A US Registered Nurse's Median Pay Is $97,550 a Year. After Tax, in a State With No Income Tax, About $6,455 a Month Is Left

Published 30 October 2026 · Luke, co-founder of NCLEX BANK · 8 min read

How much does a nurse make in the USA? A registered nurse (RN) earns a median of $97,550 a year, or $46.90 an hour (May 2025, US Bureau of Labor Statistics). That is about $8,129 a month before tax. For a single nurse in a state with no income tax, such as Texas or Florida, about $6,455 a month is left after federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare at 2026 rates: about ₱412,000, ₹6.15 lakh or ₦8.7 million at today's exchange rate. This article works through those numbers one step at a time from the BLS, the IRS and the Social Security Administration: per month and after tax, by state, in your currency, what an employer must pay a nurse it recruits from abroad, and the one exam that stands between you and the job.

1. The median: $97,550 a year, $8,129 a month

According to the BLS, the median annual wage for registered nurses was $97,550 in May 2025, and the median hourly wage $46.90. Divided the way people search for it:

• A year: $97,550
• A month (÷12): about $8,129
• Every two weeks (÷26): about $3,752
• A week (÷52): about $1,876
• An hour: $46.90

These divide the yearly median. They are not anyone's pay slip, and all of them are before tax.

"Median" is not "average". Half of RNs earn more than the median and half earn less, so a few very high earners do not pull it up. The average does move: in the same survey, the mean is $101,420, about $3,900 above the median. The spread is wide too. The lowest-paid 10% earn less than $68,940 and the highest-paid 10% more than $137,470. The BLS counts about 3.5 million RN jobs in 2025.

2. After tax: about $6,455 a month

A US employer takes four things out of an RN's pay before it reaches the bank:

1. Social Security: 6.2%
   On pay up to $184,500 in 2026. Almost every RN earns less than that, so in practice it applies to the whole salary
2. Medicare: 1.45%
   No cap
3. Federal income tax
   On pay minus the standard deduction (in 2026, $16,100 for a single filer and $32,200 for a married couple filing jointly), in bands taxed at 10%, 12%, 22%, 24% and up
4. State income tax
   Set by each state. Texas and Florida have none: both state constitutions bar a tax on individuals' income. New York and California do tax it

Here is the median nurse, single, in a state with no income tax, for 2026:

• Social Security: $6,048
• Medicare: $1,414
• Federal income tax: $12,631
  $97,550 minus $16,100 leaves $81,450 to tax. 10% on the first $12,400 ($1,240), 12% on the part up to $50,400 ($4,560) and 22% on the remaining $31,050 ($6,831)
• Left: $77,456 a year, 79.4% of the salary. That is about $6,455 a month, or about $2,979 every two weeks

A nurse who is married to someone with no US income and files jointly pays less: federal income tax falls to $7,346, which leaves $82,741 a year, about $6,895 a month.

Two more deductions depend on the job. Health insurance: in KFF's 2025 survey of employers, workers paid on average $120 a month towards single coverage and $571 a month for family coverage. And retirement savings, if you choose to put part of your pay into the employer's plan. With an average single plan, a little over $6,300 a month is left from the median.

3. By state: from $77,080 to $140,270

The same work pays very differently from one state to the next. Here is the monthly figure after tax in five places, with the same assumptions (single, a full year, before health insurance). Texas and Florida use the state median; New York City and Los Angeles use the median for the metro area.

• Florida: $84,190 → $68,058 a year, about $5,671 a month (no state income tax)
• Texas: $95,970 → $76,345 a year, about $6,362 a month (no state income tax)
• New York State, outside New York City: $109,440 → $79,940 a year, about $6,662 a month, after state income tax and the state's disability and paid family leave contributions
• New York City area: $119,720 → $82,244 a year, about $6,854 a month. Living in the city adds city income tax
• Los Angeles area: $135,560 → $93,942 a year, about $7,828 a month, after California income tax and its 1.3% disability insurance

Before tax, the Los Angeles median is $39,590 above the Texas one. After tax the gap is $17,597. Because each extra dollar is taxed at a higher band, the gap between states shrinks by more than half once tax comes out. Rent is not in these figures and differs a great deal as well.

