The Nursing Gender Pay Gap: What the Data Actually Shows About Male vs. Female Nurse Salaries

By NurseCompensation Research Team · 2026-06-03 · 10 min read

The Nursing Gender Pay Gap: What the Data Actually Shows About Male vs. Female Nurse Salaries

Male nurses earn approximately $7,000-$9,000 more per year than female nurses on average. Here is what the research says about why the gap exists and what it means for the profession.

The Numbers

Despite nursing being a predominantly female profession (women comprise approximately 87% of the RN workforce), a persistent gender pay gap exists:

  • JAMA research (peer-reviewed): Male RNs earn approximately $10,775 more per year than female RNs on average (unadjusted). This gap has persisted across multiple survey years with no significant narrowing over time.
  • National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses (NSSRN) and American Community Survey data: Consistently confirm male premium of $7,000-$10,000+ annually.
  • Rutgers University study: In a sample of 4,126 women and 394 men, male nurses averaged $79,688 vs. $73,090 for female nurses — a $6,598 gap.
  • Weekly earnings: Male nurses earn approximately $250 more per week than female nurses on average.

Why the Gap Exists

Research identifies several contributing factors. Importantly, the gap persists even after controlling for specialty, education, and experience:

1. Specialty selection patterns. Men are disproportionately represented in higher-paying specialties (anesthesia, emergency, critical care) while women are more concentrated in lower-paying specialties (pediatrics, public health, school nursing). However, the gap persists WITHIN specialties as well, not just between them.

2. Negotiation behavior. Studies show men are more likely to negotiate starting salary and counter-offer during job transitions. In nursing, where many positions have set pay scales, this matters most for initial placement on step scales and for roles with negotiable compensation.

3. Work pattern differences. Men in nursing work slightly more overtime hours on average and are more likely to hold full-time positions. However, the JAMA study controlled for full-time status and still found a significant gap.

4. Leadership pathway selection. Men are overrepresented in nursing leadership and management roles relative to their share of the workforce, and these roles command higher pay.

5. Setting and geographic choice. Men are slightly more likely to work in hospital settings (highest-paying) versus outpatient or community settings.

What the Research Controls For

The JAMA study (Muench et al.) is particularly important because it analyzed the gap using both unadjusted and adjusted models:

  • Even after controlling for age, race/ethnicity, marital status, children, education, experience, clinical specialty, work setting, and work hours, a statistically significant male earnings premium remained.
  • The gap was found across ambulatory care, hospital settings, and other work environments.
  • The gap exists for both staff nurses and advanced practice roles.

The PMC Study on Healthcare Workers Broadly

A 2024 study published in PMC examined the gender wage gap across all healthcare occupations:

  • Among nurses specifically, male RNs out-earn female RNs across settings, specialties, and positions
  • There has been no narrowing of the pay gap over time in nursing
  • The gap is consistent with the overall healthcare sector pattern

What This Means Practically

For a female nurse earning the national mean of $101,420, the gender gap suggests a male colleague with comparable qualifications, experience, and role may earn $108,000-$111,000.

Over a 30-year career, a $9,000 annual gap compounds to approximately $270,000 in lost lifetime earnings — before accounting for compounding effects on retirement contributions and Social Security benefits.

What Nurses Can Do

  1. Request pay transparency. Push for published pay scales and step structures that reduce discretionary compensation decisions.
  2. Negotiate. The gap is partially driven by negotiation patterns. Every job offer is negotiable, even in unionized settings (placement on step scales, sign-on bonuses, schedule preferences).
  3. Track your own data. Compare your pay to BLS percentiles for your state, specialty, and experience level.
  4. Support union representation. Unionized settings with published pay scales show smaller gender gaps because compensation is more standardized.

Sources: Muench et al., "Salary Differences Between Male and Female Registered Nurses in the United States," JAMA (2015, peer-reviewed); National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses; American Community Survey; PMC article "The gender wage gap among health care workers across educational and occupational groups" (2024); Payscale 2026 Gender Pay Gap Report; Rutgers University School of Nursing research; NurseJournal.org analysis.