Top Nursing Schools in Minnesota, Ranked by NCLEX-RN Pass Rates

In Minnesota, a nursing degree is just the prerequisite on the How to Become a Registered Nurse path; the NCLEX-RN is the actual gate to a license, and first-time pass rates among state prelicensure programs currently span from 92.3% to 100%. That spread can mean the difference between one attempt and a delayed start.

The real tradeoff is speed and cost versus credential level: Private vs Public Nursing School , a public community college ADN often costs under $7,000 in tuition and fees, while a private university BSN can exceed $40,000, but Twin Cities health systems increasingly hire with a BSN preference. A strong NCLEX record matters more than campus prestige, especially if you plan to start with a two-year program and transfer into a bachelor's track later.

Why NCLEX-RN Results Carry Three-Quarters of Our Score

The NCLEX-RN is the single standardized exam that stands between a nursing graduate and a license to practice. Pass it, and you can work as a registered nurse in Minnesota. Fail it, and your degree sits on a shelf until you retake. Because that exam determines whether a nursing education actually converts into a career, first-time pass performance drives roughly 75 percent of each program's score here.

How the Pass Rate Is Calculated

Rather than snapshotting a single year, the score draws on the Minnesota Board of Nursing's three most recent reporting years and weights each program's results by the number of candidates who sat for the exam, a method explained in How to Read NCLEX-RN Pass Rate Data. That matters: a cohort of twelve graduates can swing from 100 percent to 83 percent on one person's result, while a cohort of two hundred rarely moves much. Weighting by test takers keeps small-program noise from outranking consistent performers.

Tie-Breakers and What the Score Ignores

When pass rates sit close together, nursing program accreditation CCNE ACEN breaks the tie, with a smaller nudge from institution-wide completion and retention figures.

What the score does not measure: prestige, campus life, athletic reputation, or national opinion polls. Each school's card lists net price and completion rate, so you can weigh cost and persistence yourself, but those figures do not set the order. Note too that graduation rates reflect the full institution, not the nursing program alone.

Top Nursing Colleges in Minnesota Ranked by NCLEX-RN Outcomes (2027)

The Minnesota schools below are ordered by NCLEX-RN first-time pass rate, with accreditation status and completion outcomes used to break ties, so this list reads as a measure of licensure readiness rather than general reputation. It deliberately mixes two-year ADN and four-year BSN credentials, and each entry names its degree level so you can tell them apart at a glance. Cards show city, delivery format, in-state tuition, average net price after aid, and the institution's overall graduation rate; for exact pass-rate figures, see the Minnesota Board of Nursing table that follows.

Minnesota Board of Nursing Data: Program-by-Program NCLEX-RN Pass Rates

Bemidji State University and Minneapolis College post the strongest first-time NCLEX-RN pass rates among the Minnesota programs with confirmed figures, at 92.50% and 91.25%. Bemidji is the BSN standout, and Minneapolis College is the ADN standout. Both numbers are for the 2024 calendar year and come from Minnesota Board of Nursing reporting, with Minneapolis College's own outcomes page also publishing its result.

BSN Programs

• Bemidji State University: 92.50% first-time pass rate, based on 40 test takers.
• Bethany Lutheran College: Only 2 test takers were reported for 2024, and the rate was not available to us. A cohort that small swings wildly, so a single result tells you little.

ADN Programs

• Minneapolis College: 91.25% first-time pass rate for 2024. A test-taker count was not available in the data we reviewed.

How They Compare

Statewide, Minnesota's associate degree programs averaged 88.86% in 2024, and baccalaureate and higher-degree programs averaged 90.05% , a BSN vs ADN NCLEX pass rate comparison in which Bemidji sits about 2.5 points above the BSN average and Minneapolis College sits about 2.4 points above the ADN average.

