New grad RN jobs and nurse residency programs in Washington

A quarter of Washington RNs earn less than $49.57 an hour ($103,100 a year) and half earn more than $59.71. First-year offers tend to sit near the lower figure, since hospital pay scales usually rise with experience.

Washington ranks 4th of the 50 states and DC for median RN pay, among the best-paid places to be a nurse in the country.

Pay is spread out in Washington: $10.14 an hour separates the 25th percentile from the median, a wider gap than in most states.

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue employs 39,900 RNs, 58% of the state's total, so most RN jobs in Washington are there.

When people search for new grad RN jobs in Washington, the places they name most often are Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane, Vancouver and Bellingham.

The Washington State Board of Nursing licenses RNs in Washington.

Washington is in the Nurse Licensure Compact. If Washington is your primary state of residence, the license you earn after the NCLEX can be multistate, valid in every compact state. Nurses who live in another compact state can work in Washington on their home state's multistate license.

Of its neighboring states, Idaho is in the compact; Oregon is not, so working there means a separate license.

No. Washington's temporary practice permit only covers applicants who have met every licensing requirement except the fingerprint background check. Passing the NCLEX is one of those requirements, so a new graduate waits for the license.

Source: Washington Administrative Code, WAC 246-840-095, read October 2026.

Of its neighboring states, Idaho does let new graduates work on a permit before passing. See every state's rule.

In 2025, 3,062 first-time, U.S.-educated candidates took the NCLEX-RN for a Washington license and 84.9% passed, 1.8 points below the national rate of 86.7%. That ranks Washington 42nd of the 50 states and DC.

Set against the 42 new-grad programs we track here, that is about 73 new test takers per program, fewer than 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.

Among its neighboring states, Oregon pays RNs the most, a median of $129,010.