Nurse Pay Abroad, by Each Government's Own Numbers: US$97,550 in the US, About US$80,000 in Australia. But No Two Countries Measure It the Same Way

Published 22 October 2026 · Luke, co-founder of NCLEX BANK · 9 min read

How much do nurses earn abroad? This article lines up the answer using only what each government publishes about its own nurses. The United States: a median of $97,550 a year. Australia: about US$80,100. The UK: about US$57,700. But do not read that list as a world ranking. Each country measures something different. Some publish a median and some an average; some a year, others a week or an hour; and they count different people. Only one statistic measures every country with the same ruler, the OECD's, and on that ruler the gaps look different again. At the end, we set these numbers against what a nurse is paid at home in the Philippines and India.

1. What each government reports

These are the latest figures each country publishes. Each one comes with what it actually measures. Where we turned a weekly, monthly or hourly figure into a year, that is our own arithmetic.

1. United States: median annual wage $97,550
   Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), May 2025. All registered nurses (RNs)
2. Australia: full-time median weekly earnings AUD 2,192 (about US$1,540)
   Over 52 weeks, AUD 113,984 (about US$80,100). Jobs and Skills Australia's occupation profile, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics survey of May 2025. It covers 366,200 employed registered nurses
3. Canada: median hourly wage CAD 43.27 (about US$30.80)
   Job Bank, from Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey, 2023–2024. No annual figure is published. At 2,080 hours a year, the same basis BLS uses, that is about CAD 90,000 (about US$64,100)
4. United Kingdom: full-time median annual pay £43,078 (about US$57,700)
   Office for National Statistics (ONS) annual survey, 2025 (the year to 5 April 2025). Nursing professionals, including midwives. The median for all occupations is £39,039
5. Singapore: full-time median gross monthly wage S$5,210 (about US$4,080)
   Ministry of Manpower (MOM), June 2025. Over 12 months, S$62,520 (about US$48,900). Bonuses are not included, and only citizens and permanent residents are counted
6. New Zealand: public-hospital pay scale NZ$77,667 to NZ$109,407 (about US$44,200 to US$62,300)
   The collective agreement between Health New Zealand and the nurses' union, from 2 March 2026, step 1 (new graduate) to step 7. We did not find a government median for all nurses
7. UAE (Dubai) and Saudi Arabia: no government wage statistic for nurses was found
   Dubai Health's statistical yearbook counts nurses but does not report their pay. We do not use salary-site figures

Lined up like this, the US looks about a fifth higher than Australia and two thirds higher than the UK. Treat those ratios with care.

2. Why the list is not a ranking

People search for "highest paying countries for nurses". You could sort the list above and call it a ranking, but the differences in how each number is measured would end up in the ranking too. There are five of them.

1. Median or average
   Every figure above is a median (the nurse in the middle), but the countries you compare them with often publish averages. An average is pulled up by a few high earners. New Zealand's is a pay scale, not a statistic at all
2. Year, month, week or hour
   Only the US and the UK publish a yearly figure. Australia publishes weekly, Singapore monthly and Canada hourly. The number of weeks or hours used to make a year is an assumption
3. Who is counted
   Australia, the UK and Singapore count full-time workers only. Singapore counts citizens and permanent residents only, so the foreign nurses working in its hospitals are not in its figure
4. What is included
   Singapore's figure leaves bonuses out. How much night, weekend and overtime pay is included differs from country to country
5. Exchange rates
   Once you convert, you are comparing exchange rates as well as pay. The same AUD 113,984 was worth about US$76,000 when the US dollar bought 1.50 Australian dollars, and about US$87,700 at 1.30

3. The one like-for-like comparison: the OECD

One statistic tries to compare countries on the same definition: the OECD's health statistics on the remuneration of hospital nurses. It reports the gross annual pay of full-time registered nurses in hospitals, converted with purchasing power parities (PPP) — US dollars adjusted so that each amount buys the same basket of goods in its own country. It also reports pay as a multiple of the country's average wage.

