Nurse Pay Index
What nursing actually pays.
Built from 2,689 live postings that state pay — not last year’s survey averages. Updated July 24, 2026.
Compare two states
Posted-pay percentiles, same dollar scale.
California: median $115,440/yr ($44/hr) across 415 priced postings · Texas: median $80,299/yr ($36/hr) across 304.
Every state, ranked by posted median
| # | State | Median | Middle half | vs national | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oregon | $118,394 | $108k–$136k | +22% | 13 |
| 2 | Vermont | $118,352 | $109k–$128k | +22% | 5 |
| 3 | District of Columbia | $115,887 | $100k–$119k | +20% | 11 |
| 4 | California | $115,440 | $99k–$138k | +19% | 415 |
| 5 | Montana | $114,881 | $74k–$116k | +19% | 10 |
| 6 | Hawaii | $113,351 | $96k–$128k | +17% | 14 |
| 7 | Washington | $110,630 | $96k–$126k | +14% | 164 |
| 8 | Massachusetts | $106,775 | $97k–$125k | +10% | 48 |
| 9 | Nebraska | $105,923 | $82k–$122k | +10% | 8 |
| 10 | New York | $104,000 | $90k–$129k | +8% | 146 |
| 11 | New Hampshire | $102,700 | $87k–$121k | +6% | 17 |
| 12 | Nevada | $102,211 | $83k–$133k | +6% | 13 |
| 13 | Minnesota | $101,915 | $96k–$113k | +5% | 104 |
| 14 | Connecticut | $100,850 | $92k–$103k | +4% | 11 |
| 15 | North Carolina | $99,320 | $92k–$101k | +3% | 77 |
| 16 | New Jersey | $98,800 | $89k–$115k | +2% | 62 |
| 17 | Maine | $98,491 | $88k–$125k | +2% | 8 |
| 18 | New Mexico | $96,970 | $97k–$103k | 0% | 119 |
| 19 | Oklahoma | $96,928 | $81k–$105k | 0% | 15 |
| 20 | Maryland | $95,472 | $92k–$104k | -1% | 49 |
| 21 | Kentucky | $95,329 | $73k–$112k | -1% | 16 |
| 22 | Georgia | $93,793 | $82k–$102k | -3% | 52 |
| 23 | Virginia | $93,741 | $84k–$108k | -3% | 69 |
| 24 | Delaware | $93,621 | $85k–$112k | -3% | 8 |
| 25 | Idaho | $93,584 | $77k–$112k | -3% | 6 |
| 26 | Tennessee | $90,872 | $84k–$97k | -6% | 25 |
| 27 | Colorado | $90,055 | $80k–$100k | -7% | 86 |
| 28 | Alabama | $89,929 | $79k–$97k | -7% | 7 |
| 29 | Ohio | $89,784 | $70k–$99k | -7% | 57 |
| 30 | Illinois | $88,644 | $81k–$100k | -8% | 140 |
| 31 | Missouri | $87,990 | $66k–$104k | -9% | 35 |
| 32 | Pennsylvania | $87,750 | $75k–$104k | -9% | 56 |
| 33 | Arizona | $86,320 | $65k–$96k | -11% | 132 |
| 34 | Wisconsin | $86,320 | $74k–$105k | -11% | 61 |
| 35 | South Carolina | $85,874 | $76k–$95k | -11% | 16 |
| 36 | North Dakota | $85,280 | $79k–$99k | -12% | 25 |
| 37 | Florida | $85,192 | $74k–$92k | -12% | 56 |
| 38 | Louisiana | $84,450 | $84k–$96k | -13% | 31 |
| 39 | South Dakota | $84,240 | $80k–$86k | -13% | 8 |
| 40 | Iowa | $84,100 | $68k–$86k | -13% | 15 |
| 41 | Indiana | $83,667 | $78k–$99k | -13% | 30 |
| 42 | Michigan | $82,500 | $73k–$92k | -15% | 23 |
| 43 | Kansas | $81,500 | $67k–$91k | -16% | 18 |
| 44 | Texas | $80,299 | $69k–$97k | -17% | 304 |
| 45 | Arkansas | $78,898 | $50k–$93k | -18% | 14 |
| 46 | Utah | $76,960 | $77k–$77k | -20% | 17 |
Highest-paying specialties right now
All specialties ranked →- #1Travel232 postings$105k
- #2Education/Staff Development187 postings$103k
- #3ICU465 postings$102k
- #4Nursing Management/Admin252 postings$102k
- #5Acute Care279 postings$102k
- #6Medical/Surgical317 postings$99k
- #7Home Health284 postings$96k
- #8Hospice132 postings$93k
- #9Hospitals and Health Care219 postings$91k
- #10Pediatric272 postings$82k
What are you actually being paid?
30 seconds, fully anonymous — no name, no email. Your report joins the community-reported series (always labeled nurse-reported) so nurses can compare real experiences with what employers post.
What to do with this
- See the rolesJobs in your state paying around $96,720Every posting behind these numbers is a live job you can open and apply to.
- Offer in hand?Run it through the offer reality calculatorAnnualize it honestly and see what it's worth where you'd actually live — then compare offers side by side.
- 3-minute fit quizFind out which roles actually fit youPay is one axis. Shift, specialty, setting, and commute decide whether the job is worth it.
- CommunityAsk nurses what they really take homeDifferentials, ratios, and the offer nobody posts. Bring your number and compare notes.
Want the craft behind the numbers — differentials, negotiating, travel packages? Read the pay & salary guides.
How the Pay Index works
Midpoint of stated salary ranges on live nursing job postings; values outside $20,000–$800,000/yr treated as parse artifacts and excluded; groups under 5 postings suppressed. Community-reported figures are anonymous, unverified, and reported separately.
Posted offers are what employers advertise — a useful market read, but not take-home pay or a promise of what any individual will earn. Community reports are anonymous and nurse-reported, and are always shown as their own series.
Questions nurses ask
- How much do nurses make right now?
- Across 2,689 live nursing job postings that state pay, the median posted offer is $96,720 a year (median hourly postings run $38/hr). The middle half of postings runs $81,120–$113,027, and the top 10% start at $133,125.
- How is the Nurse Pay Index different from BLS salary data?
- BLS wage figures are survey averages published months after the fact. The Pay Index reads what employers are offering on live job postings today — posted offers, refreshed continuously, with implausible figures excluded and small samples suppressed. Both are useful; only one tells you what the market is paying this week.
- Which states pay nurses the most?
- By posted median right now: #1 Oregon ($118,394), #2 Vermont ($118,352), #3 District of Columbia ($115,887). Rankings move as postings change — this page updates continuously.
- Can I add my own pay?
- Yes — anonymously, in about 30 seconds, no account needed. Nurse-reported pay appears in its own clearly labeled series next to posted offers and is never mixed into the employer-posted numbers.