With National Nurses Week kicking off May 6, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2017’s Best & Worst States for Nurses.
In order to help newly minted nurses find the best markets for their profession, WalletHub’s analysts compared the relative attractiveness of the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 18 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 | Worst States for Nurses | |||||
| 1 | Wisconsin | 42 | Nevada | |||
| 2 | New Mexico | 43 | Georgia | |||
| 3 | Iowa | 44 | Ohio | |||
| 4 | Texas | 45 | New Jersey | |||
| 5 | Colorado | 46 | Alaska | |||
| 6 | North Dakota | 47 | Alabama | |||
| 7 | Delaware | 48 | Louisiana | |||
| 8 | Utah | 49 | New York | |||
| 9 | Arizona | 50 | Hawaii | |||
| 10 | Washington | 51 | District of Columbia | |||
Best vs. Worst
- Nevada has the highest annual mean wage for registered nurses (adjusted for cost of living), $80,182, which is about 1.5 times higher than in Hawaii, registering the lowest at $53,112.
- Nevada has the lowest current competition (number of nurses per 1,000 residents), 8.39, which is 2.3 times lower than in the District of Columbia, registering the highest at 19.63.
- Nevada has the lowest future competition (projected number of nurses per 1,000 residents by 2024), 7.02, which is 4.4 times lower than in the District of Columbia, registering the highest at 30.71.
- Florida has the highest projected share of the population aged 65 and older by year 2030, 27.08 percent, which is two times higher than in Utah, registering the lowest at 13.21 percent.
- Vermont has the highest ratio of nurses to hospital beds, 5.6, which is 2.4 times higher than in Wyoming, registering the lowest at 2.3.
- South Dakota has the shortest average commute time, 16.9 minutes, which is 1.9 times shorter than in Maryland and New York, both registering the longest at 32.3 minutes.
