Outcomes
Nursing Graduates vs RN Pay by State: the early-career benchmark
Four years after completing, graduates of the typical bachelor's nursing program in a state earned 94% of that state's median registered-nurse wage, and associate's graduates 88%. The share runs from 74% in Washington to 107% in Louisiana, and it is lowest where nurses are paid most. Early-career earnings against an all-experience benchmark: context, not a measure of program quality or underpayment.
Data period: College Scorecard field of study, June 2026 release: 2017-18 and 2018-19 completers, earnings measured in 2022 and 2023, in 2024 dollars; BLS OEWS May 2025 state wages.
By CampusPin Research · Published September 29, 2026
Executive summary
What this compares, before any number: the earnings of a state's nursing-program graduates four years after they completed (College Scorecard), against the median wage of every registered nurse working in that state (BLS). The two are not the same population. Graduate earnings are early career; the BLS wage covers nurses at every experience level. Scorecard follows graduates wherever they work and in whatever job, so not every graduate is working as a nurse, or in the state. And the program data do not show hours worked, while the BLS figure is a full-time-equivalent rate. The comparison is context for a family choosing a program: it is not a measure of program quality, and it is not evidence that anyone is underpaid.
With that stated: across 713 bachelor's (BSN) and 724 associate's (ADN) nursing programs, graduates of the typical BSN program in the typical state earned 94% of their state's median RN wage four years out, and graduates of the typical ADN program 88%. In 7 of 48 states the typical BSN program's graduates were at or above the state median; no state's typical ADN program was.
The share is lowest where nurses are paid most. Graduates of the typical BSN program in Washington earned 74% of the state median ($92,431 against $124,200); in Louisiana 107%. Across states, each additional $1,000 of state RN median goes with about $581 more for BSN graduates four years out ($522 for ADN graduates). In dollars, graduates of high-wage states still earn the most: $118,577 for the typical California BSN program, $82,147 in Mississippi.
Key findings
- The comparison: median earnings four years after completing for each nursing program's graduates (2017-18 and 2018-19 completers, measured 2022-23, in 2024 dollars; federal-aid recipients who worked and were not enrolled), against the BLS May 2025 median wage for all registered nurses in the program's state. The typical program in a state is the median across its programs with at least 30 graduates measured.
- Typical state: graduates of the typical bachelor's (BSN) program earned 94% of the state RN median (48 states with at least 3 programs, 713 programs); graduates of the typical associate's (ADN) program 88% (43 states, 724 programs).
- Range: the BSN share runs from 74% (Washington), 81% (Oregon) and 81% (Hawaii) to 106% (Florida), 107% (Mississippi) and 107% (Louisiana).
- Where nurses are paid more, early-career graduates sit further below the state median: the rank correlation between a state's RN median and the typical program's share is -0.66 for BSN programs and -0.84 for ADN programs. Each additional $1,000 of state RN median goes with about $581 (BSN) and $522 (ADN) more for graduates. A likely reading, not tested here: pay in high-wage states rises more with seniority, so the occupation-wide median sits further above an early-career salary.
- Against the same state benchmark, the typical ADN program's graduates were below the typical BSN program's graduates in 41 of 42 states (the exception: Idaho), by a median of 6 points of the state RN median.
- The typical program's graduates earned less than the state's 25th-percentile RN wage in 11 of 48 states for BSN programs and 27 of 43 for ADN programs. Read with the hours caveat: the BLS percentile is a full-time rate, while graduate earnings are what a year of work actually paid.
