Graduates earn a median $94,227 two years after finishing, more than 96% of master's majors. Measured across 708 US programmes by the Department of Education — real graduate pay, not survey answers.
Yes, on the money — this is one of the best-paying majors at this level in the country.
| # | University | 1 yr out | 2 yrs out | 3 yrs out | Graduates/yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lourdes University | $95,619 | $209,569 | $120,289 | 17 |
| 2 | Central Connecticut State University cost & debt at this university → | $187,984 | $198,307 | $194,357 | 3 |
| 3 | Millikin University cost & debt at this university → | not published | $197,436 | not published | — |
| 4 | Saint Mary's University of Minnesota cost & debt at this university → | $205,288 | $188,108 | $200,367 | 32 |
| 5 | Albany Medical College | $192,222 | $187,234 | $192,745 | 25 |
| 6 | Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University | $170,719 | $183,312 | $191,208 | 8 |
| 7 | Bryan College of Health Sciences | $67,356 | $182,280 | $188,030 | 5 |
| 8 | University of New England cost & debt at this university → | $194,084 | $182,280 | $205,893 | 20 |
| 9 | Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science | not published | $180,822 | $201,036 | — |
| 10 | AdventHealth University | $187,060 | $177,561 | $168,412 | 36 |
| 11 | Missouri State University-Springfield | not published | $175,202 | $184,068 | 12 |
| 12 | Texas Wesleyan University | $173,949 | $173,224 | $174,184 | 5 |
Two medians are worth separating. $94,227 is what the typical graduate earns — each programme counted in proportion to how many students it graduates. $96,126 is what the typical programme reports, counting a class of twenty the same as a class of two thousand. The weighted figure is lower here, which means the larger programmes in this field pay less than the small ones.
It is the median of what real graduates of this exact major earned, taken from tax records two years after they completed. It is not a starting salary, not an average of job adverts, and not a projection. The median master's major in this dataset reports $52,837, so Nursing sits above the middle by $41,390.
Two years is early in a career. Fields with long training pipelines — medicine, law, research — look weaker at this point than they will at ten, while trades and applied technical fields peak sooner. Read a low figure in a long-pipeline subject as "slow start", not "bad degree".
There is no debt figure here on purpose. The Department of Education publishes earnings by field of study but not borrowing, so nobody can honestly tell you the debt of a specific major. Debt is published per institution — that is where our university cost pages carry it.
Whatever the subject pays, the money you do not borrow is the money you keep.
Tell us what you need and we will come back with the lenders that actually fund students from your country — including options with no US co-signer. No obligation, and we never charge you.
Classified by the Department of Education as Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing (CIP 5138). Source: US Department of Education College Scorecard, field-of-study earnings (median earnings of graduates who received federal financial aid, measured 1–3 years after completion). Figures are per major and credential level, pooled across US programmes. Information only, not financial advice.