Registered Nurse Salary in Mississippi (2026)

Worth knowing: Mississippi's substantial post-Hurricane Katrina + Camille hurricane response training + experience is a distinctive structural feature of MS nursing most national RN surveys understate for the state. MS substantial coastal hurricane exposure (the substantial MS Coast exposure to Hurricane Katrina Aug 2005 + Category 3 at MS landfall + ~$125B+ MS Coast damage + Hurricane Camille Aug 1969 + Category 5 + the most intense US Gulf Coast hurricane at MS landfall + Hurricane Frederic 1979 + Hurricane Elena 1985 + Hurricane Georges 1998 + the substantial ongoing MS coastal hurricane response readiness) supports substantial seasonal MS RN hurricane surge + crisis travel rate work clearing $2,400-3,800+/wk at peak surge periods. UMMC (the only MS academic medical center + the only MS MD-granting institution + UMC Trauma Center I + Children's of Mississippi + ~10K employees + substantial Magnet-pathway nursing workforce) operates substantial in-house Magnet-pathway + academic + tertiary nursing across UMMC University Hospital + UMC Children's + UMMC Cancer Center. Senior UMMC Magnet RNs + Charge Nurses + Nurse Managers clear $78-132K+. North Mississippi Health Services Tupelo (~7K employees + the largest MS health system by some measures + Magnet-designated) supports substantial NE MS regional nursing. Memorial Hospital at Gulfport (the largest MS Coast hospital) + Singing River Health System Pascagoula + Ocean Springs support substantial MS Coast nursing serving Ingalls Pascagoula occupational + Keesler AFB MTF referrals + Biloxi-Gulfport gaming workforce + the substantial Gulf Coast post-disaster population. MS is a Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) state since 2001 (the country's first US NLC state alongside MD + NC + TX + WI) supporting MS RN practice across all 41+ NLC states. MS NP regulatory framework — MS remains REDUCED practice authority per AANP classification (collaborative practice agreement required for prescriptive authority — see nurse-practitioner entry). MS flat 4.0% by 2026 + MS personal exemption $6,000 single + no state estate tax + MS RTW since 1954 + MS retirement income FULL EXEMPTION + lower MS Coast + Jackson + Tupelo cost of living anchor the MS RN proposition.