The state medians themselves (May 2025, annual; hourly in brackets):

• Highest: California $140,270 ($67.44), Hawaii $136,320 ($65.54), Oregon $129,010 ($62.02), Washington $124,200 ($59.71), Alaska $109,480, New York $109,440 ($52.62), New Jersey $106,500, Massachusetts $104,550
• Other large states: Pennsylvania $96,430, Illinois $95,990, Texas $95,970 ($46.14), Michigan $94,300, Georgia $93,550, Florida $84,190 ($40.48)
• Lowest: Mississippi $77,090 and Alabama $77,080 ($37.06)

California's median is 1.8 times Alabama's. Choosing a state on salary alone is reading half of the bill: the state's tax and the rent are the other half.

4. In pesos, rupees and naira

At the exchange rate of 30 October 2026, the median looks like this before tax, and the single, no-state-tax example like this after tax:

• Philippine pesos (US$1 = ₱63.81): about ₱6.23 million a year, ₱518,800 a month before tax, about ₱411,900 a month after tax
• Indian rupees (US$1 = ₹95.29): about ₹93 lakh a year, ₹7.75 lakh a month before tax, about ₹6.15 lakh a month after tax
• Nigerian naira (US$1 = ₦1,346.2): about ₦131 million a year, ₦10.9 million a month before tax, about ₦8.7 million a month after tax

The dollar salary stays the same; the number in your currency moves with the rate. Each peso the dollar moves changes the yearly figure by ₱97,550. At ₱55 to the dollar the median is about ₱5.37 million; at ₱65, about ₱6.34 million. The nurse in the US earned nothing more and nothing less. Only the ruler changed.

For scale: a Nurse I in the Philippine national government starts at ₱42,178 a month (Salary Grade 15, from January 2026). The US median before tax is about twelve times that. The figures for India and Nigeria are in nurse pay abroad.

5. Are nurses from abroad paid less?

The BLS does not publish a separate wage for nurses educated abroad. It counts one occupation, registered nurse, and the job sets the pay. And on the usual route for nurses recruited from abroad, the law sets a floor.

When an employer files for a nurse's green card, it promises that the wage offered is at least the "prevailing wage" for the area, and that the pay when you start work will be at least the prevailing wage at that time (20 CFR 656.10(c)(1)). Bonuses cannot be used to reach it. In the Department of Labor's tables for July 2026 to June 2027, the Level I hourly wage for a registered nurse is:

• New York area: $44.31 (about $92,200 a year at 2,080 hours)
• Los Angeles area: $49.61 (about $103,200)
• Houston area: $36.13 (about $75,200)
• Chicago area: $36.40 (about $75,700)

Level I is the lowest of four levels, and the Department decides which one applies case by case. It is a floor, not the typical salary, and your contract can pay more. How the floor works, and what agencies can and cannot put in a contract, is in US nurse recruitment.

The same goes for your degree. The BLS says RNs take one of three education paths: a bachelor's degree in nursing, an associate degree, or a diploma from an approved nursing programme. It publishes one RN wage for all three. So "GNM nurse salary in the USA" and "B.Sc. nursing salary in the USA" have the same answer once you hold an RN licence. Whether your GNM or B.Sc. leads to that licence is a different question, and it is decided by the state board of nursing when it reviews your education (see getting a nursing licence in another country).

6. RN, LPN, nursing assistant, NP: which pay is yours

"Nurse" covers several jobs in the US, each with its own licence and pay. The BLS medians for May 2025 (annual, before tax):

• Nursing assistant: $42,260 (about $3,522 a month). State certification, no NCLEX
• Licensed practical / vocational nurse (LPN/LVN): $64,400. Licence by the NCLEX-PN
• Registered nurse (RN): $97,550. Licence by the NCLEX-RN
• Nurse practitioner (NP): $132,300
• Nurse anaesthetist (CRNA): $236,590

A nurse practitioner or nurse anaesthetist is an RN who has gone on to a graduate degree and national certification. The RN licence is the one the others build on, and it is the one this article's figures describe.

