Which Arizona nursing program has the lowest debt?

Cochise County Community College District reports the lowest median federal debt, $10,339, with first-year pay of $69,412.

How much do nursing graduates earn in Arizona?

The median across 18 Arizona nursing associate's programs is $73,569 in the first year after graduating and $79,516 five years after. Registered nurses in Arizona earn a median of $99,500 across all experience levels.

How many nursing associate's programs are in Arizona?

18 Arizona programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 17 of them also report federal debt.

Nursing (ADN) Programs in Arizona, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

18 programs report first-year pay
17 also report federal debt
Associate's in Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Arizona nursing associate's program pays its graduates $73,569 in their first year, $5,048 more than the national median. Estrella Mountain Community College reports the highest first-year pay ($78,359), and Cochise County Community College District the lowest median debt ($10,339).

Median first-year pay$73,569National $68,521

Median pay after 5 years$79,516National $74,126

Median federal debt$22,750National $20,423

Debt-to-earnings31%National 29%

All 18 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	Estrella Mountain Community CollegeAvondale · public	$78,359	$80,098	$34,003	43%
2	Carrington College-Phoenix NorthPhoenix · private for-profit	$76,515	$84,782	$32,969	43%
3	Glendale Community CollegeGlendale · public	$75,418	$84,177	$24,741	33%
4	Yavapai CollegePrescott · public	$74,560	$76,489	$21,500	29%
5	GateWay Community CollegePhoenix · public	$74,062	$82,413	$21,225	29%
6	Mohave Community CollegeKingman · public	$73,774	$76,679	$17,812	24%
7	Scottsdale Community CollegeScottsdale · public	$73,683	$77,569	$21,230	29%
8	Mesa Community CollegeMesa · public	$73,639	$80,387	$22,750	31%
9	Pima Community CollegeTucson · public	$73,629	$79,158	$18,500	25%
10	Pima Medical Institute-TucsonTucson · private for-profit	$73,509	$80,597	$29,761	40%
11	Phoenix CollegePhoenix · public	$72,843	$78,522	$22,937	31%
12	Paradise Valley Community CollegePhoenix · public	$71,136	$79,516	$25,000	35%
13	Northland Pioneer CollegeHolbrook · public	$71,105	Not reported	$11,601	16%
14	Eastern Arizona CollegeThatcher · public	$70,074	$77,350	Not reported	Not reported
15	Central Arizona CollegeCoolidge · public	$70,026	Not reported	$16,300	23%
16	Cochise County Community College DistrictSierra Vista · public	$69,412	$76,981	$10,339	15%
17	Coconino Community CollegeFlagstaff · public	$68,955	$86,969	$29,500	43%
18	Chandler-Gilbert Community CollegeChandler · public	$67,572	$83,638	$22,806	34%

Eastern Arizona College reports pay but not debt, so it is ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every Arizona nursing program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Arizona medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 17 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Estrella Mountain Community College$78,359
Carrington College-Phoenix North$76,515
Glendale Community College$75,418
Yavapai College$74,560
GateWay Community College$74,062

Lowest median debt

Cochise County Community College District$10,339
Northland Pioneer College$11,601
Central Arizona College$16,300
Mohave Community College$17,812
Pima Community College$18,500

Lowest debt for the pay

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

What registered nurses earn in Arizona

Pay for registered nurses in Arizona, across all experience levels, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Registered Nurses

$99,500

Median pay in Arizona. 73,150 people work in this job in Arizona. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 180,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $70,540Top 10%: $130,930

Common questions

Estrella Mountain Community College in Avondale reports the highest median first-year pay, $78,359. Its median federal debt is $34,003.

Nursing (ADN) programs in the US, ranked845 programs by pay and debt Nursing (BSN) programs in Arizona, ranked8 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Arizona rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the nursing associate's programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

Sources

U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024