Which Florida nursing program has the lowest debt?

Northwest Florida State College reports the lowest median federal debt, $10,500, with first-year pay of $68,745.

How much do nursing graduates earn in Florida?

The median across 44 Florida nursing bachelor's programs is $76,361 in the first year after graduating and $89,276 five years after. Registered nurses in Florida earn a median of $84,190 across all experience levels.

How many nursing bachelor's programs are in Florida?

44 Florida programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 41 of them also report federal debt.

Nursing (BSN) Programs in Florida, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

44 programs report first-year pay
41 also report federal debt
Bachelor'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 Florida nursing bachelor's program pays its graduates $76,361 in their first year, $1,923 more than the national median. Valencia College reports the highest first-year pay ($93,751), and Northwest Florida State College the lowest median debt ($10,500).

Median first-year pay$76,361National $74,438

Median pay after 5 years$89,276National $81,525

Median federal debt$22,116National $27,000

Debt-to-earnings28%National 36%

All 44 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	Valencia CollegeOrlando · public	$93,751	Not reported	$22,158	24%
2	Miami Dade CollegeMiami · public	$90,158	Not reported	$12,500	14%
3	Seminole State College of FloridaSanford · public	$89,194	Not reported	$22,134	25%
4	Pasco-Hernando State CollegeNew Port Richey · public	$89,145	Not reported	$22,097	25%
5	Barry UniversityMiami · private nonprofit	$81,868	$91,933	$31,000	38%
6	Indian River State CollegeFort Pierce · public	$81,648	$93,083	$19,000	23%
7	Polk State CollegeWinter Haven · public	$81,004	$94,462	$22,416	28%
8	St Petersburg CollegeSt. Petersburg · public	$80,787	$87,906	$23,261	29%
9	Santa Fe CollegeGainesville · public	$80,242	Not reported	$20,572	26%
10	Saint Johns River State CollegePalatka · public	$79,275	Not reported	$16,729	21%
11	Broward CollegeFort Lauderdale · public	$79,135	$108,972	$18,842	24%
12	Jacksonville UniversityJacksonville · private nonprofit	$78,924	$92,956	$28,000	35%
13	FIUMiami · public	$78,671	$93,759	$18,895	24%
14	Palm Beach State CollegeLake Worth · public	$78,572	Not reported	$16,829	21%
15	College of Central FloridaOcala · public	$78,006	$112,178	$30,230	39%
16	FAUBoca Raton · public	$77,883	$89,276	$21,070	27%
17	Daytona State CollegeDaytona Beach · public	$77,838	$92,128	$17,051	22%
18	Florida State College at JacksonvilleJacksonville · public	$77,442	$96,992	$18,855	24%
19	Keiser UniversityFort Lauderdale · private nonprofit	$77,345	$99,079	$40,000	52%
20	Nova Southeastern UniversityFort Lauderdale · private nonprofit	$77,224	$87,721	$31,000	40%
21	Pensacola State CollegePensacola · public	$77,185	Not reported	$10,617	14%
22	University of North FloridaJacksonville · public	$76,508	$75,927	$18,750	25%
23	State College of Florida-Manatee-SarasotaBradenton · public	$76,214	$91,748	$26,360	35%
24	Florida Gateway CollegeLake City · public	$75,050	Not reported	$11,375	15%
25	University of MiamiCoral Gables · private nonprofit	$75,036	$85,878	$23,750	32%
26	Florida Southern CollegeLakeland · private nonprofit	$75,019	$80,669	$27,000	36%
27	Gulf Coast State CollegePanama City · public	$74,619	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
28	University of West FloridaPensacola · public	$73,787	$79,429	$21,740	29%
29	UCFOrlando · public	$73,765	$82,872	$21,000	28%
30	University of FloridaGainesville · public	$73,711	$77,478	$19,934	27%
31	USFTampa · public	$72,879	$85,063	$22,452	31%
32	University of TampaTampa · private nonprofit	$71,478	$94,082	$27,000	38%
33	AdventHealth UniversityOrlando · private nonprofit	$71,026	$83,265	$33,416	47%
34	Florida Gulf Coast UniversityFort Myers · public	$70,964	$79,851	$19,500	27%
35	Florida SouthWestern State CollegeFort Myers · public	$70,923	$90,986	$14,926	21%
36	St. Thomas UniversityMiami Gardens · private nonprofit	$70,805	Not reported	$35,500	50%
37	Southeastern UniversityLakeland · private nonprofit	$70,612	Not reported	$26,763	38%
38	Palm Beach Atlantic UniversityWest Palm Beach · private nonprofit	$70,586	$71,540	$25,348	36%
39	Florida National UniversityHialeah · private for-profit	$70,042	$91,684	$46,524	66%
40	Florida StateTallahassee · public	$69,997	$79,752	$22,030	31%
41	Ave Maria UniversityAve Maria · private nonprofit	$69,058	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
42	Northwest Florida State CollegeNiceville · public	$68,745	$87,244	$10,500	15%
43	Chipola CollegeMarianna · public	$65,998	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
44	FAMUTallahassee · public	$64,772	$91,473	$23,750	37%

Some nursing bachelor's programs are for nurses who are already licensed and working (RN-to-BSN). College Scorecard counts them with programs for new students, and their graduates' pay reflects years of nursing experience, so high pay at a program here may not mean higher starting pay for a new nurse.

Gulf Coast State College, Ave Maria University, and Chipola College report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay. One more program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every Florida nursing program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 41 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Valencia College$93,751
Miami Dade College$90,158
Seminole State College of Florida$89,194
Pasco-Hernando State College$89,145
Barry University$81,868

Lowest median debt

Northwest Florida State College$10,500
Pensacola State College$10,617
Florida Gateway College$11,375
Miami Dade College$12,500
Florida SouthWestern State College$14,926

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 Florida

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

Registered Nurses

$84,190

Median pay in Florida. 229,940 people work in this job in Florida. 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%: $67,970Top 10%: $120,330

Common questions

Valencia College in Orlando reports the highest median first-year pay, $93,751. Its median federal debt is $22,158.

Nursing (BSN) programs in the US, ranked895 programs by pay and debt Nursing (ADN) programs in Florida, ranked47 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 Florida rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the nursing bachelor'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