Minnesota has about 5.8 million residents. Registered nurses average $103,420 a year, 12th among the fifty states and the District of Columbia and the highest figure in the Midwest.
Licensure
The Minnesota Board of Nursing licenses registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and advanced practice registered nurses. Its office is on Northland Drive in Mendota Heights, telephone (612) 317-3000. Rules and applications are at mn.gov/boards/nursing.
Minnesota is not in the Nurse Licensure Compact, though a bill has been before the legislature. A multistate license carries no authority here, a Minnesota license does not travel, and nurses moving in apply by endorsement.
All four neighboring states, Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota and North Dakota, are members. That counts most in the Fargo, Grand Forks and La Crosse markets, which cross the state line and where hospitals draw staff from both sides.
Nurse practitioner practice
Minnesota is a full practice state. Nurse practitioners evaluate patients, order and interpret tests, and prescribe under the nursing board's authority once they have completed a transition period of collaborative practice. See nurse practitioner practice authority.
Nursing education
The University of Minnesota School of Nursing, founded in 1909, is generally recognized as the first nursing school established within a university in the United States, and it remains the state's leading research program. St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Bethel University and Augsburg University run further baccalaureate programs, and the Minnesota State colleges supply associate degree and practical nurse graduates. See history of nursing and entry into practice and the BSN requirement.
Pay and workforce
Minnesota holds an unusual number of well known medical institutions for its size. The Mayo Clinic in Rochester is one of the largest single site employers of nurses in the country, and the Twin Cities carry M Health Fairview, HealthPartners, Allina Health and Children's Minnesota.
Duluth, St. Cloud and Rochester form secondary markets, and the northern counties are rural, served by critical access hospitals a long way from a tertiary center. Minnesota nurses are strongly unionized, and the 2022 strike across Twin Cities hospitals was among the largest private sector nurse strikes in American history. See nurse strikes and bargaining.
Travel and flexible work
Minnesota advertises very little travel nursing relative to the size of its workforce. Across NurseRecruiter's full archive of job listings, 2009 to 2026, it ranks forty-ninth of the fifty states and the District of Columbia for travel assignments advertised per employed registered nurse, despite paying the highest wages in the Midwest and holding 64,740 registered nurses.
Two things plausibly hold it down. Staying outside the compact means every traveller needs a Minnesota licence by endorsement before starting, which pushes agencies towards easier states, and the state's large employers have deep local pipelines and strong union contracts. See where the assignments are and licensure by endorsement.
Minnesota nurses are correspondingly settled: 35 percent of those with a profile on this site say they will consider travel work and 38 percent per diem shifts, both below the national figures of 39 and 46 percent. See travel nursing and per diem nursing.
Related
- Licensure by endorsement
- Nurse Licensure Compact
- Where the assignments are
- Entry into practice and the BSN requirement
- Nurse strikes and bargaining
- Nursing by state
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau, state population estimates for July 1, 2025. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, registered nurses (29-1141), May 2025. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- Minnesota Board of Nursing, contact details and licensing information. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- Nurse Licensure Compact, member states. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- American Association of Nurse Practitioners, State Practice Environment. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- University of Minnesota School of Nursing, history. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- NurseRecruiter job listings, 2009 to September 2026, and nurse profiles. Method and limits are set out in where the assignments are.