What Registered Nurses earn in Washington County, MN
The median pay for Registered Nurses in Washington County, MN is $103,040 per year, which works out to $49.54 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI metropolitan area, the labor market that Washington County, MN belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $106,480, which is 3.3% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 43,600 people working in this occupation across the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Washington County, MN has roughly 276,238 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Registered Nurses in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $82,180 a year ($39.51 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $133,450 or more ($64.16 an hour). That is a gap of $51,270 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $94,170 at the 25th percentile and $123,900 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.6 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Registered Nurses in Washington County, MN is $49.54. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $103,040, and the same salary is $8,587 a month before taxes or about $3,963 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $36.31 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Registered Nurses
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Registered Nurses this way: "Assess patient health problems and needs, develop and implement nursing care plans, and maintain medical records. Administer nursing care to ill, injured, convalescent, or disabled patients. May advise patients on health maintenance and disease prevention or provide case management. Licensing or registration required."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Maintain accurate, detailed reports and records"; "Monitor, record, and report symptoms or changes in patients' conditions"; "Record patients' medical information and vital signs"; "Modify patient treatment plans as indicated by patients' responses and conditions".
Job outlook for Registered Nurses
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 3,465,400 jobs in 2025 to 3,660,100 in 2035, a change of +5.6%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 180,800 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 5.2% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: bachelor's degree. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $97,550 for this occupation; the Washington County, MN median of $103,040 is 5.6% above it.
How pay in Washington County, MN compares
Compared with the Minnesota average
Washington County, MN pays above the state benchmark. The Minnesota employment-weighted average for Registered Nurses is $97,569; the local median of $103,040 beats it by $5,471, or 5.6%. Within Minnesota, Washington County, MN already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Registered Nurses is $99,368 across the contiguous United States. At $103,040, Washington County, MN pays $3,672 more, which is 3.7% above that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Washington County, MN
Among the 586 occupations with published wages in Washington County, MN, Registered Nurses ranks number 106 by median pay, ahead of about 82% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $178,080 a year, which is $75,040 more than the median for Registered Nurses.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $103,040 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $27,518 a year, which leaves $75,522, or $6,293 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $27 goes to taxes and $73 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 26.7%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $87,290. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 22% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $14,118, an effective 13.7% of gross pay, well below the 22% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $6,388 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $1,494. FICA totals $7,883, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Minnesota
Minnesota income tax on this salary is $5,518 a year, or 5.4% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 39% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $460 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Washington County, MN
IRS Statistics of Income data for Washington County, MN show an average adjusted gross income of $115,207 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 14.6% across all filers. Filers in the $100,000 to under $200,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 11.0%, compared with the 13.7% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Washington County, MN
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Washington County, MN: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $75,522 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Washington County, MN is $1,427 a month, or $17,124 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,734 a month. For Registered Nurses, a one-bedroom absorbs 22.7% of take-home pay and 16.6% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 3.3% of gross pay for Registered Nurses in Washington County, MN. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Minnesota residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,632 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $409, for $2,041 in total. Gasoline in Minnesota averages $3.15 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,458.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $24,059 a year, 32% of take-home pay. That leaves $51,463 a year, or $4,289 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 49.9% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Washington County, MN
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Washington County, MN: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Washington County, MN, set beside the Minnesota and national medians.
Property taxes in Washington County, MN
Homeowners in Washington County, MN pay a median of $4,164 a year in real estate taxes, 24% above the Minnesota median of $3,357 and 34% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $422,000, the median tax bill is 0.99% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Registered Nurses median of $103,040, a tax bill of that size would equal 4.0% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Washington County, MN
Renters in Washington County, MN pay a median gross rent of $1,710 a month in the Census survey, 34% above the Minnesota median of $1,280. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,427 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $422,000, 28% above the Minnesota median of $329,300. Median household income is $115,345, 30% above the Minnesota median of $89,062, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 14.8% of that income.
Commuting in Washington County, MN
Workers in Washington County, MN who travel to a workplace spend an average of 24.0 minutes each way, 6% above the Minnesota average of 22.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.0 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 23.6% of workers in Washington County, MN work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Registered Nurses afford to live in Washington County, MN?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $103,040 that ceiling is $2,576 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,427 is $1,149 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $27.44 an hour; the median for Registered Nurses is $49.54, which is 81% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $36.31 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 9.1 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,734 a month means $867 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $6,720 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $58,183.
How fast you can save
At $4,289 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 3 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 6 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Registered Nurses pay in Washington County, MN
What is the hourly wage for Registered Nurses in Washington County, MN?
The median is $49.54 per hour, based on $103,040 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $39.51 at the 10th percentile to $64.16 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Registered Nurses in Washington County, MN?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $103,040 becomes $75,522 a year. That is $6,293 a month, $2,905 every two weeks or $1,452 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Registered Nurses in Washington County, MN?
Total taxes are $27,518 a year, an effective rate of 26.7%: $14,118 federal income tax, $7,883 FICA and $5,518 Minnesota income tax.
Is pay for Registered Nurses in Washington County, MN above the Minnesota average?
Yes. The local median of $103,040 is +5.6% versus the Minnesota average of $97,569, a difference of $5,471 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Registered Nurses salary in Washington County, MN?
A one-bedroom costs $1,427 a month against take-home pay of $6,293, which is 22.7% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $2,576 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Registered Nurses in Washington County, MN?
About $4,289 a month ($51,463 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $24,059 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Washington County, MN at the 30% guideline?
$27.44 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $17,124 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Registered Nurses is $49.54.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Minnesota rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.