NurseSavvy combines board-published NCLEX outcomes, federal cost and nursing-graduate data, and local RN pay into one transparent score. Start balanced, then move every weight until the ranking reflects what matters to you.
Pick a recipe, then tune any weight. We normalize your mix to 100%.
1,271 programs · Weighted NurseSavvy score · Balanced
Check each program's prerequisites, application calendar, and entrance-exam policy. If the TEAS is part of your rubric, NurseSavvy's free four-section diagnostic turns one practice test into a section-by-section progress baseline and a clearer study plan.
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Each component becomes a 0–100 score using fixed real-world anchors, then your selected weights are normalized to 100%. We do not use percentile ranks, so a school’s score does not change just because the comparison set changes.
0 points at 70% pass · 100 points at 100% pass
A straight-line scale using the latest published first-time NCLEX-RN rate. It is a floor detector and licensing-readiness signal—not proof of teaching quality by itself.
Source: State boards of nursing
100 points at ≤5% of state RN pay · 0 at ≥45%
Annual average net price—or published in-state tuition if you choose it—divided by the median RN salary in that state. Lower burden scores higher.
Source: College Scorecard + BLS OEWS
0 points at 55% of local RN pay · 100 at 100%
Median earnings one year after completion for the school’s nursing graduates, divided by its state RN median. This reduces the advantage of simply being in a high-wage state.
Source: College Scorecard field-of-study data
0 points at 25% completion · 100 at 80%
The institution-wide graduation rate is a supporting persistence signal. It is deliberately low-weight because it is not specific to the nursing program.
Source: College Scorecard
Each row is a specific prelicensure RN program with a published pass rate—not a university’s general reputation. Direct-entry master’s programs are excluded because federal master’s data combines them with NP and CRNA outcomes. Multiple ADN or BSN options at one school may appear separately.
We never invent a price, salary, or pass rate. Complete-data mode requires every active criterion. If you include partial records, the score renormalizes over available criteria and labels its coverage; treat those placements as lower-confidence comparisons.
Clinical sites, waitlists, schedule flexibility, commute, campus support, and your actual aid offer can change the decision. As our NCLEX guide explains, pass rates are best used as a floor detector, then balanced with price and fit.
Latest approved-program lists and first-time pass-rate reports published by each state board of nursing. Every school detail page links its exact board source and capture date.
Browse all board sourcesU.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, Most Recent Cohorts, June 10, 2026 release. Tuition and completion are institution-level; earnings are nursing field-of-study medians.
College Scorecard dataU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025, Registered Nurses (SOC 29-1141). State medians cover all RNs, not only new graduates, and exclude overtime and shift differentials.
BLS occupation dataThe balanced score weights first-time NCLEX-RN performance at 45%, annual cost relative to the state’s median RN salary at 30%, the nursing program’s early-career graduate earnings at 15%, and the whole college’s graduation rate at 10%. You can change every weight or rank by a single metric.
A program needs a published first-time NCLEX-RN pass rate to enter the ranking. By default it also needs every data point selected in your recipe. Turn on “include programs with partial data” to see programs that lack a federal cost or outcome measure; missing values are never estimated.
No. The score organizes comparable public evidence; it cannot measure clinical placement quality, schedule fit, waitlists, campus culture, individual financial aid, or whether you can realistically commute. Use it to build a shortlist, then verify those factors with each program.
No. Graduate earnings are the federal median for that school’s nursing-program completers one year after finishing. State RN salary is the BLS median for all registered nurses in that state. The ranking compares the two so high-cost, high-wage locations do not win on raw dollars alone.