Registered Nurses Average Salary in United States
$101,837 average · $101,600 median · BLS OEWS 2025
SOC Code: 29-1141What is this?
This page shows employer-reported wages for Registered Nurses in United States, drawn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS survey — median and mean pay, the full percentile distribution, and the industries that employ this occupation locally. Setting and specialty dominate the distribution. ICU, OR, ED, and labor-and-delivery roles typically out-earn med-surg; magnet hospitals and union contracts lift entire local bands. Compact-state licenses expand the travel-nurse option, which can push short-term earnings well above the OEWS base wages shown here. Advanced practice (NP/CNS) is a different occupation with a higher distribution entirely.
How much do Registered Nurses make in United States?
The average registered nurses salary in United States is $101,837 per year, with a median of $101,600. That works out to about $48.96 per hour on average. BLS counts roughly 21,900,490 registered nurses jobs in United States.
Mean and median are close, so pay is relatively concentrated around $101,600. Entry-level roles (10th percentile) report about $95,700; experienced workers at the 90th percentile report about $104,420 — a 9% spread from bottom to top. Figures are employer-reported wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program — not self-reported survey averages — so they are the right baseline for offers, raises, and relocation decisions in this market.
How Registered Nurses Careers Are Structured
Registered nursing is the backbone of U.S. clinical care: hospital floors, ambulatory clinics, long-term care, home health, and increasingly telehealth. Staffing ratios, shift differentials, and travel/contract markets make RN pay unusually sensitive to local hospital systems — two adjacent counties can diverge more than two adjacent states in other fields.
The wage tables and percentile chart on this page show how registered nurses pay is distributed in United States specifically — and because state-level wages for the same occupation routinely differ by 30% or more, the local figures here are the ones that matter for offers, raises, and relocation decisions in this market.
What Moves Pay in This Field
Setting and specialty dominate the distribution. ICU, OR, ED, and labor-and-delivery roles typically out-earn med-surg; magnet hospitals and union contracts lift entire local bands. Compact-state licenses expand the travel-nurse option, which can push short-term earnings well above the OEWS base wages shown here. Advanced practice (NP/CNS) is a different occupation with a higher distribution entirely.
Entry requires an ADN or BSN plus NCLEX-RN; many employers now prefer or require the BSN for new hires. The highest-leverage early decisions are specialty orientation, state of licensure, and whether to pursue a compact license. Bridge programs (ADN→BSN, RN→NP) have clear wage payoffs visible when you compare this page to nurse practitioner and related SOC pages.
New to reading wage distributions? Our guide to salary percentiles explains how to place yourself on the chart above, and the negotiation playbook shows how to use these numbers in an actual conversation.
High Demand OccupationBright Outlook
Registered Nurses is in high demand with strong job growth projected over the next decade.
What Do Registered Nurses Do?
Registered Nurses positions belong to the registered nurses field. Registered nursing is the backbone of U.S. clinical care: hospital floors, ambulatory clinics, long-term care, home health, and increasingly telehealth. Staffing ratios, shift differentials, and travel/contract markets make RN pay unusually sensitive to local hospital systems — two adjacent counties can diverge more than two adjacent states in other fields.
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) Code: 29-1141
Registered Nurses pay in United States
In United States, registered nurses report a median of $101,600 and an average of $101,837 (about $48.96/hour) across roughly 21,900,490 jobs. The local pay band runs from about $95,700 at the 10th percentile to $104,420 at the 90th.
National figures average across high-cost coastal metros and lower-cost inland markets, so individual state pages on Wage Atlas are usually the better reference for a specific offer.
Income reality check
The median salary for Registered Nurses in United States of $101,600 falls in the Comfortable band of this framework - roughly ~12% of the U.S. population and ~7% of the global population sit in this band.
Illustrative relative standing for education only - this ladder is a simplified framework, not an official Census, BLS, or World Bank statistical series. Salary figures on Wage Atlas come from official BLS OEWS data.
Salary Overview
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Occupation Report Card
Job Outlook 2023-2033
Official BLS Employment Projections for Registered Nurses
Skills & What You Do
Most occupations require a bachelor's degree
- Monitor, record, and report patient symptoms and progress
- Administer medications and treatments
- Develop and manage nursing care plans
- Educate patients and families on health management
Top Industries for Registered Nurses
| $106,542 | $100,569 | $51 | 7,846,370 | |
| $101,995 | $95,337 | $49 | 817,570 | |
| $101,600 | $97,660 | $49 | 2,895,620 | |
| $95,316 | $88,732 | $46 | 1,079,420 | |
| $88,610 | $84,300 | $43 | 198,830 |
Related Occupations
SOC: 11-9000 • 88% match | $125,254 | $124,870 | $60 | 20,310,970 |
SOC: 29-1140 • 96% match | $101,837 | $101,600 | $49 | 21,900,490 |
SOC: 13-2000 • 94% match | $100,280 | $101,120 | $48 | 16,257,100 |
SOC: 41-4000 • 86% match | $89,479 | $89,490 | $43 | 7,663,160 |
| Find Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing Jobs | ||||
SOC: 41-4010 • 86% match | $89,479 | $89,490 | $43 | 7,663,160 |
SOC: 41-3000 • 88% match | $86,611 | $87,040 | $42 | 12,574,080 |
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Registered Nurses in Other States
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Viewing: Registered Nurses (SOC: 29-1141)