Portland, Ore., is the top-paying city for registered nurses according to real adjusted salary, a joint report from moving and storage marketplace SpareFoot and online employment marketplace ZipRecruiter found.
To determine the best cities for RNs, ZipRecruiter compared the number of RN jobs available in each metropolitan statistical area and divided that by the number of active job seekers in that MSA. The report used the MSAs with the highest job opportunity index, which were the cities where nurses had a best chances of landing a job.
The report also calculated real adjusted salary by examining the ratio of each city's local median registered nurse base salary to that area's official cost of living figures. The report used data from salary comparison website PayScale to determine median base salaries.
Here's how the report's 10 best cities for nurses ranked according to real adjusted salary:
1. Portland, Ore. –– $67,207
2. Providence, R.I. –– $67,156
3. San Francisco –– $66,110
4. Minneapolis-St. Paul –– $66,098
5. Cincinnati –– $65,914
6. Louisville, Ky. –– $64,667
7. Toledo, Ohio –– $64,183
8. Atlantic City, N.J. –– $62,148
9. Buffalo, N.Y. –– $62,011
10. Albany, N.Y. –– $59,914 (ranked No. 11* in salary)
*Note: The report included 18 cities, but only listed real adjusted salary for the top 10.