Which Illinois nursing program has the lowest debt?

Kaskaskia College reports the lowest median federal debt, $8,250, with first-year pay of $63,081.

How much do nursing graduates earn in Illinois?

The median across 34 Illinois nursing associate's programs is $66,360 in the first year after graduating and $72,207 five years after. Registered nurses in Illinois earn a median of $95,990 across all experience levels.

How many nursing associate's programs are in Illinois?

34 Illinois programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 33 of them also report federal debt.

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

34 programs report first-year pay
33 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 Illinois nursing associate's program pays its graduates $66,360 in their first year, $2,162 less than the national median. Ambria College of Nursing reports the highest first-year pay ($75,461), and Kaskaskia College the lowest median debt ($8,250).

Median first-year pay$66,360National $68,521

Median pay after 5 years$72,207National $74,126

Median federal debt$14,500National $20,423

Debt-to-earnings22%National 29%

All 34 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	Ambria College of NursingHoffman Estates · private for-profit	$75,461	$98,515	$36,518	48%
2	Moraine Valley Community CollegePalos Hills · public	$73,137	$78,243	$19,345	26%
3	College of Lake CountyGrayslake · public	$72,472	$77,613	$12,005	17%
4	Joliet Junior CollegeJoliet · public	$71,988	$88,061	$18,617	26%
5	Elgin Community CollegeElgin · public	$71,721	$70,945	$10,793	15%
6	William Rainey Harper CollegePalatine · public	$70,929	$79,071	$15,000	21%
7	City Colleges of Chicago-Malcolm X CollegeChicago · public	$70,086	Not reported	$15,660	22%
8	Oakton CollegeDes Plaines · public	$69,434	$77,715	$10,000	14%
9	College of DuPageGlen Ellyn · public	$69,105	Not reported	$15,750	23%
10	Richland Community CollegeDecatur · public	$68,635	$71,957	$11,000	16%
11	Prairie State CollegeChicago Heights · public	$68,277	$74,487	$24,122	35%
12	Rock Valley CollegeRockford · public	$68,229	$84,227	$15,750	23%
13	John A Logan CollegeCarterville · public	$67,691	$68,615	$12,187	18%
14	John Wood Community CollegeQuincy · public	$67,467	$67,091	$18,957	28%
15	Danville Area Community CollegeDanville · public	$67,152	$70,676	$11,372	17%
16	Carl Sandburg CollegeGalesburg · public	$66,508	$62,857	$9,437	14%
17	Waubonsee Community CollegeSugar Grove · public	$66,440	$72,033	$14,500	22%
18	Lincoln Land Community CollegeSpringfield · public	$66,279	$72,380	$20,416	31%
19	Kankakee Community CollegeKankakee · public	$66,261	$76,724	$23,550	36%
20	Heartland Community CollegeNormal · public	$66,171	$65,436	$16,625	25%
21	Illinois Central CollegeEast Peoria · public	$65,741	$71,969	$16,781	26%
22	Southwestern Illinois CollegeBelleville · public	$65,290	$70,117	$14,615	22%
23	Morton CollegeCicero · public	$65,090	$83,366	$11,702	18%
24	Rend Lake CollegeIna · public	$63,852	$75,551	$11,875	19%
25	Lake Land CollegeMattoon · public	$63,651	$62,389	$8,950	14%
26	Kaskaskia CollegeCentralia · public	$63,081	$64,285	$8,250	13%
27	Triton CollegeRiver Grove · public	$63,003	$74,335	$18,209	29%
28	Illinois Valley Community CollegeOglesby · public	$62,734	$71,888	$12,175	19%
29	Highland Community College (Illinois)Freeport · public	$62,499	$68,531	$17,500	28%
30	Sauk Valley Community CollegeDixon · public	$62,129	$64,599	$14,379	23%
31	Black Hawk CollegeMoline · public	$61,000	$59,974	$14,250	23%
32	Lewis and Clark Community CollegeGodfrey · public	$60,115	$67,224	$12,500	21%
33	Illinois Eastern Community CollegesOlney · public	$59,329	$72,954	$14,437	24%
34	Shawnee Community CollegeUllin · public	$56,641	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported

Shawnee Community College reports pay but not debt, so it is ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every Illinois nursing program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 33 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Lowest median debt

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 Illinois

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

Registered Nurses

$95,990

Median pay in Illinois. 138,910 people work in this job in Illinois. 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%: $69,170Top 10%: $118,190

Common questions

Ambria College of Nursing in Hoffman Estates reports the highest median first-year pay, $75,461. Its median federal debt is $36,518.

Nursing (ADN) programs in the US, ranked845 programs by pay and debt Nursing (BSN) programs in Illinois, ranked32 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 Illinois 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