A recruiter quotes six figures. A nurse two states over does the same work for twenty thousand less. Both are ordinary, and the national mean is the reason neither one settles anything.
The federal estimate is a map of the whole occupation, drawn from wages collected in May 2025 and released a year later. Maps are useful. This one has no pin on your hospital.
$101,420 is a midpoint, not a rate card
Reported wages and advertised ranges are two different measures, which is why the ruler marks them together. The width is the point, not the middle.
See the spread
$60,67810th to 90th percentile across 3,825 priced live postings, read 4 August 2026. The ruler is advertised range midpoints; the BLS mean is reported wages. Two different measures, marked together to show the width the single number sits inside.
One number cannot tell you where a single posting lands inside a band that wide. Setting, specialty, shift, contract terms, and how long the unit has been short all move a rate before anyone calls you back.
A state mean is a wage level, not a ranking
BLS reported state annual means from roughly $77,000 in Alabama and South Dakota to $150,280 in California. That spread describes what employers pay, not what the pay buys.
A higher mean can sit next to a tighter monthly budget. A lower base can sit next to cheaper housing, a pension that vests, safer scheduling, or a shorter road off nights. The state table starts a comparison. It never finishes one.
Turn the offer into one comparable number
The national figure is annual. Offers arrive hourly, with money attached that never appears in the base rate. Get both into the same unit before you decide anything.
Run your number
Annualized base pay
$74,880
In national dollars (cost-of-living adjusted)
$74,880
- National mean
- $101,420
- National mean · BLS OEWS, May 2025
- Posted median right now
- $96,658
- Posted median right now · 20,113 postings
- Gap vs benchmark, adjusted
- −26%
- vs. national mean, adjusted
Base rate and guaranteed hours.
The rate is half the number. Ask what an ordinary week pays.
Every differential, named separately.
Nights, weekends, charge, float, specialty. These sit in a different field from the posted range and often beat a lateral move.
Overtime, expected or optional.
A budget that only closes with overtime is not the offer you were quoted.
Sign-on money and its strings.
Vesting schedule and repayment terms in writing, before the number counts.
The costs the job brings.
Health premiums, retirement match, commute, parking, licensing, child care.
The conditions you earn it under.
Orientation length, staffing model, and the schedule you will work.
Compare hourly with hourly. If you annualize, hold the same hours assumption across every offer and keep one-time money out of the base.
What nurses earn, by state and specialty.
Sources
- National and state RN mean and median wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, released 15 May 2026. Reported wages, not advertised ranges.
- Posted percentiles and the spread on the ruler: Nursing Mastery job corpus, 3,825 priced live postings, read 4 August 2026. Advertised range midpoints, a different measure from reported wages.
From this guide
Read the BLS wage release
