According to a HealthJob analysis of state data, nurses in Minnesota are the highest paid in the country when taking into account the local cost of living.

In Minnesota, a registered nurse earns an average of $94,830 per year—the 12th highest average annual salary in the country. However, the significantly higher salaries in states like California ($139,770) and Hawaii ($120,110) don’t stretch that far. In fact, nurses in Hawaii are the lowest earners when you factor in the cost of living.

Minnesota’s higher wages are due in part to higher levels of unionization (although Hawaii and California both have higher unionization rates). About 38% of Minnesota nurses are union members, and thousands of them earned an 18% raise in 2022.

Mayo Clinic, the state’s largest employer, also pays its nurses salaries that are consistent with those negotiated by the nurses’ union at other health systems, even though the vast majority of nurses working there are not unionized.

This story was originally published on MinnesotaReformer.com.