Which Texas nursing program has the lowest debt?

UTRGV reports the lowest median federal debt, $11,674, with first-year pay of $77,619.

How much do nursing graduates earn in Texas?

The median across 48 Texas nursing bachelor's programs is $76,677 in the first year after graduating and $86,500 five years after. Registered nurses in Texas earn a median of $95,970 across all experience levels.

How many nursing bachelor's programs are in Texas?

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

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

48 programs report first-year pay
44 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 Texas nursing bachelor's program pays its graduates $76,677 in their first year, $2,239 more than the national median. West Coast University-Texas reports the highest first-year pay ($95,859), and UTRGV the lowest median debt ($11,674).

Median first-year pay$76,677National $74,438

Median pay after 5 years$86,500National $81,525

Median federal debt$25,161National $27,000

Debt-to-earnings34%National 36%

All 48 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	West Coast University-TexasRichardson · private for-profit	$95,859	$110,377	$38,145	40%
2	UH-Clear LakeHouston · public	$93,001	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
3	Baptist Health System School of Health ProfessionsSan Antonio · private for-profit	$91,456	$85,090	$43,010	47%
4	Austin Community College DistrictAustin · public	$88,105	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
5	Texas A&M-Central TexasKilleen · public	$88,036	Not reported	$22,750	26%
6	Schreiner UniversityKerrville · private nonprofit	$86,950	$93,241	$29,706	34%
7	University of HoustonHouston · public	$85,740	$90,501	$26,283	31%
8	UT ArlingtonArlington · public	$85,513	$97,855	$26,182	31%
9	University of St Thomas (Texas)Houston · private nonprofit	$83,793	Not reported	$24,607	29%
10	Lubbock Christian UniversityLubbock · private nonprofit	$83,470	$92,392	$31,000	37%
11	Prairie View A&M UniversityPrairie View · public	$83,218	$97,495	$27,392	33%
12	Sam Houston StateHuntsville · public	$82,463	$85,287	$26,504	32%
13	Hallmark UniversitySan Antonio · private nonprofit	$82,426	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
14	UTHealth HoustonHouston · public	$82,043	$93,264	$20,500	25%
15	UTMBGalveston · public	$80,433	$88,238	$20,500	25%
16	Houston Christian UniversityHouston · private nonprofit	$79,229	$94,329	$25,394	32%
17	Texas A&MCollege Station · public	$78,297	$85,772	$21,500	27%
18	Lamar UniversityBeaumont · public	$77,946	$94,100	$25,196	32%
19	Midwestern StateWichita Falls · public	$77,928	$88,837	$27,000	35%
20	TCUFort Worth · private nonprofit	$77,808	$91,050	$27,000	35%
21	UTRGVEdinburg · public	$77,619	$87,989	$11,674	15%
22	LeTourneau UniversityLongview · private nonprofit	$77,117	Not reported	$27,000	35%
23	Texas Tech University Health Sciences CenterLubbock · public	$77,083	$88,194	$22,000	29%
24	Southwestern Adventist UniversityKeene · private nonprofit	$76,795	$89,478	$31,000	40%
25	East Texas A&M UniversityCommerce · public	$76,559	$87,338	Not reported	Not reported
26	Texas Woman's UniversityDenton · public	$76,344	$87,683	$25,000	33%
27	University of Mary Hardin-BaylorBelton · private nonprofit	$76,167	$77,999	$28,656	38%
28	Baylor UniversityWaco · private nonprofit	$75,213	$81,389	$26,975	36%
29	UT AustinAustin · public	$75,095	$82,838	$19,651	26%
30	Texas A&M International UniversityLaredo · public	$75,009	$87,167	$13,750	18%
31	Tarleton StateStephenville · public	$74,753	$86,067	$26,000	35%
32	Stephen F. AustinNacogdoches · public	$74,683	$86,054	$25,125	34%
33	West Texas A&M UniversityCanyon · public	$74,531	$86,932	$22,884	31%
34	East Texas Baptist UniversityMarshall · private nonprofit	$74,452	$80,746	$26,000	35%
35	UT TylerTyler · public	$73,963	$79,481	$24,356	33%
36	Angelo StateSan Angelo · public	$73,544	$81,977	$24,875	34%
37	Concordia University TexasAustin · private nonprofit	$73,290	$81,278	$27,417	37%
38	Texas Tech University Health Scienes Center El PasoEl Paso · public	$73,235	Not reported	$25,000	34%
39	Texas StateSan Marcos · public	$72,861	$73,210	$23,250	32%
40	Abilene Christian UniversityAbilene · private nonprofit	$72,481	$75,745	$24,850	34%
41	UTEPEl Paso · public	$72,429	$84,537	$21,379	30%
42	Texas A&M-Corpus ChristiCorpus Christi · public	$71,760	$80,552	$25,000	35%
43	UT Permian BasinOdessa · public	$71,681	$60,414	$13,954	19%
44	UT Health San AntonioSan Antonio · public	$70,826	$81,823	$24,439	35%
45	Wayland Baptist UniversityPlainview · private nonprofit	$70,789	Not reported	$44,990	64%
46	Texas Lutheran UniversitySeguin · private nonprofit	$68,974	Not reported	$23,528	34%
47	Texas A&M-TexarkanaTexarkana · public	$67,768	$89,360	$28,663	42%
48	University of the Incarnate WordSan Antonio · private nonprofit	$64,720	$78,704	$27,574	43%

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.

UH-Clear Lake, Austin Community College District, Hallmark University, and East Texas A&M University report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every Texas nursing program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 44 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

West Coast University-Texas$95,859
UH-Clear Lake$93,001
Baptist Health System School of Health Professions$91,456
Austin Community College District$88,105
Texas A&M-Central Texas$88,036

Lowest median debt

UTRGV$11,674
Texas A&M International University$13,750
UT Permian Basin$13,954
UT Austin$19,651
UTHealth Houston$20,500

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 Texas

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

Registered Nurses

$95,970

Median pay in Texas. 271,380 people work in this job in Texas. 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%: $67,120Top 10%: $127,950

Common questions

West Coast University-Texas in Richardson reports the highest median first-year pay, $95,859. Its median federal debt is $38,145.

Nursing (BSN) programs in the US, ranked895 programs by pay and debt Nursing (ADN) programs in Texas, ranked49 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 Texas 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