Registered Nurses in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$65,139
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$18,362
22.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$70,661
Indiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Indiana — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$83,500
Kept after tax
$65,139
Worth in national money
$70,661
State rank
36
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for registered nurses is on the low side in Indiana. The middle earner gets $83,500. That is 36 of 51 states, and about 14.4% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Indiana. It ranks 91 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $83,500 you keep $65,139 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $70,661 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $89,150, since top earners drag the number up.
- For registered nurses, Indiana sits in the lower band at $83,500, ranking 36 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 14.4%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Indiana, registered nurses ranks 91 of 493 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay in Indiana is $65,139 after the full tax stack, from $83,500. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $70,661 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $89,150 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Registered Nurses
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $66,750 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $83,500 |
| Top tenth earn over | $105,750 |
| This salary | $83,500 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Indiana | $65,139 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $67,572 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,125 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $80,041 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,554 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $83,500 as a midpoint for Indiana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $66,750 and the ninetieth is $105,750 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $65,139 take-home in Indiana comes from $83,500. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 91 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Indiana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $70,661, the adjusted value of that $83,500 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 91 of 493 in the state.
- The Indiana median of $83,500 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $66,750 to $105,750. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $65,139, from $83,500, assumes a single Indiana filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 91 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 36 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Indiana, so $70,661 — the adjusted value of that $83,500 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 91 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $89,150, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $66,750 and the top tenth $105,750, so most people doing this work in Indiana sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Indiana is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $70,661 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Indiana then takes its own share, leaving $65,139.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Indiana is $89,150. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($66,750 to $105,750) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Indiana rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Indiana's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $70,661 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $65,139 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Indiana income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.