10. El Paso — $71K median
El Paso opens the countdown as one of the lower-median but faster-climbing Texas metros. BLS OES data for the El Paso metropolitan statistical area puts the RN median near $71K, with University Medical Center of El Paso, Hospitals of Providence, and Las Palmas Del Sol Healthcare as the three largest employers driving demand.
El Paso's border geography and its role as the primary tertiary care hub for far West Texas keep RN vacancies high, especially in ED and med-surg. Bilingual English-Spanish nurses are actively recruited, and hospital pay grids commonly add a bilingual differential to base pay.
Growth from 2023 to 2026 has run around 6 to 8 percent for RN base pay in the metro, per Texas Center for Nursing Workforce Studies compensation tracking. Sign-on bonuses of $8K to $15K are typical at the three large systems, and travel contracts routinely post above the local staff rate.
