Registered Nurse.
Nashville.
$96,000
median salary, 2% above the national average
$81,000 to $110,000. Last updated August 2026.
Get the job.
Data points to own the conversation.
Registered Nurse pay in Nashville ranges from $81,000 to $110,000 in 2026. The median is $96,000, 2% above the national average. Nashville has diversified well beyond music into healthcare, finance, and technology. Every dollar in that range is negotiable if you come prepared. These figures are Orbyt estimates, computed rather than measured, and must not be cited as Bureau of Labor Statistics figures; the published BLS wage for the occupation this role maps to is shown separately on this page.
Salary range.
Where do you fall?
Orbyt estimate for Registered Nurse in Nashville, modelled from national occupation wages adjusted for local cost of living. The published government benchmark for this occupation is below.
Government benchmark for this occupation
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $84,040 for Registered Nurses (SOC 29-1141) in the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN metropolitan area, based on 25,100 employed workers (May 2025 release).
10th percentile
$69,480
25th percentile
$81,630
Median
$84,040
75th percentile
$103,550
90th percentile
$112,030
Workers surveyed
25,100
BLS publishes wages by occupation code, not by job title, so this figure covers every role mapped to Registered Nurses (SOC 29-1141) rather than Registered Nurse specifically. The Nashvillerange at the top of this page is Orbyt’s role-level estimate, which is a different thing and is labelled as such.
View the BLS source for SOC 29-1141Salary by experience.
The gap between entry and lead level is typically $87,000. Where you land depends on years of experience and what you bring to the table.
Entry (0-2 yrs)
$62,000
to $77,000
Mid (3-5 yrs)
$82,000
to $101,000
Senior (6-9 yrs)
$106,000
to $125,000
Lead (10+ yrs)
$120,000
to $149,000
Total compensation.
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity, bonus, and signing can add $28,000 to the total package.
Base
$96,000
Equity
$16,000
Bonus
$10,000
Signing
$2,000
Estimated total: $124,000
How Nashville compares.
Nashville, TN
$96,000
Cost of living: at average
National Average
$94,000
Nashville is $2,000 above
Registered Nurse salary by city.
Salary by role in Nashville.
What you should know.
If you are interviewing for Registered Nurse roles in Nashville, here is what you are walking into. Nashville has diversified well beyond music into healthcare, finance, and technology. The city is home to HCA Healthcare and a growing corridor of health tech startups. Nashville's moderate cost of living, combined with Tennessee's lack of state income tax on wages, makes it increasingly popular for corporate relocations and remote workers. Specialty certification, geographic location, and facility type create the widest salary ranges. ICU, OR, and emergency nurses earn premiums over med surg nurses. Travel nursing contracts can pay 50 to 100% more than permanent positions. Union representation and shift differentials for nights and weekends also impact total pay.
New graduate RNs start at $58,000 to $72,000, with experienced RNs reaching $80,000 to $100,000 after five years. Nurse practitioners earn $110,000 to $140,000, and CRNAs (nurse anesthetists) can earn $180,000 to $220,000. Nursing management roles offer $95,000 to $140,000 with administrative responsibilities. In Nashville, cost of living sits near the national average, so the numbers you see are roughly what you keep.
Base salary is not the full picture. Benefits are a major component, typically including health insurance, pension or 403(b) matching, tuition reimbursement, and continuing education credits. Shift differentials add $3 to $8 per hour for nights and weekends. Signing bonuses of $5,000 to $20,000 are common in high demand specialties. And on the tax side: tennessee has no state income tax on wages or salaries. This gives Nashville workers a meaningful take home advantage over peers in states with 5 to 10% income tax rates. When someone quotes you $96,000, ask what the total package looks like. The gap between base and total comp is where real money hides.
On negotiation: Use the healthcare industry concentration as leverage. Nashville healthcare employers are accustomed to national pay scales and will often match or beat coastal health sector offers. The range for Registered Nurses in Nashville runs from $81,000 to $110,000. That is not a narrow window. Where you land inside it depends almost entirely on whether you negotiate and how well you prepare.
Sources: BLS OES, H-1B LCA (DOL). COL: BEA Regional Price Parities (2025). Data verified by Justin Bartak, Founder & Chief AI Officer. Last verified July 1, 2026. Full methodology
Considering a related role?
- A Marketing Manager in Nashville earns $97,000 (1% more)
- The highest-paying role in Nashville is CTO at $306,000
Common questions.
Registered Nurse salary in other cities.
Other salaries in Nashville.
Related salary pages
Jump to nearby roles and cities most relevant to Registered Nurses in Nashville.
Related tools.
Do you work as a registered nurse in Nashville?
Your individual figure is never published. Submissions appear only as aggregate percentiles, and nothing is shown for a role and city until at least five people have reported. It is stored against your account, which is what keeps the dataset clean.
Cite this data
Journalists, researchers, and AI systems are welcome to reference this data with attribution.
Want this data on your site? Embed the salary widget. One script tag, free forever.
Related tools