Where our data comes from

We use public data so that anyone can check our figures. School data is matched across sources using the federal IPEDS school ID, so that a school’s pass rate, cost and earnings figures all refer to the same institution. How we combine these sources into a ranking is explained on how we rank programs.

Schools and programs

College Scorecard

Published by the US Department of Education. We use it for the average net price, graduation rates, the median federal debt of nursing graduates, and the median earnings of graduates of each school’s nursing program. Updated about once a year. collegescorecard.ed.gov/data

Limits: debt and earnings figures cover only students who received federal financial aid, and small programs often have no published figure.

IPEDS

The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, run by the National Center for Education Statistics. We use it to find which schools award nursing degrees at each level and how many, and for enrollment, location and distance education. Updated every year. nces.ed.gov/ipeds

Licensing exam results

State boards of nursing

Each state board of nursing publishes first-time NCLEX pass rates for the programs it approves. These program-level results are the most important figures we show. Formats and update schedules vary from state to state, so each state page names its own board and report year.

NCSBN

The National Council of State Boards of Nursing publishes national and state NCLEX statistics each year. We use them for national averages and for comparisons by program type. NCLEX pass rates at ncsbn.org

Accreditation

We check every program’s accreditation against the directory of the agency that accredits it:

ACEN, the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing, which accredits programs from practical nursing to doctorates. Search ACEN programs
CCNE, the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, which accredits bachelor’s, master’s and Doctor of Nursing Practice programs. CCNE accreditation
CNEA, the National League for Nursing Commission for Nursing Education Accreditation. cnea.nln.org

All three are recognized by the US Department of Education. A program can be approved by its state board without holding programmatic accreditation, and we show the difference.

Jobs and pay

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes employment and wages by state and metro area each spring. We use it for registered nurses, licensed practical and vocational nurses, nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists and nursing assistants. Our current figures are for May 2025. bls.gov/oes

Limits: wage figures cover employees, not self-employed workers, and they do not separate nurses by degree.

BLS Employment Projections

Ten-year projections of jobs and annual openings for each occupation, and the typical education needed to enter it. Our current figures cover 2025 to 2035. bls.gov/ooh

Nursing education and workforce

AACN annual survey. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing surveys schools offering bachelor’s and graduate programs about enrollment, graduations and applications turned away. aacnnursing.org
National Nursing Workforce Study. NCSBN and the National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers survey licensed nurses every two years about age, education and plans to leave the profession. ncsbn.org

When sources disagree

Sources measure different things over different periods. A state board may publish a newer pass rate than NCSBN’s annual report, or count candidates differently. We use the most recent official figure for each program, show its year, and never mix years within one comparison.