- Washington: 74
- Oregon: 81
- Hawaii: 81
- Idaho: 82
- Minnesota: 83
- Colorado: 84
- Kentucky: 101
- Alabama: 101
- West Virginia: 103
- Florida: 106
- Mississippi: 107
- Louisiana: 107
One row per state: the BLS May 2025 median and 25th-percentile registered-nurse wage, and for associate's and bachelor's nursing programs the number of programs, the typical program's graduates' median earnings four years after completing, and that figure as a share of the state RN median. Shares are blank where a state has fewer than 3 programs of that credential.
| State | RN median wage (BLS May 2025) | RN 25th percentile | ADN programs | ADN graduates typical program (4 yrs after) | ADN share of RN median | BSN programs | BSN graduates typical program (4 yrs after) | BSN share of RN median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | 109480 | 97700 | 1 | 87831 | 1 | 93001 | ||
| Alabama | 77080 | 63500 | 18 | 75318 | 98% | 11 | 78224 | 101% |
| Arkansas | 78940 | 66640 | 13 | 74178 | 94% | 11 | 76783 | 97% |
| Arizona | 99500 | 81810 | 14 | 83054 | 83% | 5 | 88892 | 89% |
| California | 140270 | 122440 | 53 | 112037 | 80% | 34 | 118577 | 85% |
| Colorado | 100260 | 84590 | 9 | 79985 | 80% | 10 | 84331 | 84% |
| Connecticut | 102740 | 86120 | 2 | 94059 | 10 | 98756 | 96% | |
| District of Columbia | 102540 | 85850 | 0 | 4 | 96845 | 94% | ||
| Delaware | 99520 | 85900 | 1 | 91730 | 3 | 97666 | 98% | |
| Florida | 84190 | 78660 | 41 | 78938 | 94% | 36 | 89207 | 106% |
| Georgia | 93550 | 79090 | 17 | 79874 | 85% | 25 | 84253 | 90% |
| Hawaii | 136320 | 101200 | 2 | 110423 | 3 | 111027 | 81% | |
| Iowa | 78630 | 68290 | 11 | 71402 | 91% | 12 | 76089 | 97% |
| Idaho | 92460 | 80900 | 5 | 78033 | 84% | 5 | 76250 | 82% |
| Illinois | 95990 | 80020 | 34 | 77856 | 81% | 29 | 83636 | 87% |
| Indiana | 83500 | 78750 | 4 | 72441 | 87% | 24 | 81479 | 98% |
| Kansas | 79320 | 73300 | 10 | 73945 | 93% | 12 | 78142 | 99% |
| Kentucky | 81040 | 75670 | 21 | 71988 | 89% | 13 | 81941 | 101% |
| Louisiana | 80230 | 69040 | 10 | 79819 | 99% | 13 | 85928 | 107% |
| Massachusetts | 104550 | 87460 | 17 | 86833 | 83% | 18 | 93278 | 89% |
| Maryland | 99790 | 83740 | 11 | 85846 | 86% | 10 | 93442 | 94% |
| Maine | 86990 | 79890 | 5 | 76355 | 88% | 6 | 80422 | 92% |
| Michigan | 94300 | 82080 | 27 | 76546 | 81% | 21 | 81602 | 87% |
| Minnesota | 101510 | 88940 | 20 | 77720 | 77% | 18 | 84481 | 83% |
| Missouri | 81780 | 76050 | 18 | 74019 | 91% | 19 | 79507 | 97% |
| Mississippi | 77090 | 64930 | 13 | 75438 | 98% | 7 | 82147 | 107% |
| Montana | 85280 | 80210 | 5 | 73465 | 86% | 4 | 81191 | 95% |
| North Carolina | 84350 | 78770 | 34 | 76012 | 90% | 23 | 80383 | 95% |
| North Dakota | 80730 | 69620 | 3 | 72593 | 90% | 6 | 77138 | 96% |
| Nebraska | 84730 | 79240 | 5 | 72463 | 86% | 9 | 77272 | 91% |
| New Hampshire | 99700 | 82880 | 5 | 82242 | 82% | 7 | 90784 | 91% |
| New Jersey | 106500 | 99710 | 14 | 93594 | 88% | 17 | 102386 | 96% |
| New Mexico | 94340 | 80960 | 4 | 84390 | 89% | 4 | 91105 | 97% |
| Nevada | 103670 | 86850 | 4 | 93026 | 90% | 4 | 96934 | 94% |
| New York | 109440 | 94840 | 47 | 89926 | 82% | 46 | 108022 | 99% |
| Ohio | 82510 | 79200 | 30 | 74769 | 91% | 34 | 78035 | 95% |
