Registered Nurses salary in Nashville, Tennessee

With 24,460 registered nurses employed across the metro, Nashville is one of the larger nursing markets in the South. The median annual wage came in at $81,170 in 2024, about 2.7% above the Tennessee median of $79,030 but roughly 14% below the national median of $94,511.

That gap with the national figure is worth sitting with. Nashville is a genuine healthcare hub, home to hospital systems and health services companies that employ nurses at scale, yet wages here trail the US median by more than $13,000. The local market, with a large supply of nursing graduates and training programs in the region, likely keeps pay from rising as fast as in markets where nurses are scarcer.

The spread across earners is notable. Nurses at the 10th percentile earned $64,360 in 2024, while those at the 90th percentile reached $108,530. That means top earners make roughly 1.7 times what the lowest-paid nurses bring home. The gap reflects real differences in specialty, seniority, and care setting: an ICU charge nurse with 15 years of experience sits in a very different part of that range than a new graduate on a general medical floor.

The mean wage of $88,840 runs about $7,600 above the median. A smaller group of higher-paid nurses in specialized or leadership roles pulls the average up, so the median is the more useful number for anyone thinking about what a typical Nashville nurse earns.