Registered Nurses in Ohio
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$65,323
after federal, FICA and Ohio tax
Tax takes
$17,187
20.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$71,149
Ohio costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Ohio — 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
$82,510
Kept after tax
$65,323
Worth in national money
$71,149
State rank
38
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for registered nurses is on the low side in Ohio. The middle earner gets $82,510. That is 38 of 51 states, and about 15.42% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Ohio. It ranks 95 out of 494 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $82,510 you keep $65,323 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $71,149 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $87,730, since top earners drag the number up.
- For registered nurses, Ohio sits in the lower band at $82,510, ranking 38 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 15.42%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Ohio, registered nurses ranks 95 of 494 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 Ohio is $65,323 after the full tax stack, from $82,510. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $71,149 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $87,730 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Registered Nurses
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $66,980 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $82,510 |
| Top tenth earn over | $105,290 |
| This salary | $82,510 |
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 Ohio | $65,323 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $66,876 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,329 |
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 | $80,303 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,217 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of registered nurses in Ohio earn under $82,510 and half over. The published range runs $66,980 at the tenth percentile to $105,290 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Ohio's $65,323, worked from $82,510. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 95 of 494.
- Two cautions on $71,149, the adjusted value of that $82,510 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Ohio. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 95 of 494 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for registered nurses in Ohio, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $66,980 to $105,290; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Ohio take-home of $65,323, on $82,510 for work ranking 95 of 494 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 95 of 494 in the state.
- This $71,149 adjusted figure, worked from $82,510, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 95 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 95 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $87,730 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $66,980 and the top tenth $105,290, so most people doing this work in Ohio sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $71,149.
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; Ohio then takes its own share, leaving $65,323.
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 Ohio is $87,730. 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 ($66,980 to $105,290) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Ohio rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Ohio'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 $71,149 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 $65,323 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Ohio 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.