Best States for Registered Nurses in 2026

The strongest states for registered nurses are not necessarily the states with the highest salaries. CareerGPS Pro considers multiple labor-market factors to provide a broader view of career opportunity, allowing nurses to evaluate compensation alongside employment strength and projected growth.

California stands well above the rest of the country in the CareerGPS Pro ranking of the best states for registered nurses. The state ranks #1 with a CareerGPS Geography Score of 86.9, compared with 57.2 for #2 New York and 53.1 for #3 Texas. California combines two characteristics that rarely appear together at this scale: exceptionally high pay and an enormous nursing workforce. Registered nurses have a median annual salary of $140,270 in California, the highest among the Top 10 states, while approximately 338,940 registered nurses are employed in the state. California therefore does not achieve its #1 position simply because it is a high-paying but relatively small market. It combines the highest salary in the group with the largest employment base. For registered nurses comparing states, that combination helps explain why California separates itself from the rest of the ranking. It offers both unusually strong compensation and one of the deepest employment markets for the occupation.

New York and Texas rank #2 and #3, but the numbers show two distinctly different labor-market profiles. New York has a median annual salary of $109,440 and approximately 205,810 registered nurse jobs. Texas has a lower median salary of $95,970 but a substantially larger employment base of approximately 271,380 nurses. That means Texas employs roughly 65,000 more registered nurses than New York, while New York offers a median salary that is about $13,500 higher. Neither characteristic by itself determines the CareerGPS Pro ranking. The broader ranking is designed to evaluate career and geographic opportunity rather than simply sorting states from highest to lowest salary or employment. For a nurse considering relocation, this illustrates why the "best" state can depend on the objective. Someone emphasizing compensation may view the two markets differently from someone placing greater weight on the size and breadth of the employment market.

Hawaii ranks #4 for registered nurses despite having a much smaller employment market than the states immediately around it. Approximately 12,940 registered nurses are employed in Hawaii, yet the state has a median annual nursing salary of $136,320—second only to California among the Top 10 states. Washington presents a more balanced high-pay profile. It ranks #5 with a median annual salary of $124,200 and approximately 69,260 registered nurse jobs. Oregon, ranked #6, pays even more at $129,010 but has a smaller employment base of approximately 39,730. These results demonstrate why employment counts and salaries need to be viewed together. Hawaii and Oregon offer some of the strongest nominal nursing salaries in the country, but their nursing labor markets are considerably smaller than California, Texas, New York, Pennsylvania or Florida.

Florida provides one of the clearest examples of why CareerGPS Pro does not rank states by job count alone. Florida has approximately 229,940 registered nurse jobs, giving it the third-largest employment base among these Top 10 states, behind only California and Texas. Yet Florida ranks #10 overall. The major contrast is compensation. Florida's median annual salary for registered nurses is $84,190, the lowest among the Top 10 states and more than $56,000 below California's $140,270 median. Pennsylvania provides another large employment market, with approximately 146,520 registered nurses and a median salary of $96,430, placing it #9. Large employment markets can provide breadth and potentially more places to look for work, but employment volume alone does not make a location the strongest overall career market. CareerGPS Pro combines multiple labor-market characteristics so that a state with many jobs is not automatically treated as the best state for the occupation.

The Top 10 illustrates how different states can offer very different combinations of compensation and labor-market scale. California leads with a $140,270 median salary and approximately 338,940 registered nurse jobs. Hawaii offers nearly comparable pay at $136,320 but has only about 12,940 jobs. Texas provides approximately 271,380 jobs but a considerably lower median salary of $95,970. Those differences matter because there is no single labor-market statistic that answers every career question. A nurse prioritizing maximum nominal compensation may focus on a different set of states than someone prioritizing the size of the employment market or broader geographic opportunity. National and state-level figures are also starting points rather than guarantees of individual compensation. Actual pay can vary by metropolitan area, employer, nursing specialty, experience and other factors. Registered nurses considering a move should therefore compare the state rankings with CareerGPS Pro metro-area rankings and detailed occupation data before drawing conclusions about a specific location.

CareerGPS Pro rankings use authoritative labor-market data and CareerGPS scoring models to compare career opportunities across geographic markets. Rankings should be considered alongside individual priorities such as specialization, licensing requirements, cost of living, and preferred location.