Charting compensation costs during National Nurses Month

During the month of May, National Nurses Month honors the work and dedication of nurses across the nation. Registered nurses assess patient needs, develop nursing care plans, and administer care to patients. While the gratitude of their patients is appreciated, compensation also comes in the form of wages and benefits.

In December 2024, employer costs averaged $76.80 per hour worked for registered nurses in the health care and social assistance industry. Costs for wages and salaries averaged $50.21 per hour worked and accounted for 65.4 percent of registered nurses total compensation in the industry.

Compensation costs for registered nurses in hospitals (a subset of the health care and social assistance industry) were $79.53 per hour worked. Wages and salaries averaged $51.09 per hour worked and accounted for 64.2 percent of total compensation for registered nurses in hospitals.

Employer costs for benefits averaged $26.60 per hour worked in the health care and social assistance industry and $28.43 per hour worked in hospitals. Paid leave costs averaged $7.57 for registered nurses in the health care and social assistance industry and $7.91 in hospitals. Paid leave was 9.9 percent of total compensation costs in both industries.

These data are from the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC ) program. To learn more, see "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation — December 2024." Also see charts on the latest data. For more information on paid leave, insurance, and other benefits see the ECEC Factsheets or the Handbook of Methods.