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The Gender Pay Gap In Nursing
Women make up the large majority of nurses, yet men in nursing earn more. The gap has narrowed, but it has not closed, and it closes slowest for Black, Indige…
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Women make up the large majority of nurses, yet men in nursing earn more. The gap has narrowed, but it has not closed, and it closes slowest for Black, Indigenous, and other nurses of color. Here is what the data shows and what you can do to push your own pay higher.
The Numbers
Drawing on the 2020 Nurse Salary Research Report and the 2020 National Nursing Workforce Survey:
- Male RNs report earning about $7,300 more per year than female RNs.
- Women RNs earn roughly 91 cents for every dollar men earn.
- The gap is widest, and closing slowest, for BIPOC women, who make up under 17% of the RN workforce.
- Among the 10 most common specialties, pediatric nurses report the largest gap.
This Is Not New
The gender pay gap measures female-to-male annual earnings for fulltime workers. The 1963 Equal Pay Act made wage discrimination by sex illegal, but progress has stalled. The Bureau of Labor Statistics found women earned 82.3% of men's annual earnings in 2020, up from 57% in 1973.
Education does not erase the gap. Women with advanced degrees earn less than white men holding only a bachelor's. Black and Latina women with bachelor's degrees earn about 65% of what white men earn, and women of color with advanced degrees reach only about 70%.
Nursing is one of the best-paid, most-employed fields in the country, and the disparity still shows up. Women hold more than 87% of RN jobs and earn about $7,300 less per year than men in the same role.
How Much More Men Earn
The gap holds regardless of education, age, certification, or experience. The 2020 Nurse Salary Research Report surveyed 7,431 nursing professionals across all 50 states, including RNs, APRNs, and LPN/LVNs. Average pay across all respondents was $75,290. Men averaged $80,000, women $72,700. Female RNs earned about 90 cents on the male dollar, roughly $7,300 less per year.
Moving up does not fix it. Female chief nursing officers earned $127,050 against $132,700 for men in the same job. The widest split was among APRNs, where men earned about $16,000 more. LPN/LVNs, who usually do not hold a bachelor's, earned less overall but showed no gender gap.
| Position | Women | Men | Women's % of Men's Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced Practice Registered Nurse | $104,000 | $120,000 | 86.7% |
| Registered Nurse | $72,700 | $80,000 | 90.9% |
| Licensed Practical/Vocational Nurse | $45,000 | $45,000 | 100% |
The gap also varies by specialty. It runs widest in home healthcare, emergency and trauma, and pediatrics. It runs narrowest in maternal-child health and obstetrics, medical-surgical, acute and critical care, and psychiatric and mental health. Across nearly all 10 of the most common specialties, men out-earned women.
Pay by Race
The 2020 National Nursing Workforce Survey reported that about 81% of RNs identified as white. Asian RNs were the largest non-white group at 7.2%, followed by Black and Hispanic or Latino/a RNs. Among LPN/LVNs, white nurses made up over 65%, Black nurses 17.2%, and Hispanic and Latino/a nurses 10%. Women dominated every racial category.
Median pay and overtime varied by race. White RNs reported working fewer hours, while BIPOC nurses reported higher median pay and longer hours, likely tied to more overtime.
| Race | % of Workforce | Median Salary | Avg Overtime/Week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Native American | 0.5% | $72,500 | 4 hours |
| Asian | 7.2% | $85,000 | 7 hours |
| Black or African American | 6.7% | $78,000 | 7 hours |
| Hispanic, Latino/a, or Spanish | 5.6% | $80,000 | 6 hours |
| Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | 0.4% | $84,320 | 5 hours |
| White | 80.6% | $72,000 | 5 hours |
Why It Stays Wide for Some
The gap has closed slowest for Black and Latina women. Over 30 years, Black women's earnings ratio rose only from 59% to 63%. At that pace, it would take roughly 350 years to close. For Latinas the ratio moved from 53% to 55% over the same period, a pace that points to over 400 years. These are structural problems, not individual ones, but you still have levers.
What You Can Do
Negotiate. Nurses who negotiate before accepting a role tend to earn more, and women negotiate less often than men. Among RNs, 46% of men negotiated most or all of the time versus 34% of women. Walk into the offer with a number.
Get certified and keep training. The gap narrows with advanced credentials, yet fewer women than men plan to pursue them: 49% of women versus 56% of men. Certification is one of the clearest paths to higher pay you control directly.
Organize. In states with strong union representation, unionized nurses generally earn more. Professional associations and unions lobby for equal-pay legislation like the Paycheck Fairness Act. There is strength in numbers.
Talk about money. Discuss pay openly with colleagues. You cannot spot an inequity you cannot see, and wage transparency is how scales get corrected.
Push on policy. Paid sick leave, family and medical leave, and childcare access disproportionately affect nurses, who still carry most caregiving at home. Advocate for them at your workplace and with elected officials.
Closing the gap takes individual moves and collective ones. Negotiate for yourself, certify, and back the colleagues and policies working to level the field for everyone.