Compared with the local labor market
Staff Nurse pay vs. the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ area
Across all employers in the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ area, the median wage for Registered Nurses — about 197,740 people — is $119,720. Department of Correction pays a median base salary of $105,314 for this role, 12% below that figure — about the 27th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Department of Correction sits in the local pay range
$87,180
$103,970
$119,720
$133,230
$159,240
Department of Correction median · $105,314
The bar is the range of annual wages for Registered Nurses across every employer in the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Department of Correction’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Registered Nurses — about 3,379,720 people — is $97,550. Department of Correction’s median base salary is 8% above that national figure, about the 63rd percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$68,940
$80,330
$97,550
$112,350
$137,470
Department of Correction median · $105,314
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 9 of 10 people in this role paid at least $25,000in base salary. The rest are part-year or part-time records, whose actual pay isn’t comparable to a full-time annual wage.
Median total compensation for this role at Department of Correction is $108,609, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.
Compare jurisdictions
Staff Nurse beyond New York City
This role is reported in 2 jurisdictions. In New York City, the median of $95,576 ranks #1 of 2. See Staff Nurse across all of New York City →
Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role
Median total compensation for comparable Staff Nurseroles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.