| Oklahoma | 82920 | 77350 | 14 | 76968 | 93% | 15 | 83643 | 101% |
| Oregon | 129010 | 107220 | 11 | 97861 | 76% | 4 | 104208 | 81% |
| Pennsylvania | 96430 | 80610 | 18 | 82011 | 85% | 39 | 91032 | 94% |
| Rhode Island | 100640 | 81840 | 2 | 85389 | 4 | 88019 | 87% | |
| South Carolina | 82360 | 77320 | 11 | 75242 | 91% | 9 | 75458 | 92% |
| South Dakota | 78060 | 65070 | 1 | 69169 | 6 | 77180 | 99% | |
| Tennessee | 81500 | 75460 | 15 | 73546 | 90% | 24 | 76268 | 94% |
| Texas | 95970 | 79170 | 46 | 82506 | 86% | 36 | 88946 | 93% |
| Utah | 84600 | 80050 | 6 | 75049 | 89% | 9 | 80852 | 96% |
| Virginia | 93600 | 80090 | 22 | 79163 | 85% | 18 | 88467 | 95% |
| Vermont | 97460 | 82210 | 0 | 2 | 84313 | |||
| Washington | 124200 | 103100 | 21 | 88906 | 72% | 10 | 92431 | 74% |
| Wisconsin | 95530 | 81920 | 15 | 73503 | 77% | 13 | 81067 | 85% |
| West Virginia | 80130 | 68160 | 8 | 74193 | 93% | 9 | 82760 | 103% |
| Wyoming | 83760 | 77890 | 6 | 74358 | 89% | 1 | 83525 |
Questions families ask
- Do new nursing graduates earn as much as nurses in their state?
- Not usually, and that is expected: four years after completing, graduates of the typical bachelor's nursing program in a state earned 94% of the state's median registered-nurse wage, and associate's graduates 88% (College Scorecard 2017-19 completers measured 2022-23; BLS May 2025). The BLS median covers nurses at every career stage, so early-career earnings sitting below it is not a shortfall. In 7 states the typical BSN program's graduates were at or above the state median.
- Why do nursing graduates in high-paying states reach a smaller share of the state median?
- Across states, each additional $1,000 of state RN median goes with only about $581 more for BSN graduates four years out (rank correlation -0.66). The data do not say why. Likely contributors, not tested here: pay scales that rise more with seniority in high-wage states, and graduates who move or take different jobs. In dollars, graduates of high-wage states still earn the most ($118,577 for the typical California BSN program).
- How do ADN and BSN graduates compare against the same state benchmark?
- The typical associate's (ADN) program's graduates were below the typical bachelor's (BSN) program's graduates in 41 of 42 states, by a median of 6 points of the state RN median. ADN graduates who went on to an RN-to-BSN program while still enrolled are not in the ADN figure.
- Does this show which nursing programs are better or that nurses are underpaid?
- No. It compares early-career earnings of a state's program graduates with an occupation-wide wage that covers every experience level, without hours worked and without knowing whether each graduate works as a nurse or in the state. It is context for choosing a program, not a measure of program quality or of fair pay. No program is named or ranked.
- What do nursing graduates earn in my state?
- The state table on this page gives each state's typical ADN and BSN program figure next to its RN wage (downloadable as CSV), and each state's nursing program page lists the programs with their graduates' earnings and debt. For example, the typical Washington BSN program's graduates earned $92,431 four years out, against a Washington RN median of $124,200.
