	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$128,260	111.1	39,900	0.88×
26	Hanford-Corcoran, CA	$128,160	101.6	710	0.67×
27	Chico, CA	$127,360	101.2	2,170	1.28×
28	Medford, OR	$127,030	101.4	2,370	1.22×
29	Fresno, CA	$125,420	102.2	11,030	1.06×
30	Visalia, CA	$125,180	99.8	2,990	0.80×
31	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$125,020	103.7	2,250	0.79×
32	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$119,720	112.6	197,740	0.96×
33	Walla Walla, WA	$116,970	98.5	810	1.44×
34	Anchorage, AK	$115,290	105.4	4,990	1.30×
35	Eugene-Springfield, OR	$113,720	101.6	3,590	1.05×
36	Wenatchee-East Wenatchee, WA	$112,280	103.9	1,330	1.19×
37	Albany, OR	$111,920	102.1	580	0.56×
38	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$111,750	100.3	6,850	1.23×
39	Reno, NV	$107,520	101.0	4,850	0.81×
40	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$107,220	105.6	1,410	0.69×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where registered nurses wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.