Washington and Massachusetts have the most favorable working conditions for nurses, according to WalletHub's 2024 ranking of the best and worst states for nurses.
For the annual ranking, the financial services company compared all 50 states across two key dimensions: opportunity and competition, and work environment.
Below are lists of the 10 best and worst states, based solely on the work environment ranking, which evaluates mandatory overtime restrictions, the ratio of nurses to hospital beds, job growth, the quality of the public hospital system, among other factors.
More details on the methodology can be found here.
10 top states for work environment, along with their overall rank:
1. Washington
Overall rank: 1
2. Massachusetts
Overall rank: 17
3. Alaska
Overall rank: 11
4. Connecticut
Overall rank: 9
5. New Hampshire
Overall rank: 3
6. Maine
Overall rank: 2
7. Minnesota
Overall rank: 7
8. Utah
Overall rank: 30
9. Oregon
Overall rank: 6
10. Rhode Island
Overall rank: 18
10 worst states for work environment:
50. Mississippi
Overall rank: 46
49. Alabama
Overall rank: 48
48. Oklahoma
Overall rank: 47
47. South Carolina
Overall rank: 43
46. Michigan
Overall rank: 37
45. Louisiana
Overall rank: 42
44. New Mexico
Overall rank: 5
43. Georgia
Overall rank: 29
42. Arkansas
Overall rank: 48
41. North Carolina
Overall rank: 27