Registered Nurses salary in Charlotte, North Carolina

About 25,440 Registered Nurses work in the Charlotte metro, making it one of the larger nursing markets in the Southeast. The 2024 median annual wage was $84,780, which comes in about $3,000 above the North Carolina median of $81,860. That gap is real but not dramatic. Charlotte pays more than the state average, though not by a wide margin.

The bigger contrast shows up against the national figure. The US median for Registered Nurses was $94,511 in 2024, roughly $9,700 above what the typical Charlotte nurse earned. Nurses in some coastal and Midwestern markets pull that national number up. Within North Carolina, Charlotte holds the premium position, but the state as a whole sits below the US midpoint.

The spread within the Charlotte market is worth noting. Nurses at the 10th percentile earned $67,140, while those at the 90th percentile reached $107,280. Top earners made about 60% more than those at the lower end. That gap reflects what we see across nursing broadly: specialty, setting, and years of experience move wages more than employer alone. An ICU nurse at a large health system and a nurse in an outpatient clinic both show up in that $84,780 median, though their day-to-day pay looks quite different.

The mean annual wage of $89,150 runs about $4,400 above the median. A smaller group of higher-paid nurses, likely in specialized or supervisory roles, pulls the average up. For most nurses in the metro, the median is the more useful reference point.