Washington has once again been named the best state in the nation for nurses to work in, according to WalletHub's annual rankings.
The finance website's methodology included comparing all 50 states across 20 key metrics that directly affect the nursing profession or workforce, including average annual salary, average starting salary, commute time, healthcare facilities per capita, quality of nursing schools, nurse job openings, nurses per 1,000 residents in an area and the estimated percentage of elderly individuals by 2030. For each metric, states were graded on a 100-point scale, and scores were averaged to determine the rankings. Read more about the methodology here.
Some notable changes from last year include Texas making the top 10 best list and Delaware, Nebraska and Vermont are new additions to the 10 worst states.
The 10 best states to work in as a nurse in 2023 are:
- Washington
- Maine
- New Mexico
- Oregon
- New Hampshire
- Minnesota
- Montana
- Arizona
- Texas
- Wyoming
The 10 worst states to work in as a nurse in 2023 are:
- Hawaii
- Oklahoma
- Arkansas
- Alabama
- Mississippi
- Louisiana
- Nebraska
- Tennessee
- Vermont
- Delaware