New grad RN jobs and nurse residency programs in Minnesota

A quarter of Minnesota RNs earn less than $42.76 an hour ($88,940 a year) and half earn more than $48.80. First-year offers tend to sit near the lower figure, since hospital pay scales usually rise with experience.

That puts Minnesota 12th of the 50 states and DC for median RN pay.

$6.04 an hour separates the 25th percentile from the median here, close to the typical gap across the states.

The largest RN job market touching Minnesota is the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington area, with 43,600 RNs; that count includes nurses in Wisconsin.

When people search for new grad RN jobs in Minnesota, the places they name most often are Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester and Duluth.

The Minnesota Board of Nursing licenses RNs in Minnesota.

Minnesota is not in the Nurse Licensure Compact, so you need a Minnesota license to work here whatever license you hold elsewhere. If you studied in another state, you can apply to the Minnesota Board of Nursing for licensure by examination and take the NCLEX for Minnesota directly, or pass in your school's state and apply here by endorsement afterward.

Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, next door, are compact states, which matters if you might live on one side of the line and work on the other.

No. Minnesota's temporary permit is only for nurses licensed in another state or Canadian province applying by endorsement, and for nurses in a refresher course, so a new graduate waits for an RN license.

Source: Minnesota Statutes, section 148.212, read October 2026.

Of its neighboring states, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin do let new graduates work on a permit before passing. See every state's rule.

In 2025, 3,435 first-time, U.S.-educated candidates took the NCLEX-RN for a Minnesota license and 83.4% passed, 3.3 points below the national rate of 86.7%. That ranks Minnesota 46th of the 50 states and DC.

With 33 new-grad programs on our list, that is about 104 new test takers for each one, near the national figure of about 114.

The exam is the same everywhere; the rate tells you about the graduates who tested here, not about your own chances. See pass rates in every state.

Minnesota pays RNs more than any of its neighboring states.