What is the real (cost-adjusted) RN salary in Georgia?

After BEA RPP adjustment (regional price parity index 96.5 for Georgia), the real-wage equivalent is $89,705 — what the $86,560 nominal salary actually buys. Quartiles in real terms: $79,383 to $108,597.

How are Georgia RN salaries calculated on this page?

Nominal wages come from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) — annual employer surveys, May 2026 reference period. Real-wage figures use BEA Regional Price Parities (2023 vintage) to adjust for state-level cost of living. No self-report or jobs-board data is mixed in.

How wide is the wage spread in Georgia?

P10 to P90 spans $66,110 to $124,810. That spread captures entry-level to top-quartile pay, including specialty differentials and metro-area variance within the state.

What are the limits of these RN salary numbers?

BLS OES is an employer survey of W-2 wages — it excludes contractor pay, bonuses outside the base wage definition, equity compensation, and tip income. Self-employed practitioners and gig workers are not represented. For occupations with significant non-W-2 income, the BLS figure is a floor, not a complete picture.

Should I negotiate based on the BLS median for Georgia?

The BLS median is a calibration anchor, not a ceiling. Use it to validate that an offer is in-band — anything well below the P25 in this state is a flag, anything above the P75 typically requires demonstrable specialty depth, niche credentials, or a high-COL metro within Georgia.

When does this data update?

BLS OES releases a new May reference set roughly each spring; we re-run the ETL pipeline within two weeks of release. BEA RPP refreshes annually. The last-synced timestamp at the top of this page reflects the most recent build.

How does specialty (ICU, OR, NICU, ER, L&D) affect RN pay in Georgia?

BLS reports a single 'Registered Nurses' SOC code (29-1141), so the figures on this page are not specialty-segmented. In practice, ICU, NICU, and OR roles in Georgia typically pay 8-15% above the all-RN median; L&D and ER vary by hospital system. Travel-RN contracts can substantially exceed staff rates during demand spikes.

Registered Nurse Pay in Georgia: $87K Median + Purchasing Power (2026)

TL;DR

Headline RN pay in Georgia is $86,560. Real take-home, after the state's cost-of-living index, lands at $89,705.
Cost of living tracks roughly with the national index, so nominal and real wages stay close.
Wage envelope: $66,110 (P10) to $124,810 (P90), with quartiles at $76,600 and $104,790.
Multistate license: Georgia participates in the NLC compact, useful for travel-RN flexibility.
RN ranking: #23 on the BLS table, #27 once cost of living is in.

Wage breakdown — Georgia

Percentile	Nominal (BLS)	Real (BEA RPP-adjusted)
P10 (entry tier)	$66,110	$68,512
P25 (lower quartile)	$76,600	$79,383
P50 (median)	$86,560	$89,705
P75 (upper quartile)	$104,790	$108,597
P90 (top tier)	$124,810	$129,345
Mean	$91,960	$95,301
Employment	97,410 RNs in Georgia

Cost of living — BEA Regional Price Parity

Component	Georgia index (US = 100)
All-items RPP	96.5
Goods	97.7
Services	92.3
Rents	88.3

Georgia's overall RPP (96.5) is close to the national 100 baseline; nominal and real wage move roughly together.

After-tax take-home — Georgia (2024 BLS · 2024 tax year, single filer)

Layer-by-layer take-home math at the BLS median

Layer	Amount	Note
Gross BLS P50 (RN)	$86,560	nominal median
Federal income tax	−$10,290	11.9% effective; std deduction $15,750 applied
State income tax	−$3,870	5.19% flat (2026)
FICA (SS 6.2% + Medicare 1.45%)	−$6,622	SS capped at $183,600 wage base
Take-home (after-tax)	$65,778	76.0% of gross
Real take-home (RPP-adjusted)	$68,168	÷ (96.5 / 100) BEA cost-of-living

What the Georgia state-tax burden means for RN take-home

Mid-band state-tax burden at 4.5% effective. Combined with federal and FICA, take-home is $65,778 (76.0% of gross). After the 96.5 RPP, real take-home is $68,168.