The national benchmarks come from the Key Takeaways from the 2026 NCSBN Midyear Meeting. All first-time US candidates passed at 86.71%, and first-time graduates of 4-year BSN programs passed at 87.1%.¹ The Minnesota figures are from 2024, so the comparison is close but not exact. Minnesota's averages still run ahead of the national numbers.

What This Data Doesn't Show

The Board publishes complete program-by-program results in its Annual Nursing Education Program Report and its Education Statistical Data pages. The excerpts we could confirm did not expose every program's row, so we are not filling the gaps with estimates. Before you apply, check the Board's latest tables for the school you are considering. Look at several years of results rather than one, and weigh the test-taker count, since a high rate on a handful of candidates carries less weight than the same rate on dozens.

2-Year Nursing Programs in Minnesota: ADN, LPN-to-RN, and the BSN Transfer Route

The push toward BSN-preferred hiring in the Twin Cities has not closed the door on the two-year route; it has reshaped how students use it. Associate Degree in Nursing programs at Minnesota State community and technical colleges still lead to an Associate of Science and make graduates eligible to take the NCLEX-RN, and full-time students typically finish in about two years.

How the MANE shared curriculum works

The Minnesota Alliance for Nursing Education links a group of community colleges with Metropolitan State University around a single shared nursing curriculum. Partner colleges in 2026 include Anoka-Ramsey, Century, Inver Hills, Normandale, North Hennepin, Ridgewater, and Riverland. Students admitted to MANE at a partner campus are dually admitted to Metropolitan State through Dual Admission Nursing Programs, so the coursework is built to carry forward rather than be repeated. The final three semesters of the BSN are delivered by Metropolitan State in hybrid and online formats, and dually admitted students can complete them on their community college campus or at the St. Paul campus. Every course in the sequence must be passed with a C or better, and students continuing to the BSN need statistics if it is required for graduation.

If you finish an associate degree outside the MANE model and license as an RN, the separate RN to BSN Programs in Minnesota at Metropolitan State, offered online and in hybrid cohorts, are the usual completion route.

LPN-to-RN mobility

Working LPNs can bridge into an associate degree rather than start over. These programs commonly run 18 to 24 months depending on prerequisites and part-time pacing. At M State, which offers the bridge at Detroit Lakes, Fergus Falls, Moorhead, and Wadena, graduates of a practical nursing degree who hold an active, unencumbered license receive 11 credits for prior learning, then complete a 2-credit transition course before joining the second year of the ADN curriculum. Admission expectations include a qualifying HSRT-AD score of at least 70 percent, a minimum GPA in the 2.5 to 3.0 range, and background screening. Requirements vary by college, so verify with the program directly.

The trade-off worth planning around

An ADN is faster and cheaper up front. But many Twin Cities hospital systems prefer or require a BSN for new hires, so decide on your completion path before you enroll, not after graduation.

Cheapest Nursing Schools in Minnesota by Net Price

Net price is the average yearly cost students actually paid after grants and scholarships, averaged across the whole institution, so your own figure may be higher or lower depending on income and aid. Riverland Community College leads at $7,427, and every low-cost option shown here is a public two-year community or technical college offering an ACEN- or NLN CNEA-accredited ADN with a transfer path to a BSN. For budget-minded students, starting with an associate degree and finishing the BSN later remains one of the most affordable routes to RN licensure in Minnesota.

Registered Nurse Pay in Minnesota

Minnesota RNs earn above the national median, which helps offset the cost and time of a nursing degree.

Minnesota Board of Nursing Licensure Snapshot

Additional Minnesota Nursing Programs Worth a Look

The directory below rounds out the Minnesota listings beyond the ranked programs above, grouped by region so you can see what is available close to home or work. Each entry notes the city, degree level, delivery format, and the reported average net price for the school. Several of these are associate degree pathways that lead straight to the NCLEX-RN, while others are four-year BSN programs with transfer or bridge options for working nurses.

Twin Cities Area

Central Minnesota

South Central Minnesota

Southeast Minnesota

Southwest Minnesota

Northeast Minnesota

Northwest Minnesota

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