2025’s Best & Worst States for Nurses

from WalletHub, April 29, 2025

With National Nurses Week kicking off May 6, and nurses having a mean annual wage of more than $98,000, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2025’s Best & Worst States for Nurses, as well as expert commentary.

In order to help new nursing graduates find the best markets for their profession, WalletHub compared the relative attractiveness of the 50 states across 20 key metrics. The data set ranges from monthly average starting salary for nurses to health-care facilities per capita to nursing-job openings per capita.

Best States for Nurses

1. Washington
2. New Hampshire
3. Oregon
4. Arizona
5. Maine
6. New Mexico
7. Massachusetts
8. Minnesota
9. Illinois
10. Connecticut

Worst States for Nurses

41. Nebraska
42. Tennessee
43. Vermont
44. Mississippi
45. South Dakota
46. Louisiana
47. Hawaii
48. North Dakota
49. Alabama
50. Oklahoma

Best vs. Worst

• California has the highest annual mean wage for registered nurses (adjusted for cost of living), which is 1.5 times higher than in South Dakota, the lowest.
• Utah has the lowest current competition (number of nurses per 1,000 residents), which is 2.3 times lower than in South Dakota, the highest.
• Massachusetts has the lowest future competition (projected number of nurses per 1,000 residents by 2032), which is 4.7 times lower than in North Dakota, the highest. 
• Minnesota has the highest ratio of nurses to hospital beds, which is 1.9 times higher than in Oklahoma, the lowest.

To view the full report and your state’s rank, please visit:  "best-states-for-nurses"