Registered Nurses salary in Columbus, Ohio

About 26,790 registered nurses worked in the Columbus metro in 2024, making it one of the larger RN markets in the Midwest. The median annual wage was $82,520, a modest 1.6% above the Ohio median of $81,250. Both figures sit well below the national median of $94,511, a gap of roughly $12,000.

The spread between the lowest and highest earners is notably narrow. The 10th percentile starts at $73,180, and the 90th tops out at $104,170. Top earners make about 1.4 times what bottom earners make, which is a tighter range than we see in occupations where sub-specialty or years of experience drive bigger pay differences. In Columbus, most RN wages cluster in a fairly predictable band.

The mean wage of $89,170 sits about $6,600 above the median. That gap suggests a smaller group of higher-paid nurses, likely in specialized roles or senior positions, pull the average up. It is not a dramatic skew, but it is worth noting if you are benchmarking against published averages rather than midpoints.

The national shortfall is the harder number to ignore. Ohio's RN wages have historically tracked below coastal and some Sun Belt markets, and Columbus reflects that pattern. The $12,000 gap against the US median is real, though Columbus also carries a lower cost of living than metros where national-median RN wages are common. We do not apply a cost-of-living adjustment at the metro level, so readers drawing that comparison should factor it in separately.