Nursing school NCLEX pass rates by state: what the numbers mean and how to use them

NCLEX pass rates are the single most objective data point you have when evaluating nursing programs – but most applicants don’t know how to read them, where to find them, or what the numbers mean. This guide walks you through how state-level and school-level pass rate data works, what counts as a red flag, and how to fold this information into your program decision.

Key points

• First-time NCLEX pass rate is the gold standard metric – retake rates mask school quality.
• The national first-time pass rate for US-educated NCLEX-RN candidates was 86.7% in 2025 (167,272 of 192,916), down from 91.2% in 2024. That is your benchmark.
• State nursing boards publish pass rate data publicly, usually annually. NCSBN aggregates national data.
• Rates fell across most states in 2025, so compare any program against the current year’s national figure rather than a pre-2025 benchmark. A school at a 75–80% first-time rate remains well below normal.
• Pass rates alone don’t tell you everything – consider NCLEX-RN vs. NCLEX-PN, program type (ADN vs. BSN), and cohort size.
• Low pass rates at a state level can indicate regulatory pressure, changing exam content, or lower-resourced programs.

Why first-time pass rate is the metric that matters

Programs sometimes advertise “NCLEX pass rates” without specifying whether they’re counting first-time test-takers or everyone who eventually passed after retakes. These are very different numbers.

First-time pass rate (also called first-attempt pass rate): the percentage of graduates who pass NCLEX on their first attempt. This is what you want.

Overall pass rate: can include students who failed once, twice, or more before eventually passing. Some programs report this figure to make their numbers look better.

When comparing schools, always ask specifically for first-time NCLEX pass rate data. Most state boards publish this information by school, and the NCLEX pass rates by nursing school guide covers how to find school-specific data.

Where to find NCLEX pass rate data by state

State boards of nursing

Every state board of nursing is required to publish program pass rate data. The format varies: some post PDFs annually, others have searchable databases. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) maintains a directory of all state boards at ncsbn.org.

To find your state’s data:

1. Search “[State] Board of Nursing NCLEX pass rates” or “[State] Board of Nursing program data”
2. Look for a “Program Statistics” or “School Data” section
3. Filter by year and credential type (RN vs. PN)

NCSBN national data

NCSBN publishes aggregate national pass rate statistics annually. Their reports break down pass rates by:

• Candidate type (US-educated, internationally educated)
• Credential (RN vs. PN)
• First-time vs. repeat attempts
• Education level (diploma, ADN, BSN)

The NCSBN data won’t show you individual school pass rates but gives you a reliable national benchmark to compare against.

State-level NCLEX-RN first-time pass rates: national context

The national first-time pass rate for US-educated NCLEX-RN candidates was 86.7% in calendar 2025 – 167,272 passes out of 192,916 candidates. State-level results ranged from about 79% to about 93%.

Source: NCSBN, “2025 NCLEX Examination Statistics,” Research Brief Vol. 96, June 2026, Table 8. Selected jurisdictions shown; the full table covers all US states and territories.

Two things follow from this distribution. The first is that the spread between the strongest and weakest states runs to roughly 14 percentage points, so a state average is a weak predictor of any individual program’s result. The second is that these numbers moved substantially in a single year – the national figure fell 4.5 points from 91.2% in 2024, and several states fell further than that. Utah dropped from 86.5% to 79.1%; Nebraska, which led most of the country at 95.1% in 2024, came in at 90.4%. Judge a program against the same year’s national figure, never against a benchmark you memorized two years ago.

States with large numbers of nursing programs – California, Texas, Florida, New York – show more variation within their state data because they include everything from well-resourced university BSN programs to smaller community college ADN programs with fewer support resources. Florida’s 81.8% is the clearest example: its associate-degree cohort passed at 80.5% across 11,123 candidates while its baccalaureate cohort passed at 87.3%.

The all-candidates figure is a different number

You will frequently see the 2025 NCLEX-RN pass rate quoted at around 69%. That is the all-candidates figure (226,946 passes of 328,443), and it blends in repeat test-takers and internationally educated candidates, both of whom pass at much lower rates – internationally educated repeat candidates passed at 30.5%. Comparing a US nursing program’s graduates against that number will make almost any program look excellent. Use the first-time, US-educated rate of 86.7%.

How to compare pass rates across program types

Not all NCLEX results should be compared apples-to-apples. Several factors shape pass rates that have nothing to do with how well a school teaches.

ADN vs. BSN programs

BSN graduates pass NCLEX at slightly higher rates than ADN graduates on first attempt, though the national gap is narrower than most applicants assume: 87.6% versus 86.1% in 2025, a difference of 1.5 percentage points. The gap reflects program length, content coverage, and a somewhat different student population as much as school quality.

Because that national gap is so small, a community college ADN program should be held to close to the same standard as a four-year BSN program. What you’re looking for is underperformance relative to similar programs of the same type in the same state. The ADN vs. BSN comparison covers the program structure differences in detail.

Cohort size matters

A program that graduates 12 students per year and has a 75% pass rate has 3 students who didn’t pass. A program graduating 200 students with 80% has 40 who didn’t. Statistically, smaller cohorts produce more volatile year-to-year numbers. A single bad year for a small program looks catastrophic on paper.

Look at multi-year averages (3–5 years) rather than a single year’s data when evaluating small programs.

Regional accreditation vs. NCLEX accreditation

Accreditation by ACEN (Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing) or CCNE (Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education) is distinct from NCLEX pass rate performance, but accredited programs tend to have stronger support systems and more consistent outcomes. The nursing school accreditation guide explains what each accreditor covers.

