Nursing has long been considered among the best jobs in the United States . Nurses made a median salary of $81,220 in 2022 , according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics—nearly $35,000 more than the $46,310 median wage among all American workers. Some nurses in the field can make much more, depending on their education level and chosen specialty.
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Nurse anesthetists can bring in upwards of $203,000 annually, while nurse practitioners, who may provide primary care to patients, are paid about $120,000. Geography matters, too: Registered nurses in states along the West Coast and mid-Atlantic region make more than many of their counterparts in the Midwest or South, according to data compiled by the BLS. In Ohio, registered nurses earn a median $76,810, with further variations in different parts of the state.
Vivian Health used BLS data to identify metro areas in Ohio where nurses earn the highest wages, as part of a larger national analysis . Rankings of metro areas were based on the dollar difference between a registered nurse’s median annual salary and the median salary of all occupations in the area. Ranking metros in this way reveals where nurses actually make the most money relative to other occupations in the area.