The latest values in the OECD database:

• United States (2024): $101,070, 1.22 times the average wage
• Australia (2024): $86,488, 1.22 times
• Canada (2024): $71,637, 1.07 times
• New Zealand (2024): $70,190, 1.13 times
• United Kingdom (2024): $56,695, 0.86 times (NHS basic pay only)
• South Korea (2020, the latest): $52,602, 1.19 times
• Japan (2024): $52,292, 1.04 times (an OECD estimate)
• Ireland (2024): $72,866, 1.16 times (public health service payroll; the OECD notes this overstates Ireland)

Two things follow. First, a weak currency makes nurses look poorer than they are. Japan's average nurse pay of about ¥5.25 million is only about US$33,200 at today's exchange rate, but $52,292 once prices are evened out. Second, the multiple of the average wage tells you where nurses stand inside their own country, which a currency conversion never shows. In the US and Australia nurses earn 1.22 times the average wage; in the UK, on the NHS basic-pay measure, 0.86 times.

The OECD figures still carry some national differences. The US and Canada count registered nurses only, which the OECD says pushes them up against countries that also count lower-level nurses. Australia counts enrolled nurses and student nurses too. Singapore, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, India and Nigeria are not OECD members, so they are not in this comparison.

4. New arrivals rarely start at the median

A median includes nurses who have worked in that country for decades. Where the public sector publishes a pay scale, the gap between the first step and the top is wide:

• United Kingdom (NHS in England): Band 5, the first band for a registered nurse, runs £32,073 to £39,043 (about US$43,000 to US$52,300) from 1 April 2026. London weighting is extra
• New Zealand (public hospitals): step 1 (new graduate) NZ$77,667 to step 7 NZ$109,407 (about US$44,200 to US$62,300), from 2 March 2026
• Ireland (public health service, HSE): a staff nurse starts at €38,166 and reaches €54,956, with a long-service step to €56,592 (about US$42,900 to US$63,600), from 1 June 2026
• Australia (New South Wales public hospitals): a first-year registered nurse earns AUD 1,566.70 a week, rising to AUD 2,199.60 from the eighth year. Over 52 weeks that is AUD 81,468 to AUD 114,379 (about US$57,200 to US$80,400), from 1 July 2026

The top of the UK's Band 5 (about US$52,300) sits below the UK nursing median (about US$57,700). The median is the middle because promoted and long-serving nurses are in it. Which step your foreign experience counts for is set by the agreement and the employer; here we only show the range.

5. All before tax, and what sits outside pay

All of the figures above are before income tax and social contributions. On top of that, some employers pay into something separate from your wage:

• Australia: employers pay 12% of your earnings into retirement savings (superannuation), on top of pay (12% from 2025–26)
• New Zealand: if you are in KiwiSaver, your employer contributes (the legal minimum is 3.5% from 1 April 2026)
• Singapore: the figure above is before your own CPF contribution and income tax, and excludes the employer's CPF contribution and bonuses
• United States: Social Security and Medicare take 7.65% automatically; the rest depends on the state and your household
• UAE: there is no personal income tax (UAE government portal). The pay level itself cannot be shown from public statistics

So "how much do I take home?" cannot be answered from a country's name. The same gross pay leaves different amounts in different countries, states and households. If you compare, compare like with like.

6. What the same nurse earns at home

For many readers, the real comparison is not the US against the UK. It is abroad against home. Here the problem is that the Philippines, India and Nigeria publish pay scales for public nurses, not a median for all nurses, and none of them is in the OECD comparison. So the figures below are the government's own pay for one public-sector post, at the bottom of its scale:

• Philippines: a national-government Nurse I is on Salary Grade 15. From 1 January 2026, step 1 is ₱42,178 a month (about US$665), or ₱506,136 a year (about US$8,000). Basic salary only; allowances and bonuses are extra. Nurses employed by local governments follow their own local schedule and can be paid less
• India: a central-government Nursing Officer (for example at AIIMS) is at Level 7 of the 7th Pay Commission matrix, starting at a basic ₹44,900 a month. With dearness allowance at 60% of basic from 1 January 2026, that is ₹71,840 a month (about US$760), before house rent, transport and nursing allowances
• Nigeria: federal health workers are paid on CONHESS. Since 29 July 2024, step 1 of CONHESS 07 is ₦1,871,883 a year and of CONHESS 08 ₦2,094,793 (about US$1,400 and US$1,570), salary only. We did not find an official document that says which grade a newly registered nurse starts on

Set against the US median of $97,550, a Philippine Nurse I's basic pay is about one twelfth, and an Indian Nursing Officer's basic plus dearness allowance about one eleventh. Those ratios are real in the sense that matters for sending money home or paying back a loan. They overstate the difference in how well each nurse lives, because rent and food cost far less at home. The OECD's price-adjusted comparison, which would correct for that, does not cover these countries.

