Registered Nurses in Utah
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$64,581
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$20,019
23.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$67,979
Utah costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Utah — 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
$84,600
Kept after tax
$64,581
Worth in national money
$67,979
State rank
32
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Utah sits in the middle of the pack for registered nurses. The median is $84,600, ranking 32 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Within Utah this is well-paid work. Of 487 occupations with published figures in the state, registered nurses ranks 98 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $84,600 you keep $64,581 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $67,979 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $90,950, since top earners drag the number up.
- Utah occupies the middle band for registered nurses: a median of $84,600, ranking 32 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Ranked against every occupation Utah publishes a median for, registered nurses sits 98 of 487 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Retained pay in Utah is $64,581 after the full tax stack, from $84,600. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $67,979 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $90,950 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Registered Nurses
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $68,920 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $84,600 |
| Top tenth earn over | $109,050 |
| This salary | $84,600 |
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 Utah | $64,581 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $68,346 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,354 |
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 | $79,249 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,252 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 95 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $84,600 as a midpoint for Utah, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $68,920 and the ninetieth is $109,050 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Utah's $64,581, worked from $84,600. 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 98 of 487.
- Two cautions on $67,979, the adjusted value of that $84,600 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Utah. 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 98 of 487 locally.
- The Utah median of $84,600 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $68,920 to $109,050. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Utah take-home of $64,581, on $84,600 for work ranking 98 of 487 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 98 of 487 in the state.
- This $67,979 adjusted figure, worked from $84,600, 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 98 of 487 in the state. The occupation ranks 98 of 487 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 $90,950, 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?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $68,920 at the tenth percentile, $109,050 at the ninetieth.
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 $67,979.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Utah adds its own income tax on top — which is why $64,581 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 Utah is $90,950. 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 ($68,920 to $109,050) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Utah rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Utah'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 $67,979 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 $64,581 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Utah 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.