BestOnlineCollege.org is an advertising-supported website. Many of the school and program listings that appear on this site are from partners who compensate us, and this compensation may affect how, where, and in what order listings appear (such as featured placements). This compensation does not influence our editorial content, evaluations, or rankings, which are determined independently using publicly available data. We do not review or feature every school or program available in the marketplace. Our goal is to provide accurate, unbiased information so you can make informed decisions. Read our full Advertiser Disclosure.
Key takeaway: Nursing pay climbs steeply with credential level and specialty. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a national median annual wage of $97,550 for registered nurses, rising to $132,300 for nurse practitioners and $236,590 for nurse anesthetists. College Scorecard data shows master's-prepared nursing graduates report median earnings of $107,358 just one year after completion (College Scorecard, 2026). The wage table below renders current BLS figures for every major nursing role.
Nursing is one of the few fields where a clear ladder of credentials maps directly to a clear ladder of pay. An associate-prepared registered nurse and a master’s-prepared nurse anesthetist do very different work for very different salaries, even though both carry an RN license. Because of that range, there is no single “nursing salary.” What you earn depends on the degree level you complete, the role and specialty you enter, how much experience you bring, where you practice, and which certifications you hold.
This guide draws on two authoritative sources to give you a grounded picture. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes national median annual wages for the specific occupations nursing graduates fill, from nursing assistant to nurse anesthetist. The U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard tracks the actual median earnings of program completers at 1, 4, and 5 years after graduation, broken out by credential level. Use both together: BLS tells you what a given job title pays once you are in the field, and Scorecard tells you what graduates of a given degree level actually earn.
For the bigger-picture decision of whether the investment pays off, pair this guide with Is a Nursing Degree Worth It? and the Online Nursing Programs Guide.
It depends on the role. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, registered nurses earn a national median annual wage of $97,550, licensed practical nurses earn $64,400, and nursing assistants earn $42,260. Advanced practice nurses earn substantially more: nurse practitioners $132,300, nurse midwives $134,040, and nurse anesthetists $236,590. The wage table below renders these figures live from BLS data.
Among the core nursing occupations, nurse anesthetists are the highest paid, with a national median annual wage of $236,590, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nurse midwives ($134,040) and nurse practitioners ($132,300) follow. All three are advanced practice roles that require a master’s degree and national certification.
Yes, substantially. College Scorecard 2026 data shows master’s-prepared nursing graduates report median earnings of $107,358 one year after completion and $119,619 by five years out. That is well above the median earnings reported by associate-prepared nursing graduates ($67,894 at one year). The master’s also unlocks advanced practice roles such as nurse practitioner and nurse anesthetist that pay well into six figures.
Yes. Salary is tied to the license you hold and the role you enter, not the delivery format. Accredited online and on-campus programs award the same degree titles, require the same clinical hours, and prepare you for the same licensure and certification exams. College Scorecard reports that 87 percent of associate-level nursing programs in its data offer distance education (College Scorecard, 2026). See online vs on-campus nursing.
Four factors drive most of the variation: your credential and license level, your specialty and role, your years of experience, and the metro area and setting where you work. Moving from an RN role into an advanced practice role has the largest measurable effect, because it shifts you into a different occupation entirely.
That depends on your net price and your starting salary. College Scorecard reports a median debt of $15,439 for associate-level nursing program completers (College Scorecard, 2026), modest against an RN median wage near six figures. Start with affordable nursing programs and the nursing financial aid guide to estimate your own break-even.
Nursing is a gateway to a cluster of occupations that span entry-level support roles through advanced practice. The table below renders current national median annual wages and job-growth projections directly from BLS data at build time, so the figures stay current as new Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) releases are published.
| Occupation | Median annual wage |
|---|---|
| Nurse Anesthetist | $236,590 |
| Nurse Midwife | $134,040 |
| Nurse Practitioner | $132,300 |
| Registered Nurse | $97,550 |
| Licensed Practical Nurse | $64,400 |
| Nursing Assistant | $42,260 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. National median annual wages from Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS); growth projections from BLS Employment Projections.
The roles a nursing education leads to fall into three broad pay tiers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics national median annual wages:
| Role | National median wage | Typical credential |
|---|---|---|
| Nurse Anesthetist | $236,590 | Master’s or doctoral (APRN) |
| Nurse Midwife | $134,040 | Master’s (APRN) |
| Nurse Practitioner | $132,300 | Master’s (APRN) |
| Registered Nurse | $97,550 | Associate or bachelor’s + RN license |
| Licensed Practical Nurse | $64,400 | Practical nursing certificate/diploma |
| Nursing Assistant | $42,260 | Postsecondary certificate |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, national median annual wage by occupation.
A few patterns stand out:
For a deeper look at each job title, day-to-day responsibilities, and advancement paths, see the nursing careers guide.
