Registered Nurses in California
Every figure on this page is a published state-level statistic or a stated calculation on one. California has 326,720 registered nurses on employer payrolls — 8.3 for every 1,000 residents.
What the pay is worth here
California's price level runs at 110.7 against a national 100. Dividing the mean wage by that index puts California at $133,967 in national-average dollars — the highest of the 51 states and DC on that measure.
The adjusted figure is our arithmetic, not a published wage: mean wage ÷ price index × 100. Price index: Derived from BEA implicit regional price deflators (SAIRPD 2024): state/US x 100; matches published RPPs within ~2pts
The 2038 outlook
HRSA projects California will have 78.1% of the registered nurses it needs by 2038 — a projected shortfall, on their assumptions. A projection is a model of the future, not a measurement of it.
Source: HRSA Workforce Projections FY2025 full-data workbook, Registered Nurses, Rurality=Total
Staffing law and licence portability
- Staffing ratios: mandated ratios
- Nurse Licensure Compact: not a member
Both of these come from secondary-source compilations, not from statute text we have read ourselves — the weakest provenance on this page, and flagged as such. Ratios: Secondary-source compilation (nursejournal.org, hklaw.com, nursinglicensure.org), retrieved 2026-08-14; NY=ICU/critical care only, MA=ICU only, OR=phased from 2024 · Compact: 41 member states per nurse.org/NCSBN-derived lists, June 2026; MA/MI/MN/NY enacted awaiting implementation
Nursing programmes in California
We hold NCLEX results for 159 California programmes. The largest by most recent cohort:
| Programme | Cohort | Sat | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Coast University | 2024/2025 | 3070 | 90.0% |
| Azusa Pacific University - BSN | 2024/2025 | 482 | 82.2% |
| Samuel Merritt University - BSN | 2024/2025 | 429 | 79.3% |
| Marsha Fuerst School of Nursing at Glendale Career College | 2024/2025 | 358 | 86.9% |
| Unitek College - BSN | 2024/2025 | 343 | 86.3% |
| Stanbridge University - BSN | 2024/2025 | 332 | 95.2% |
| American Career College | 2024/2025 | 272 | 94.8% |
| University of San Francisco - BSN | 2024/2025 | 268 | 89.5% |
Ordered by cohort size, not by pass rate: at these sample sizes a programme of nine graduates would otherwise outrank one of three hundred. Every row carries the number who sat the exam so you can weigh it yourself. Source: State boards of nursing (7 states) · College Scorecard field-of-study · CCNE + ACEN directories; conservative name matching, unmatched shown as partial profiles
What this page has, and what it doesn't
- Has: pay, employment and RNs per capita from the BLS OEWS May 2024 state file; a cost-of-living adjustment we calculate; HRSA's 2038 supply projection; staffing-law and compact status from secondary sources.
- Doesn't have: first-person accounts, survey answers, specialty breakdowns, turnover or satisfaction for California. Those exist on this site only at national level — the accounts we collect are not reliably tied to a state, and inventing a location for them would be worse than admitting we cannot.