nursing · SOC 29-1171
Nurse Practitioners
National median $132,300 / yr · 323,040 jobs nationally. Same job, very different outcomes by state — see the WageBench Score below.
National median
$132,300
BLS OEWS
Top state by Score
WA
Score 71 · Washington
Top-paying metro
San Jose
$231,560 median
Top WageBench Score
77
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
Top 10 destinations
Same job. Wildly different outcomes by metro. Click any column to re-sort.
| Rank | Area | Annual Median | Take-Home | State Tax | COL Index | NLC | WageBench Score ↓ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $231,560 | $217,666 | 6.0% | — | — | 77 |
| #2 | San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | $219,080 | $205,935 | 6.0% | — | — | 76 |
| #3 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $160,090 | $160,090 | 0.0% | — | ✓ | 74 |
| #4 | Washington | $156,100 | $156,100 | 0.0% | 107 | ✓ | 71 |
| #5 | South Dakota | $128,840 | $128,840 | 0.0% | 89 | ✓ | 71 |
| #6 | New Mexico | $137,520 | $130,782 | 4.9% | 92 | ✓ | 71 |
| #7 | Wyoming | $132,200 | $132,200 | 0.0% | 93 | ✓ | 71 |
| #8 | North Dakota | $130,070 | $127,469 | 2.0% | 89 | ✓ | 71 |
| #9 | Missouri | $129,930 | $124,083 | 4.5% | 91 | ✓ | 71 |
| #10 | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | $131,340 | $131,340 | 0.0% | — | ✓ | 70 |
National wage distribution
How pay spreads across the workforce — from the 10th percentile (entry / low-COL settings) to the 90th (highest-paying environments).
P10
$101,340
P25
$117,990
MEDIAN
$132,300
P75
$156,700
P90
$174,420
Hourly mean
$66
Hourly median
$64
Annual mean
$137,300
Total US jobs
323,040
Every state & metro, ranked
Filter by state, set a minimum WageBench Score, or restrict to Nurse Licensure Compact members. 569 scored areas total.
569 areas · page 1 of 23
| Area | State | Median | Take-Home | State Tax | COL Index | NLC | HPSA | WageBench Score ↓ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | CA | $231,560 | $217,666 | 6.0% | — | — | 24 | 77 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | CA | $219,080 | $205,935 | 6.0% | — | — | 24 | 76 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | WA | $160,090 | $160,090 | 0.0% | — | ✓ | 21 | 74 |
| Washington | WA | $156,100 | $156,100 | 0.0% | 107 | ✓ | 21 | 71 |
| South Dakota | SD | $128,840 | $128,840 | 0.0% | 89 | ✓ | 22 | 71 |
| New Mexico | NM | $137,520 | $130,782 | 4.9% | 92 | ✓ | 24 | 71 |
| Wyoming | WY | $132,200 | $132,200 | 0.0% | 93 | ✓ | 23 | 71 |
| North Dakota | ND | $130,070 | $127,469 | 2.0% | 89 | ✓ | 23 | 71 |
| Missouri | MO | $129,930 | $124,083 | 4.5% | 91 | ✓ | 24 | 71 |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | FL | $131,340 | $131,340 | 0.0% | — | ✓ | 24 | 70 |
| Mississippi | MS | $124,730 | $119,242 | 4.4% | 87 | ✓ | 25 | 70 |
| Arkansas | AR | $125,660 | $121,262 | 3.5% | 87 | ✓ | 24 | 70 |
| Jacksonville, FL | FL | $133,810 | $133,810 | 0.0% | — | ✓ | 24 | 70 |
| Iowa | IA | $130,160 | $125,214 | 3.8% | 88 | ✓ | 21 | 70 |
| Raleigh-Cary, NC | NC | $128,150 | $122,704 | 4.3% | — | ✓ | 24 | 69 |
| Nebraska | NE | $132,130 | $125,788 | 4.8% | 90 | ✓ | 20 | 69 |
| Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL | FL | $130,640 | $130,640 | 0.0% | — | ✓ | 24 | 69 |
| Montana | MT | $137,210 | $130,075 | 5.2% | 95 | ✓ | 22 | 69 |
| St. Louis, MO-IL | MO | $131,580 | $125,659 | 4.5% | — | ✓ | 24 | 69 |
| Kansas City, MO-KS | MO | $130,760 | $124,876 | 4.5% | — | ✓ | 24 | 69 |
| Ohio | OH | $124,870 | $121,124 | 3.0% | 93 | ✓ | 23 | 69 |
| Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO | CO | $134,040 | $128,142 | 4.4% | — | ✓ | 22 | 69 |
| Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX | TX | $128,050 | $128,050 | 0.0% | — | ✓ | 23 | 69 |
| North Carolina | NC | $128,990 | $123,508 | 4.3% | 94 | ✓ | 24 | 69 |
| Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | MD | $131,990 | $125,391 | 5.0% | — | ✓ | 24 | 69 |
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Employer benchmark
Download the full national benchmark (PDF)
National percentile wages, 51-state ranking by WageBench Score, top-25 metros, and methodology footer — formatted for HR / compensation review.
WageBench Score blends pay, taxes, COL, demand, license access and livability into one 0-100 number.
How we calculate it →