Money · 1 of 5
What registered nurses make
Median
$97,550
Bottom tenth
$68,940
Top tenth
$137,470
The national median is $97,550 a year, and the bottom tenth start near $68,940. Nursing has its own line in the federal wage survey, so these are not borrowed from a wider group. The spread between states is huge: California hospitals pay far above the middle, rural hospitals in the South pay well below it.