What counts as a red flag

Below 80% first-time pass rate

The NCSBN doesn’t set a mandatory minimum pass rate, but many state boards do – typically around 80% over a rolling period. Programs that fall below this threshold face scrutiny, conditional approval, or in serious cases, loss of state approval. With the 2025 national figure at 86.7%, an 80% threshold now sits closer to the national average than it did a year ago, so check whether your state board has revised its standard.

If a school you’re considering has published first-time pass rates below 80% in recent years, investigate further:

• Was the low rate a one-off year (small cohort, unusual circumstances)?
• Is the program currently on conditional approval with the state board?
• What is the program’s response? Has leadership changed? Have curriculum changes been made?

Declining trend over 3+ years

A program whose pass rate has dropped from 92% to 86% to 79% over three years is showing a structural problem, not a blip. A single-year dip followed by recovery is normal. A consistent downward trend is not.

No published data

Any accredited nursing program is required to make pass rate data available. If a program cannot produce this data when you ask, or directs you to vague marketing materials instead of actual numbers, treat that as a significant warning. You can also request this information directly from your state board – the school doesn’t control what the board publishes.

How to use pass rate data in your application decision

Pass rates should be one input among several. A school with a 94% pass rate and no clinical placement support, punishing attrition rates, or serious accreditation issues may not be the right choice. The how to choose a nursing school guide covers the full evaluation framework.

That said, here’s how to weight pass rate data practically:

Use it as a filter, not a ranking. First, eliminate any programs with consistently poor pass rates (below 80% first-time over 3 years). Then evaluate the remaining programs on other dimensions.

Ask programs directly. Most nursing school admissions pages publish pass rate data. If they don’t, email the program director and ask for first-time pass rate figures for the past three years. Their willingness to share – and the actual numbers – are both informative.

Request state board data as a cross-check. Schools control what they publish on their websites. State board data is independently verified. Cross-check the numbers.

Consider your own NCLEX preparation separately. Your school’s pass rate is a population-level measure. Your outcome depends on how you prepare. A strong NCLEX study plan matters regardless of which program you attend.

NCLEX pass rate by education level: national averages

NCSBN tracks pass rates by candidate education level. For first-time, US-educated candidates in 2025:

Source: NCSBN, “2025 NCLEX Examination Statistics,” Research Brief Vol. 96, June 2026, Table 8.

The gap between BSN and ADN graduates is 1.5 percentage points nationally – far smaller than the 5–8 point gap often assumed, and small enough that it should carry little weight in a decision between two otherwise comparable programs. Diploma programs trail both but represent barely 1% of all candidates, so their rate moves sharply year to year on small numbers. Individual programs within each category range widely.

What changed with the Next Generation NCLEX (NGN)

The NCLEX transitioned to the Next Generation NCLEX format in 2023, introducing new item types focused on clinical judgment. When reviewing historical pass rate data, note whether you’re looking at pre-2023 or post-2023 figures. The two aren’t directly comparable.

The pattern since the transition has been uneven. First-time US-educated pass rates held above 91% through 2024, then fell to 86.7% in 2025 – the first national decline since the NGN launched. NCSBN’s 2025 statistics show the drop was broad rather than concentrated in a few states, which points to something systemic rather than a handful of struggling programs.

For an applicant, the practical consequence is that a program whose rate fell several points between 2024 and 2025 was probably moving with the national tide. Compare each year’s program figure against that same year’s national number, and look for a program that consistently sits above the national line rather than one whose absolute number happens to look high in an older report.

Checklist: evaluating NCLEX pass rate data for a school

Use this list when researching any program:

• Located first-time (not overall) pass rate data
• Reviewed at least 3 consecutive years of data
• Compared pass rates to state average and national benchmark for same program type
• Checked whether program is currently on conditional approval with state board
• Confirmed accreditation status (ACEN or CCNE)
• Cross-referenced school-published data with state board published data
• Noted cohort size (small cohort = more variable year-to-year)
• Reviewed school’s NCLEX first attempt strategy resources or equivalent support offerings

Bottom line

NCLEX pass rates are the most transparent, externally verified measure of program outcomes you have access to as an applicant. A consistently strong first-time pass rate (above 90%, sustained over multiple years) is a meaningful positive signal. A weak or declining rate warrants serious investigation before you commit.

Don’t accept marketing language in place of actual data. Request the numbers, compare them to state board records, and put them in context alongside program type, cohort size, and accreditation status. Used correctly, this data is one of the most useful filters in your program evaluation process.

References

1. National Council of State Boards of Nursing, “2025 NCLEX Examination Statistics,” Research Brief Vol. 96, June 2026 (Table 1: candidates by type; Table 8: first-time, US-educated candidates by jurisdiction and degree type).
2. National Council of State Boards of Nursing, “2024 NCLEX Examination Statistics,” Research Brief Vol. 94, July 2025 (prior-year comparison figures).
3. National Council of State Boards of Nursing, “Next Generation NCLEX (NGN): Clinical Judgment Measurement Model and Item Types,” NCSBN, 2023.
4. National Council of State Boards of Nursing, “NCLEX Pass Rates and Examination Statistics Archive,” NCSBN, accessed 2026.
5. National Council of State Boards of Nursing, “Boards of Nursing Contact Information and Directory,” NCSBN, 2026.
6. Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing, “ACEN Accreditation Manual: Standards and Criteria,” ACEN, 2023 edition.
7. Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, “Standards for Accreditation of Baccalaureate and Graduate Nursing Programs,” American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2024 edition.
8. National Council of State Boards of Nursing, “2023 NCLEX Examination Statistics,” Research Brief Vol. 88, June 2024 (post-NGN transition baseline).

Lindsay Smith is an Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner (AGPCNP).