- Nurses in Wichita are typically paid $21,730 more than the metro's median income.
- Median annual wage for nurses: $63,160

- Nurses in Manhattan are typically paid $23,060 more than the metro's median income.
- Median annual wage for nurses: $61,710

- Nurses in Topeka are typically paid $26,190 more than the metro's median income.
- Median annual wage for nurses: $68,000

- Nurses in Lawrence are typically paid $28,920 more than the metro's median income.
- Median annual wage for nurses: $67,150

In addition to salary considerations, young workers increasingly prioritize flexible schedules and support for their mental health while at work. Several nurses' unions in recent years went on strike to push for better working conditions, citing chronic understaffing at hospitals as a major issue.

With the field so mentally and emotionally taxing, and overtime hours that notoriously lead to burnout, roughly 100,000 RNs left the profession since 2020 and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report published in 2023 from the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. Another analysis from National Nurses United, the largest professional association of registered nurses, found that more than 1 million registered nurses with active licenses in 2022 were not actively employed as RNs. Nurses leaving hospitals due to burnout and looking for more regular schedules may turn to physicians' offices, home health care services, and nursing care facilities.

California has attracted new nursing talent with its first-in-the-nation law that sets minimum nurse staffing requirements: Lower patient-to-nurse ratios are associated with better patient outcomes and less burnout for nurses. Oregon will soon join the exclusive club, becoming the second state to mandate nurse-to-patient ratios.

This story features data reporting by Paxtyn Merten, writing by Cassidy Grom, and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 47 states.