7. By workplace

With the same RN licence, the median also depends on the kind of employer:

• Government (excluding state and local education and hospitals): $110,780
• Hospitals (state, local and private): $100,220
• Ambulatory healthcare (doctors' offices, home health, outpatient centres): $91,230
• Nursing and residential care facilities: $84,300

59% of RNs work in hospitals, 19% in ambulatory healthcare, 6% in nursing and residential care and 5% in government. The figure for where most nurses work is the hospitals' $100,220. Nurses in hospitals and care facilities usually work shifts, including nights, weekends and holidays.

8. Jobs: about 180,800 openings a year

The BLS projects RN employment to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, faster than the average for all occupations: about 194,700 more jobs. On top of that it projects about 180,800 openings a year, most of them to replace nurses who move to other work or retire.

That may be the number that matters most. A good salary is no use without a job, and an occupation with about 180,000 openings a year has room for people coming in.

9. The way in is the NCLEX-RN

To work as an RN in the US you need a licence from the board of nursing of the state where you will work, and to get it you must pass the NCLEX-RN. There is no exception for nurses who are already licensed at home.

For a nurse educated abroad, the slow part comes before the exam: choosing a state, sending documents and having the board review your education. All six steps, in order, are in how to become a nurse in the USA. The exam itself can be taken close to home: NCSBN's international centres include 15 cities in India and Makati and Alabang in the Philippines. There is no centre in Nigeria. In 2025, 47.3% of nurses educated abroad passed on the first attempt, against 86.7% of US graduates; the figures by country are in NCLEX pass rates.

Summary

1. The median US registered nurse earns $97,550 a year (May 2025), $46.90 an hour, about $8,129 a month before tax. The lowest 10% earn under $68,940 and the highest 10% over $137,470
2. After tax, about $6,455 a month: single, in a state with no income tax, 2026 rates (Social Security $6,048, Medicare $1,414, federal tax $12,631; 79.4% left). Married filing jointly on one income, about $6,895
3. An average single health plan costs the worker $120 a month, family coverage $571
4. After tax by place: Florida about $5,671 a month, Texas $6,362, New York State outside the city $6,662, New York City area $6,854, Los Angeles area $7,828. Tax shrinks the gap between states by more than half
5. State medians run from $77,080 (Alabama) to $140,270 (California)
6. In your currency on 30 October 2026: about ₱411,900, ₹6.15 lakh or ₦8.7 million a month after tax. The figure moves with the exchange rate; compare dollars with dollars
7. There is no separate pay for nurses from abroad. A green-card employer must offer at least the prevailing wage (Level I RN: New York area $44.31 an hour, Houston $36.13). BSN, associate degree or diploma: one RN wage
8. The way into that pay is the NCLEX-RN, with centres in 15 Indian cities and in Makati and Alabang

How the green card works is in the green card article, and what the exam looks like in NCLEX-RN explained.

Frequently asked questions

How much is a nurse's salary in the USA per month?

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for registered nurses (RNs) was $97,550 in May 2025, which is about $8,129 a month, $1,876 a week or $46.90 an hour before tax. It varies by state, from $77,080 in Alabama to $140,270 in California, and by employer: hospitals pay a median of $100,220 and employ 59% of RNs.

How much does a nurse in the USA take home after tax?

It depends on the state and on how you file, but here is a worked example at 2026 rates. A single nurse earning the median $97,550 in a state with no income tax, such as Texas or Florida, pays $6,048 in Social Security, $1,414 in Medicare and $12,631 in federal income tax, and keeps $77,456 a year: about $6,455 a month. Health insurance (on average $120 a month for single coverage) and any retirement savings come out on top. States with an income tax take more.

How much do Filipino nurses make in the USA?

The same as any RN in the same job: the BLS does not publish a separate wage for nurses from abroad, and the median RN wage is $97,550 a year. When an employer sponsors a nurse's green card, it must offer at least the prevailing wage for the area; in the Department of Labor's 2026–27 tables, Level I for an RN is $44.31 an hour in the New York area and $36.13 in Houston. At the exchange rate of 30 October 2026, the median is about ₱6.23 million a year, or about ₱411,900 a month after tax in a state with no income tax.