Registered Nurses in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$70,056
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$23,544
25.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$69,535
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Virginia — 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
$93,600
Kept after tax
$70,056
Worth in national money
$69,535
State rank
26
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Virginia pays registered nurses around $93,600 at the midpoint, 26 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 489 occupations Virginia reports, registered nurses comes in at 100 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- No great distortion either way. Virginia costs about what the country costs, so from $93,600, take-home of $70,056 is worth roughly $69,535 in national money. The average comes to $93,850, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For registered nurses the Virginia median is $93,600, ranking 26 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Registered nurses ranks 100 of 489 occupations by median in Virginia, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Price parity in Virginia is near the national base, so for registered nurses, whose median is $93,600, the adjusted figure of $69,535 differs little from $70,056 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $93,850 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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 | $67,830 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $93,600 |
| Top tenth earn over | $125,580 |
| This salary | $93,600 |
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 Virginia | $70,056 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $74,678 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,313 |
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 | $87,031 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,102 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $93,600 as a midpoint for Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $67,830 and the ninetieth is $125,580 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $70,056 take-home in Virginia comes from $93,600. 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 100 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $69,535 uses one figure for the whole of Virginia. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 100.
- The Virginia median of $93,600 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $67,830 to $125,580. 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 $70,056, from $93,600, assumes a single Virginia 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 100 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 26 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $69,535, worked from $93,600, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Virginia address, on work sitting at 100 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $67,830 and the top tenth $125,580, so most people doing this work in Virginia sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Virginia costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $69,535 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Virginia's own levy, $70,056 remains.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($67,830 to $125,580) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Virginia rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $69,535 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $70,056 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Virginia 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.