There were approximately 3,047,500 registered nurses (RNs) working in the U.S. as of May 2021 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).  The majority of registered nurses work in hospitals, with smaller numbers employed in physician offices, home health care agencies, skilled nursing facilities, and outpatient care centers. Like many other healthcare professionals with advanced education and skills, RNs usually earn higher salaries than workers in most other occupations.  Per BLS estimates, as of May 2021, the national mean wage for registered nurses was $82,750 per year.  While registered nurses earn better than average pay, there is much variation from region to region in how much registered nurses earn.  This variation is readily evident from BLS data of May 2021, which shows the following about registered nurse pay in the top 20 metropolitan areas:

Registered Nurse Pay in the Top 20 Metropolitan Areas

	Metropolitan Area		# Employed	Mean Annual Wage
1	New York-Newark-Jersey City		180,540	$98,460
2	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim		113,890	$116,110
3	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin		96,750	$81,300
4	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington		62,840	$82,260
5	Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land		54,540	$83,890
6	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria		43,560	$89,060
7	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington		73,510	$81,860
8	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach		53,110	$74,220
9	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta		42,420	$80,760
10	Boston-Cambridge-Newton		66,120	$99,950
11	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler		40,120	$82,630
12	San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley		41,160	$151,640
13	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario		30,570	$111,700
14	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn		43,810	$77,180
15	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue		35,070	$99,310
16	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington		41,850	$86,690
17	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad		27,200	$113,150
18	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater		30,940	$73,380
19	Denver-Aurora-Lakewood		27,860	$82,860
20	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson		30,990	$83,080
	National		3,047,530	$82,750

Report Period:  May 2021
Top 20 U.S. Metro areas from the 2020 Census
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Occupational Statistics
Data extracted on September 21, 2022