Which Missouri nursing program has the lowest debt?

Missouri State University-West Plains reports the lowest median federal debt, $13,000, with first-year pay of $56,681.

How much do nursing graduates earn in Missouri?

The median across 20 Missouri nursing associate's programs is $63,205 in the first year after graduating and $67,117 five years after. Registered nurses in Missouri earn a median of $81,780 across all experience levels.

How many nursing associate's programs are in Missouri?

20 Missouri programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 20 of them also report federal debt.

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

20 programs report first-year pay
20 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 Missouri nursing associate's program pays its graduates $63,205 in their first year, $5,317 less than the national median. St Charles Community College reports the highest first-year pay ($68,488), and Missouri State University-West Plains the lowest median debt ($13,000).

Median first-year pay$63,205National $68,521

Median pay after 5 years$67,117National $74,126

Median federal debt$21,188National $20,423

Debt-to-earnings33%National 29%

All 20 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	St Charles Community CollegeCottleville · public	$68,488	$71,018	$18,712	27%
2	Saint Louis Community CollegeBridgeton · public	$68,262	$71,595	$16,667	24%
3	Jefferson CollegeHillsboro · public	$67,439	$71,664	$22,554	33%
4	Southeast Missouri Hospital College of Nursing and Health SciencesCape Girardeau · private nonprofit	$67,421	$65,830	$23,500	35%
5	Moberly Area Community CollegeMoberly · public	$67,023	$63,437	$17,587	26%
6	North Central Missouri CollegeTrenton · public	$66,504	$67,614	$24,667	37%
7	Three Rivers CollegePoplar Bluff · public	$65,883	$65,332	$17,490	27%
8	Columbia College (Missouri)Columbia · private nonprofit	$65,768	$71,225	$30,500	46%
9	Hannibal-LaGrange UniversityHannibal · private nonprofit	$63,863	$68,143	$26,174	41%
10	Metropolitan Community College-Kansas CityKansas City · public	$63,534	$77,599	$21,188	33%
11	Crowder CollegeNeosho · public	$62,875	$66,620	$14,528	23%
12	East Central CollegeUnion · public	$62,554	$68,499	$16,125	26%
13	Lincoln University (Missouri)Jefferson City · public	$62,183	$76,451	$32,500	52%
14	State Fair Community CollegeSedalia · public	$61,389	$64,020	$19,525	32%
15	Ozarks Technical Community CollegeSpringfield · public	$61,192	$62,947	$18,250	30%
16	Mineral Area CollegePark Hills · public	$60,071	$67,953	$15,666	26%
17	Southwest Baptist UniversityBolivar · private nonprofit	$59,620	$62,412	$27,408	46%
18	Cox CollegeSpringfield · private nonprofit	$58,667	$62,919	$32,896	56%
19	Missouri State University-West PlainsWest Plains · public	$56,681	$60,237	$13,000	23%
20	Bolivar Technical CollegeBolivar · private nonprofit	$56,383	Not reported	$25,258	45%

One more program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every Missouri nursing program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 20 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

St Charles Community College$68,488
Saint Louis Community College$68,262
Jefferson College$67,439
Southeast Missouri Hospital College of Nursing and Health Sciences$67,421
Moberly Area Community College$67,023

Lowest median debt

Missouri State University-West Plains$13,000
Crowder College$14,528
Mineral Area College$15,666
East Central College$16,125
Saint Louis Community College$16,667

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 Missouri

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

Registered Nurses

$81,780

Median pay in Missouri. 76,310 people work in this job in Missouri. 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%: $63,230Top 10%: $104,390

Common questions

St Charles Community College in Cottleville reports the highest median first-year pay, $68,488. Its median federal debt is $18,712.

Nursing (ADN) programs in the US, ranked845 programs by pay and debt Nursing (BSN) programs in Missouri, ranked26 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 Missouri 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