Computed from 2026 IRS federal brackets (Rev. Proc. 2025-32), 2026 state DOR brackets, and 2026 FICA rates. Single filer, standard deduction, no other adjustments. See methodology · tax for limitations (married filers, ITM/SALT itemizers, retirement deferrals, HSA, dependent credits, etc.).

National context

Across the United States, BLS reports a national median of $93,600 for RNs with mean pay of $98,430 and total employment of 3,282,010. Georgia sits at #23 on nominal pay and #27 on real (cost-adjusted) pay among the 51 states and DC. After cost adjustment, Georgia falls 4 positions — the cost premium eats into the headline wage.

Licensure — Georgia (NLC)

Georgia participates in the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC), with effective participation since 2017. RNs holding a multistate license issued by another Compact state may practice in Georgia without applying for a separate Georgia license. Georgia-issued multistate licenses are reciprocally recognized in 36 other Compact states (37 jurisdictions total in 2026), eliminating the per-state endorsement workflow ($100–$500 + 4–16 week processing) for travel and per-diem RN work.

Georgia has been a Compact participant for 9 years as of 2026, putting it among the long-tenured members where the Compact pathway is the established norm at most employers and travel agencies.

Source: NCSBN compact implementation tracker — re-synced quarterly. See NLC reciprocity hub for the cross-state matrix and changelog for status changes.

Frequently asked questions

What is the real (cost-adjusted) RN salary in Georgia?: After BEA RPP adjustment (regional price parity index 96.5 for Georgia), the real-wage equivalent is $89,705 — what the $86,560 nominal salary actually buys. Quartiles in real terms: $79,383 to $108,597.
How are Georgia RN salaries calculated on this page?: Nominal wages come from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) — annual employer surveys, May 2026 reference period. Real-wage figures use BEA Regional Price Parities (2023 vintage) to adjust for state-level cost of living. No self-report or jobs-board data is mixed in.
How wide is the wage spread in Georgia?: P10 to P90 spans $66,110 to $124,810. That spread captures entry-level to top-quartile pay, including specialty differentials and metro-area variance within the state.
What are the limits of these RN salary numbers?: BLS OES is an employer survey of W-2 wages — it excludes contractor pay, bonuses outside the base wage definition, equity compensation, and tip income. Self-employed practitioners and gig workers are not represented. For occupations with significant non-W-2 income, the BLS figure is a floor, not a complete picture.
Should I negotiate based on the BLS median for Georgia?: The BLS median is a calibration anchor, not a ceiling. Use it to validate that an offer is in-band — anything well below the P25 in this state is a flag, anything above the P75 typically requires demonstrable specialty depth, niche credentials, or a high-COL metro within Georgia.
When does this data update?: BLS OES releases a new May reference set roughly each spring; we re-run the ETL pipeline within two weeks of release. BEA RPP refreshes annually. The last-synced timestamp at the top of this page reflects the most recent build.
How does specialty (ICU, OR, NICU, ER, L&D) affect RN pay in Georgia?: BLS reports a single 'Registered Nurses' SOC code (29-1141), so the figures on this page are not specialty-segmented. In practice, ICU, NICU, and OR roles in Georgia typically pay 8-15% above the all-RN median; L&D and ER vary by hospital system. Travel-RN contracts can substantially exceed staff rates during demand spikes.

Sources & methodology

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES), SOC 29-1141, 2024 reference period.
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Price Parities, 2023 vintage (all-items, goods, services, rents).
Real-wage figures = nominal BLS wage ÷ (state RPP / 100).
See the methodology page for full computation details and limitations.

By Marcus Liang · Founder & Editor · Last synced 2026-05-05.

Cross-comparison: see how Georgia RN pay ranks against the other 254 state × occupation pages on the Real Wage Atlas → — four-way ranking by real wage, after-tax take-home, state-tax savings, and cost-of-living arbitrage.