4. Fort Worth — $82K median
Fort Worth pulls slightly behind Dallas on nominal pay but has been closing the gap on pay growth. BLS OES puts the Fort Worth-Arlington metro RN median near $82K, with Texas Health Resources, Baylor Scott & White, JPS Health Network, and Cook Children's Medical Center as the largest employers.
Tarrant County has some of the fastest population growth in the DFW Metroplex, and hospital expansion in the northern suburbs has driven aggressive RN hiring at every level. Cook Children's demand alone shapes pediatric specialty RN pay across the metro, and JPS anchors the trauma and safety-net pipeline.
Base pay growth from 2023 to 2026 has run around 9 to 11 percent per hospital compensation reports — one of the fastest in Texas. Sign-on bonuses of $12K to $22K are common in ICU, ED, and L&D, and Fort Worth's cost of living remains lower than Dallas for equivalent income which improves the effective net.