The single biggest lever on nursing earnings is the credential you complete, because it determines which occupations you can enter. College Scorecard reports the median earnings of program completers at three checkpoints after graduation, which lets you see both starting pay and how earnings grow over the first five years in the workforce.
| Degree level | Median earnings |
|---|---|
| Associate | $64,921 |
| Master's | $109,768 |
| Doctoral | $124,944 |
| Credential | Median earnings, 1 yr | Median earnings, 4 yr | Median earnings, 5 yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| Associate | $67,894 | $64,921 | $74,418 |
| Master’s | $107,358 | $109,768 | $119,619 |
| Doctoral | $125,952 | $124,944 | $134,953 |
Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, 2026 (generated 2026-06-12). Figures are verbatim median earnings for nursing program completers; no rounding applied. Bachelor’s-level figures are omitted below because too few schools reported them to produce a reliable value.
A few patterns stand out in this data:
A note on the bachelor’s level: College Scorecard’s bachelor’s-specific nursing earnings figure is based on only six reporting schools and returns an anomalously low value, so it is not a reliable benchmark and we do not surface it here. The more dependable read on BSN earnings is the RN occupation wage: BSN-prepared nurses work as registered nurses, whose national median annual wage is $97,550 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). A bachelor’s also positions you for the master’s programs that lead to the six-figure advanced practice roles above.
Compare each level in detail on the dedicated pages: the associate degree in nursing (ADN), the bachelor’s in nursing (BSN), the master’s in nursing (MSN), and the nursing certificates guides.
A note on debt: College Scorecard reports a median debt of $15,439 for associate-level nursing program completers (College Scorecard, 2026). Weigh expected earnings against the debt you would take on, and read the nursing financial aid guide to lower your net cost before you enroll.
These Scorecard medians are program-completer outcomes, not job-title salaries, and that distinction matters when you plan. The figures reflect graduates’ actual post-completion earnings reported through tax data, which makes them a more conservative and realistic benchmark than self-reported salary surveys. They also pool graduates across every setting a credential leads to, so an individual nurse who moves into a high-demand specialty or a high-wage metro can earn well above the median.
Use the degree-level medians to compare credentials against one another, and use the BLS occupation table to estimate pay for a specific job title once you are licensed and established. Read together, they bracket a reasonable expectation: the Scorecard figure anchors your likely starting point by degree, and the BLS median shows the ceiling you can work toward as you gain experience and certifications in a target role.
Two nurses with the same license can earn very different salaries. These are the factors that explain most of the spread.
Experience is a clear driver in the data. The College Scorecard earnings table above shows median pay rising between the one-year and five-year marks at the associate and master’s levels, and the BLS occupation medians reflect a workforce that includes both new graduates and seasoned nurses. In practice, charge-nurse responsibilities, shift differentials, and movement into higher-acuity units all raise pay as you accumulate years at the bedside.
Specialty is unusually powerful in nursing because it can move you into an entirely different occupation. A registered nurse who completes a master’s and becomes a nurse anesthetist shifts from a $97,550 national median to a $236,590 national median, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Choosing a nursing concentration such as family nurse practitioner, adult-gerontology, or psychiatric mental health is therefore one of the highest-leverage salary decisions you can make.
The same role pays differently across settings. Hospitals, outpatient clinics, government agencies, schools, and home-health employers all pay registered nurses at different rates, and high-acuity settings such as critical care and surgical services often command premiums. The BLS median is a national, all-industry midpoint; your specific employer and unit can move you above or below it.
Metro area matters because both wages and cost of living vary geographically. High-cost coastal markets tend to post the highest nominal nursing salaries, but a higher local cost of living can offset part of that premium. If you plan to practice in a specific market, research that area’s wages rather than relying on the national median alone. You can browse nursing programs by state to find options near your target market, and remember that licensure is regulated at the state level.
National certification is required to practice in advanced roles and can raise earning power within a given role. Examples include certification through the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology for nurse anesthetists, the American Midwifery Certification Board for nurse midwives, and the American Nurses Credentialing Center or American Academy of Nurse Practitioners for nurse practitioners. Specialty certifications in areas such as critical care or oncology can also strengthen an RN’s pay and mobility. Confirm what your target role requires on the nursing accreditation guide and your state board of nursing.
Beyond what these jobs pay today, it is worth knowing whether demand is growing. The BLS publishes 10-year employment projections for each occupation, and the wage table above renders the current projected growth rate and annual openings for every nursing role alongside its median wage, drawn directly from BLS data at build time.
When you review those projections, focus on two numbers for each occupation:
Together, these tell you both how fast a field is growing and how much hiring activity to expect. Nursing is widely cited as a high-demand field, and the live BLS projections in the table above let you compare each role’s outlook for yourself rather than relying on a single headline number. For an occupation-by-occupation breakdown of responsibilities and outlook, see the nursing careers guide, and for the broader case on return on investment, read Is a Nursing Degree Worth It?.
Salary potential starts with choosing an accredited program that fits your goals and budget. These schools offer online nursing programs and report nursing completions, ordered by our independent BOC Score:
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS). To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked against schools at the same credential level:
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:Accreditor: Accrediting Bureau of Health Education SchoolsIPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Use your salary research to choose the right program and pay for it efficiently:
Earnings figures on this page come from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2026, generated 2026-06-12) and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics and Employment Projections. Wage and outlook figures in the data tables are rendered live from BLS data at build time.
Data verified: June 27, 2026. Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.
