Saturday, November 12, 2022

20 Best Metropolitan Areas for Registered Nurse Pay

In a September commentary, we reviewed Registered Nurse Pay in the Top 20 Metropolitan Areas.  Without a doubt, U.S. metro areas with the largest populations employ far more registered nurses than do smaller metropolitan markets. That said, RNs employed in smaller markets oftentimes enjoy better compensation levels than their bigger market peers. This fact is readily seen in May 2021 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which reveals that only four of the 20 largest metro markets in the nation were among the 20 best metropolitan areas for registered nurse pay:

20 Best Metropolitan Areas for Registered Nurse Pay

Metropolitan Area # Employed Annual Mean Wages
1 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA 20,640 $155,230
2 San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward (#) 41,160 $151,640
3 Vallejo-Fairfield, CA 3,530 $146,360
4 Santa Rosa, CA 3,510 $141,440
5 Napa, CA 1,520 $139,680
6 Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA 1,520 $139,590
7 Sacramento--Roseville--Arden-Arcade 21,770 $135,490
8 Salinas, CA 3,250 $130,520
9 Modesto, CA 4,900 $127,730
10 Hanford-Corcoran, CA 970 $124,790
11 San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA 1,920 $122,730
12 Fresno, CA 8,140 $119,830
13 Stockton-Lodi, CA 4,820 $119,600
14 Yuba City, CA 950 $117,190
15 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (#) 113,890 $116,110
16 Northern Valley California non-metro 1,750 $115,160
17 Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA 5,520 $114,530
18 San Diego-Carlsbad (#) 27,200 $113,150
19 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario (#) 30,570 $111,700
20 North Coast California non-metro 1,840 $110,760
National 3,047,530 $82,750

(#) a top 20 U.S metro population area

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OES. Data extracted on November 5, 2022