Nursing pay for 2025 could signal labor market stabilization

Editor's Note

Hospitals and health systems are making targeted investments in base pay and moving to stabilize their nursing workforce, according to a December 16 BusinessWire press release on findings from a new labor report on registered nurse compensation. Numbers on compensation by nursing role showed that RN leaders and managers saw the largest median base pay increases earlier this year, which report authors said signals that organizations are prioritizing compensation for roles with broad supervisory responsibilities.

The report noted that the biggest jump median base pay for nurses by facility type was seen in medium-sized healthcare organizations. Larger-sized organizations saw slightly smaller nurse employment growth, which reflects continued emphasis on retaining experienced nursing talent, per the press release.

Regarding specialty bumps in pay, the top winners in base pay increases were nurses working in critical care, anesthesiology, oncology, and the emergency department. Nurses in non-acute care roles such as RN case managers and RN patient navigators saw strong median growth in base pay. Licensed practical nurses saw the lowest growth in pay.

It was also noted that almost 70% of organizations who shared data used in the report said they plan to review external nursing market data in the second half of 2025, which signals the potential for further nursing base pay adjustments to come.