Two more things to keep in mind. These are entry-level public posts, while the US figure is a median that includes nurses with decades of experience. And a nurse who moves usually starts near the bottom of the new country's scale, as section 4 showed.

7. The top three on the OECD list use the NCLEX

Among the countries in this article, the OECD comparison puts the United States, Australia and Canada at the top. In all three, the written exam for nurse registration is the NCLEX-RN (in Canada, outside Quebec). The UAE also waives its licensing exam for nurses who have passed the NCLEX, if conditions are met.

Pay alone does not have to decide where you go. But if you have not chosen yet, the NCLEX is the exam that counts in the most countries. It is offered at test centres in India, the Philippines, Pakistan and Kenya, among others. The route in each country is in Can I use my nursing licence in another country?, and the English scores each one asks for are in Nurse English test scores.

Summary

1. Governments' own figures: US median $97,550; Australia about US$80,100; Canada about US$64,100; UK about US$57,700; Singapore about US$48,900 (bonuses excluded, citizens and PRs only)
2. New Zealand's public scale is about US$44,200 to US$62,300. The UAE and Saudi Arabia publish no wage statistic for nurses
3. Countries differ in median or average, the time unit, who is counted and what is included, so sorting the list does not make a world ranking
4. The OECD's like-for-like comparison puts the US ($101,070) and Australia ($86,488) at the top, with nurses at 1.22 times the average wage in both
5. A median includes experienced nurses. The NHS Band 5 starts at £32,073, New Zealand at NZ$77,667, Ireland's HSE at €38,166
6. All figures are before tax. Australia adds 12% superannuation on top of pay
7. At home, a Philippine Nurse I starts at ₱42,178 a month and an Indian central-government Nursing Officer at ₹44,900 basic plus 60% DA. Converted, that is roughly one twelfth and one eleventh of the US median, but prices differ too
8. The OECD's top three (US, Australia, Canada) all use the NCLEX-RN as their written exam

Frequently asked questions

How much do nurses earn abroad?

By each government's own statistics: in the US the median registered nurse earns $97,550 a year (May 2025); in Australia the full-time median is AUD 2,192 a week (May 2025); in the UK the full-time median is £43,078 a year (2025); in Canada the median is CAD 43.27 an hour (2023–2024); and in Singapore the full-time median is S$5,210 a month (June 2025, excluding bonuses). At 22 October 2026 rates and over a year, that is about US$80,100 for Australia, US$57,700 for the UK, US$64,100 for Canada (at 2,080 hours) and US$48,900 for Singapore. New Zealand's public-hospital scale is NZ$77,667 to NZ$109,407. We found no government wage statistic for nurses in the UAE or Saudi Arabia. All are before tax, and each country measures differently.

Which country pays nurses the most?

Government statistics are not measured the same way (median or average, per year or per hour, full-time only or not), so sorting them does not give a true ranking. The OECD's comparison of hospital nurses' pay, adjusted for prices, puts the United States first among the countries in this article at $101,070 (2024), followed by Australia at $86,488, Ireland at $72,866 and Canada at $71,637. The US, Australia and Canada all use the NCLEX-RN as their written registration exam. The OECD covers member countries only, so this is not every country in the world.

How does a nurse's pay at home compare with pay abroad?

Taking official public-sector pay: a Philippine national-government Nurse I starts at ₱42,178 a month (Salary Grade 15, from January 2026), and an Indian central-government Nursing Officer at a basic ₹44,900 a month plus 60% dearness allowance. Converted at 22 October 2026 rates, that is about US$665 and US$760 a month, roughly one twelfth and one eleventh of the US median. The gap in living standards is smaller than the gap in dollars, because prices are lower at home, but there is no official price-adjusted comparison for these countries.