Methodology
Earnings: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, "Most Recent Cohorts: Field of Study", release of June 10, 2026, 4-digit field 51.38 (registered nursing) at the associate's and bachelor's levels, median earnings four years after completing (EARN_MDN_4YR). A program is one institution x field x credential. Programs enter a state's list only with at least 30 graduates in the earnings cohort; a figure the Department pools across a system's campuses is counted once, and only when every campus is in the same state. These are the state lists shown on CampusPin's program pages.
Benchmark: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 state file, registered nurses (SOC 29-1141): the annual median and 25th percentile in each state. No state's RN wage is top-coded or suppressed. BLS annual wages are hourly rates multiplied by 2,080 hours.
The typical program in a state is the median of its programs' medians; states with fewer than 3 programs of a credential appear in the table but in no count or correlation. The rank correlation is Spearman's, across states; the slope is an ordinary least-squares fit of the typical program's earnings on the state RN median.
Every figure is computed by scripts/build-nursing-benchmark-report.mjs from committed files. The per-state program medians were reproduced independently from the raw federal file, and the state summaries, correlation and slope were recomputed by separate code; all agree.
No adjustment is made for the different years (earnings measured in 2022-23 in 2024 dollars; wages for May 2025). Scaling every state's wage by the same factor moves all shares by the same proportion, so the order of states and the correlation do not depend on it.
Limitations
- Different populations: graduate earnings are early career (four years after completing); the BLS median covers registered nurses at every experience level. A gap below the median is expected and is not a shortfall.
- Not every graduate is a nurse in the state: Scorecard follows graduates wherever they work and in whatever job, including those who moved away or left nursing. The state is where the program is, not where graduates work.
- Hours are not observed: program earnings are what a year of work paid, whatever the hours; the BLS figure is a full-time-equivalent rate. Part-time or per-diem work lowers annual earnings without any change in pay rate.
- Context, not quality: the share says nothing about how good a program is or whether graduates are fairly paid. It reflects local pay structure, who enrolls, and where graduates go.
- Earnings cover graduates who received federal aid, worked and were not enrolled; ADN graduates still enrolled in RN-to-BSN programs are excluded from the ADN figure. Not adjusted for cost of living.
- This report is descriptive: it is not a ranking of programs, colleges or states, no program or college is named, and nothing here is a federal accountability result.
For journalists
CampusPin compared what nursing-program graduates earned four years after completing (College Scorecard, 2017-19 completers measured 2022-23) with what registered nurses earn in the same state (BLS May 2025), across 713 bachelor's and 724 associate's programs. Graduates of the typical BSN program in the typical state earned 94% of the state RN median, and ADN graduates 88%. The share is lowest where nurses are paid most: 74% in Washington, 107% in Louisiana. The comparison sets early-career earnings against an all-experience, full-time-equivalent benchmark; it is context, not a measure of program quality or underpayment.
Free to cite with attribution to CampusPin and a link to this page; the state table downloads as CSV. Please carry: (1) graduate earnings are early career and the BLS wage covers every experience level, so a gap is expected; (2) write "graduates of {state} programs", not "{state} nurses": graduates may work elsewhere or in other jobs; (3) hours are not in the program data; (4) this is not a measure of program quality or of underpayment. Contact: [email protected].
Sources, methodology & citation
Sources used across this page
Not every source informs every figure. Each data point draws on the source appropriate to it see the relevant section and the data dictionary for field-level provenance.
Program-level median earnings one and four years after completing, and median federal loan debt at completion, by institution, 4-digit CIP field and credential level.
Registered nurses (29-1141): annual median and 25th percentile wage in each state, for everyone working in the occupation at every experience level, as a full-time-equivalent rate.
College Scorecard, Field of Study data documentation
How the field-of-study cohorts are built, which graduates are counted, and how small cells are suppressed and perturbed for privacy.
Where a value is unavailable it is shown as unavailable, never as 0, free, or a negative judgment. Always confirm final details with the institution before applying.
Suggested citation
CampusPin. (2026). Nursing Graduates vs RN Pay by State: the early-career benchmark. Retrieved from https://campuspin.com/research/nursing-graduates-vs-state-rn-wages
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