1. Houston — $89K median
Houston tops this countdown for a combination of raw demand and pay: it is the largest RN employment metro in Texas and one of the largest in the country per BLS OES data. The Texas Medical Center alone concentrates dozens of hospitals — Houston Methodist, Memorial Hermann, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Texas Children's, and Baylor St. Luke's among them.
BLS OES puts the Houston metro RN median near $89K, with academic and specialty roles at MD Anderson, Texas Children's, and Houston Methodist reaching well above the median. Population growth in Fort Bend and Montgomery counties keeps suburban hospital hiring stretched across every specialty.
Base pay growth from 2023 to 2026 has run around 9 to 12 percent per Texas Center for Nursing Workforce Studies data. Sign-on bonuses of $15K to $25K are the norm in critical care, ED, OR, and L&D, and Houston's cost of living remains below Austin and California markets for equivalent RN incomes.
For nurses ready to explore these opportunities, checking current openings by state is the fastest way to see where demand — and pay — align right now.
