Turnover Cost: Registered Nurses, California (2025)

Verified cost of employee turnover for the selected Registered Nurses population in California, United States, drawn from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2025-may).

Estimated cost of turnover

Registered Nurses · California, United States

$75,100 – $300,600estimated range, 2025-may

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Estimated from a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics annual mean wage of $150,280 for Registered Nurses in California, United States (2025-may), multiplied by the 0.5×–2× cost of replacing an employee reported by SHRM and Gallup. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the wage, not the cost — the range is a planning estimate, and a real figure depends on time-to-fill, ramp-up, and lost productivity.

How Registered Nurses compares in California, United States

Annual mean wage — the input to the estimate above, compared directly rather than as a derived range. See all 33 industries.

  • Computer and Information Systems Managers
  • General and Operations Managers
  • Registered Nurses
  • Information Security Analysts
  • Home Health and Personal Care Aides

What this means

Turnover costs scale with wages, and California's Registered Nurses earned an annual mean wage of $150,280 in May 2025 (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Replacing one nurse costs an estimated $75,100 to $300,600, using SHRM's replacement-cost multiple of 50% to 200% of annual salary. The spread between those figures comes down to how fast you hire, how thorough training is, and how long the productivity ramp-up takes.

Estimated cost of turnover: Registered Nurses vs regional average

Estimated cost of turnover in California, United States, 2025-may. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
MeasureRegistered NursesRegional average
Estimated cost of turnover$150,280$104,696

Related benchmarks

BenchmarkAccountants and Auditors, California, United StatesEstimated cost of turnover: $103,760 (2025-may).BenchmarkAssemblers and Fabricators, California, United StatesEstimated cost of turnover: $51,060 (2025-may).BenchmarkAutomotive Service Technicians and Mechanics, California, United StatesEstimated cost of turnover: $65,470 (2025-may).BenchmarkComputer Network Architects, California, United StatesEstimated cost of turnover: $161,350 (2025-may).