Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) Salary: Highest Paying MSN Jobs and States in 2025

In nursing, a higher level of education is often linked to a higher earning potential, and the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) salary estimates for various healthcare roles are the best example of the interdependence between salaries and earnings.

If you are wondering whether it is worth advancing your education to the MSN level, we will provide you with an overview of the projected salaries of MSN nurses, earning brackets for the most popular nursing roles requiring the degree, and the highest-paying MSN nurse roles. Our comprehensive guide can help you decide whether you should enroll in an MSN program from a financial perspective and choose which educational route is best for you.

How Much Does an MSN Nurse Make?

Nurses with a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) have considerable earning potential. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) earn a median salary of $129,480 per year, or $62.25 per hour. Although it can be a reasonable estimate, the median pay for APRNs also includes the projected salaries of nurse anesthetists, who, as of 2025, require a Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) to practice.

Job aggregating sites place the earnings of MSN nurses much lower, with Payscale placing the overall average at $104,000 per year, ZipRecruiter at $102,263 per year (for registered nurses with an MSN), and Indeed.com, anywhere from $78,430 to over $177,000 per year (depending on the role occupied).

MSN Salary Based on Specialization

Thus, when considering the earning potential of various nurse roles requiring an MSN, salary estimates can vary based on specialization, as well as on region and experience.

Nurse practitioners (NPs), who make up around 88.67% of all APRNs, earn around $126,260 per year, with nurse midwives (who represent almost 2.1% of APRNs) earning a slightly higher salary of $129,650 per year, according to BLS data on APRNs.

Below, you can find a comprehensive comparison of the salaries of the most popular MSN nursing roles: 

MSN Salary Based on Industry

Data for MSN salary estimates for various industries are highly dependent on the role fulfilled by each professional. To present the current situation, we will explore the highest-paying industries for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), nursing practitioners (who make up the majority of MSN-level nurses), nurse midwives, as well as nursing instructors and educators.

Advanced practice registered nurses earn the highest salaries in outpatient care centers ($136,920 per year), hospitals ($136,050 per year), and physicians' offices ($126,270 per year). Other high-paying industries include state, local, and private educational services ($123,880 per year) and the offices of other health practitioners ($118,300 per year)[18].

For nurse practitioners, business support services ranks as the highest-paying industry, with an annual mean salary of $180,570, although only 80 NPs found employment in the industry in 2023. Residential intellectual and developmental disability facilities follow ($158,140), with other high-paying sectors including business, professional, labor, and political organizations ($153,580), home health care services ($146,850), and other ambulatory health care services ($144,570)[1].

Nurse midwives earned the highest salaries in outpatient care centers, where the annual mean wage reached $164,080. General medical and surgical hospitals followed ($135,900), along with local government organizations ($132,190), excluding schools and hospitals, offices of physicians ($127,550), and colleges/universities ($121,260)[2]. 

Finally, nursing instructors earn the highest salaries in local government organizations, excluding schools and hospitals, with an annual mean wage of $136,450. Offices of physicians come in second ($129,510), together with other schools and instruction facilities ($112,800), specialty hospitals ($106,970), and general medical and surgical hospitals ($106,620)[21].

Top 11 Highest-Paying MSN Nurse Salaries

Your future MSN salary will be considerably affected by the specialty you choose to pursue, either while completing your education or after you receive your MSN. While other elements will affect your earnings, including your professional experience, additional certification, or workplace, here are the types of MSN nurses who usually receive the highest annual salary in 2025:

1. Gastroenterology nurse practitioner (GI NP) – $190,214[10]
2. Critical care nurse practitioner / intensive care nurse practitioner (ICU NP) – $172,199[16]
3. Hospitalist nurse practitioner (HNP) – $153,285[12]
4. Cardiology nurse practitioner (CNP) – $144,905[8]
5. Clinical nurse specialist (CNS) – $141,621[6]
6. Psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) – $139,486[3]
7. Neonatal nurse practitioner (NICU NP) – $136,649[13]
8. Dermatology nurse practitioner (DNP) – $134,913[17]
9. Urgent care nurse practitioner (UCNP) – $134,369[15]
10. Nurse informaticist (NI) – $134,219[14]

Remember that these are industry-wide estimates that can vary across time and will differ on a state basis and from one workplace to another. Additionally, there may be considerably lower demand for some types of nurses, and you may have difficulty finding accessible placement for the estimated salary presented above. 

Lastly, you should prioritize the nursing specialty that suits your professional expectations. While salary is essential in shaping your career choices, you should pursue the occupation that best fits your abilities and inspires you the most. It is critical that you keep in mind that, no matter what specialty you choose, an MSN will allow you to earn more than an ADN/ASN or a BSN degree.

Which MSN Degree Pays the Most?

Various MSN specializations prepare you for a specific role or occupation in the nursing field. Thus, your choice of program can directly impact your expected wage estimates. 

We can compare the earning potentials of some of the more popular MSN specialties, corresponding to their respective academic programs.

If you pursue the MSN PMHNP program and become a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, you will earn around $138,518 per year, with annual salaries ranging from $98,478 (Florida) to $158,804 (Washington), depending on the state you practice in.

Find out more about the MSN PMHNP Program at Nightingale College.

As a nurse educator, your estimated earnings are expected to be much lower. According to the BLS, nursing instructors and teachers earn a mean annual wage of $86,530. Salaries range from $49,120 to $130,320 per year, and from $72,710 (Wyoming) to $111,130 (DC), depending on the state you practice in. Read more about nurse educator salaries across the US.

