North Carolina · BLS May 2025
Also called RN, nurse. SOC 29-1141.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 111,120 registered nurses working in North Carolina. Here is what they are paid, what the median leaves after federal, state and FICA tax, and what that is worth against local prices.
Median pay · North Carolina
$84,350A year, or $40.56 an hour.| Percentile | Annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentileEntry and lowest-paid | $67,660 | $32.53 |
| 25th percentile | $78,770 | $37.87 |
| MedianHalf earn more, half less | $84,350 | $40.56 |
| 75th percentile | $102,040 | $49.06 |
| 90th percentileMost experienced and senior | $110,220 | $52.99 |
| MeanThe average, pulled up by the top | $90,470 | $43.50 |
Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1
A $84,350 salary in North Carolina, for one single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026.
Prices in North Carolina sit at 94.3 against a national average of 100, so $84,350 earned here buys what $89,424 buys at national average prices.
Common questions
The median wage for registered nurses in North Carolina is $84,350 a year, or $40.56 an hour.
Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.
On the median wage of $84,350, one filer taking the standard deduction keeps about $65,313 a year, or roughly $5,443 a month.
That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 22.6%.
North Carolina takes $2,857 of it in state income tax.
No. The median in North Carolina is 13.5% below the national median of $97,550.
Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in North Carolina sit at 94.3 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.
It is 1.17 times the median household income of $72,388. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.
Prices in North Carolina run at 94.3 against a national average of 100, with rents at 81.4, so $84,350 here buys about what $89,424 buys at national average prices.
The top tenth earn $110,220 a year or more, against $67,660 at the bottom tenth.
Experience, specialism, employer and the part of North Carolina someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.
The survey counted 111,120 of these jobs in North Carolina for May 2025.
That makes the occupation 3% more concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.
Sources