Methodology
How TrueNursePay estimates nurse salary and take-home pay
TrueNursePay separates official gross wage benchmarks from modeled specialty estimates and simplified take-home calculations. Last updated July 16, 2026.
Registered Nurse wage benchmarks
Registered Nurse pages use the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics May 2025 release for occupation code 29-1141. National, state, and metro pages display the corresponding BLS mean wage, employment estimate, median, and wage percentiles when available. Metro data describes the named metropolitan area, not only the city proper.
Specialty estimate model
Pediatric nurse and labor and delivery nurse pages remain model-based because OEWS does not publish separate wage records for those page-level specialty titles. These pages start with a national specialty baseline, apply state cost-of-living assumptions, and add a city market multiplier.
Pay breakdown
On model-based pages, annual estimates are converted into hourly, weekly, and monthly estimates using 2,080 hours per year. On RN pages, the mean annual and hourly wages come from BLS; weekly and monthly values are simple conversions for comparison. Take-home estimates use a simplified federal tax assumption plus the stored state income tax rate and are never presented as BLS data.
External context
BLS OEWS is the named source for gross wage benchmarks on Registered Nurse pages. Model-based specialty pages do not claim to be official BLS or employer-reported salary data. Each page labels its source and calculation method.
For official occupational wage statistics, review the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics tables.
Limitations
TrueNursePay uses BLS OEWS gross wage benchmarks on registered nurse pages and model-based salary estimates on specialty pages. Take-home figures always use simplified TrueNursePay tax assumptions. None of these figures are guaranteed offers, employer-specific compensation, tax advice, legal advice, or financial advice.
Actual compensation can vary by employer, shift, union contract, experience, certifications, benefits, overtime rules, contract type, and local labor market.
Start comparing
Use the nurse salary and take-home pay calculator or open the registered nurse, pediatric nurse, and labor and delivery nurse guides.