Find out more about the MSN Educator (Ed) Program at Nightingale College.

Finally, family nurse practitioners earn around $127,976 per year, according to ZipRecruiter, with wages ranging from $95,635 (Florida) to $144,945 (Washington), by area, and from $81,000 to $191,000, by earnings percentile.

Find out more about the MSN FNP Program at Nightingale College.

Comparatively, a certified nurse midwife, another MSN-level role (requiring a nurse-midwifery specialization) that also deals with families, albeit in a more specialized setting, is set to earn around $131,570 per year, with their wages ranging from $87,320 to $177,530 per year, by percentile, and from $95,940 (South Carolina) to $183,740 per year (California).

Read more about the salaries of certified nurse midwives across the US.

Remember that your choice of degree and role, while taking into consideration the projected earnings, should be informed by your preferences and aspirations as a nursing professional. That is why at Nightingale College, we provide varied academic programs that can provide the next step for a broad range of aspiring learners: 

• MSN PMHNP

• MSN Ed

• MSN FNP

These options combine online instruction, in-person seminars, and supervised on-ground field experiences to provide quality education in the most flexible and accessible way possible. You can also advance your career in just 24 months.

Browse our academic programs and achieve your desired nursing career!

MSN Salary by State in 2025

The state where you will practice as a nurse garners the most notable variations in MSN salary estimates, with state-to-state differences often being higher than those between different MSN specialties.

As the BLS does not provide salary estimates based on the nurses’ degrees, we take into consideration the wages of the most popular MSN specialties to arrive at the average MSN salary by state. Additionally, we will provide the salary adjusted for the cost of living index for each US state:

The variations between MSN salary estimates between states are decisive for your earning potential, amounting to a $45,894 difference between the highest- and the lowest-earning salaries. Additionally, on average, the difference between net salaries and wages adjusted for the cost of living amounts to $2,057 per year.

Highest-Paying States for MSN Nurses

Based on our estimations for net earnings, the US state with the highest MSN salary is California, with an annual wage estimate of $144,029, followed by Oregon with a yearly wage of $131,645, Hawaii with $130,741, New York with $129,028, and Massachusetts with $128,893. 

However, considering wages adjusted for the cost of living, your best estimated earnings as an MSN nurse are encountered in Ohio, with $125,636 per year, followed by Minnesota with $125,538, Illinois with $124,690, Mississippi with $124,291, and Michigan with $123,268.

Lowest-Paying States for MSN Nurses

At the other end of the spectrum, you have Wyoming with $98,135 per year in net unadjusted earnings, followed by Kentucky ($99,892), Arkansas ($101,668), South Dakota ($101,697), and Florida ($103,759).

When adjusting for the cost of living, the lowest earning potential for MSN nurses is encountered in the District of Columbia ($85,067), Hawaii ($87,512), Maryland ($97,434), Alaska ($97,770), and Massachusetts ($101,705).

Nurse Salary by State, Based on Specialization

Below, you can find the MSN salary by state estimates for nurse practitioners (who comprise the majority of MSN-level professionals), nurse educators, nurse midwives, and psychiatric nurses.

You can compare the MSN salary estimates for various specialties with nurse salaries across the US using our comprehensive report.

Is It Worth Getting a Master of Science in Nursing?

Earning an MSN degree can mean both an advancement in your career and an increase in your earning potential. 

For instance, MSN nurses earn, on average, $25,594 more per year than all registered nurses and $14,649 more than RNs with a BSN degree. The difference ranges from $5,083 to $40,997 per year for all RNs, depending on the state where you practice. RNs with BSN degrees can earn more than MSN nurses in some states, with the highest excess being $24,251 annually. However, these situations are outliers. MSN nurses generally make more than baccalaureate-level nurses, with the highest difference being $31,097.

The two additional years of learning required for earning your MSN usually come with better pay. Still, it can also allow you to occupy some of the best-paid nursing jobs in the industry, which can hardly be compared with the highest-earning BSN roles. 

Additionally, once you have an MSN, you can prepare to earn your Doctorate of Nursing Practice and access roles at the top of the list when remuneration is considered. This is the case of certified nurse anesthetists, who used to require only an MSN, but, as of 2025, require a DNP for practice.

Earning your MSN soon becomes an industry requirement, with the industry pushing leadership and expertise to combat falling rates in the quality of care and the drain of experts resulting from the ongoing nursing shortage.

Thus, your most important choice when advancing your nursing career concerns how you will achieve a MSN-level education. In this instance, your choice of specialization and the type of program you enroll in are key considerations. 

At Nightingale College, we provide academic programs that respond to these key concerns. You can enroll in three different programs that prepare you for some of the better-paid and most popular MSN specialties:

• MSN FNP: Recommended if you want to practice as a family nurse practitioner and work with various patients to better the health of communities.

• MSN Ed: Ideal for learners who aspire to work in educational positions, such as nursing instructors, educators, and teachers, to prepare the next generation of healthcare professionals. 

• MSN PMHNP: A program required if you want to work as a psychiatric or mental health nurse and help patients suffering from mental health conditions and disorders in various clinical environments.

All our MSN educational programs combine online instruction with supervised on-field experiences and in-person seminars to provide learners with high-quality healthcare in the most accessible and flexible method. 

Browse our academic programs and advance your education and career simultaneously!