2025 Best Nursing Bachelor's Degree Schools in Tennessee

Nursing is of the hottest bachelor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #2 most popular major in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 25 schools in Tennessee to determine which ones were the best for nursing students pursuing a bachelor's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 3,072 bachelor's degrees in nursing to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Nursing School for Your Bachelor's Degree

The nursing bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality nursing program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on nursing students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of nursing students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for nursing to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized nursing related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for nursing students working on their bachelor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Nursing Bachelor's Degree Schools in Tennessee list to help you make the college decision.

In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Nursing in Tennessee

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in nursing.

10 Top Tennessee Schools for a Bachelor's in Nursing

1

The University of Tennessee - Health Science Center
Memphis, TN

74 Annual Graduates

$70,619 Median Starting Salary

The University of Tennessee - Health Science Center is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in nursing. UTHSC is a small public university located in the city of Memphis.

Those nursing students who get their bachelor's degree from The University of Tennessee - Health Science Center earn $3,177 more than the standard nursing student.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from The University of Tennessee - Health Science Center

2

Union University
Jackson, TN

115 Annual Graduates

$68,399 Median Starting Salary

$39,000 Median Student Debt

Union University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in nursing. Union is a small private not-for-profit university located in the city of Jackson.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the nursing program report average early career earnings of $68,399.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from Union University

3

East Tennessee State University
Johnson City, TN

588 Annual Graduates

$64,459 Median Starting Salary

$17,297 Median Student Debt

It's hard to beat East Tennessee State University if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in nursing. Located in the city of Johnson City, ETSU is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the nursing program make around $64,459 in the first couple years of working.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from East Tennessee State University

4

Southern Adventist University
Collegedale, TN

63 Annual Graduates

$66,005 Median Starting Salary

$32,177 Median Student Debt

Southern Adventist University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in nursing. Southern Adventist is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Collegedale.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the nursing program make an average of $66,005 in their early career salary.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from Southern Adventist University

5

The University of Tennessee - Knoxville
Knoxville, TN

239 Annual Graduates

$65,298 Median Starting Salary

$29,007 Median Student Debt

Located in the city of Knoxville, UT Knoxville is a public university with a very large student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the nursing program state that they receive average early career earnings of $65,298.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from The University of Tennessee - Knoxville

6

Belmont University
Nashville, TN

205 Annual Graduates

$67,072 Median Starting Salary

$64,849 Median Student Debt

Belmont is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Nashville.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the nursing program state that they receive average early career wages of $67,072.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from Belmont University

7

University of Memphis
Memphis, TN

293 Annual Graduates

$73,680 Median Starting Salary

$11,592 Median Student Debt

UofM is a very large public university located in the large city of Memphis.

Bachelor's recipients from the nursing major at University of Memphis earn $6,238 above the standard college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from University of Memphis

8

King University
Bristol, TN

67 Annual Graduates

$68,012 Median Starting Salary

King is a small private not-for-profit university located in the city of Bristol.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the nursing program earn around $68,012 in their early career salary.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from King University

9

Baptist Memorial College of Health Sciences
Memphis, TN

123 Annual Graduates

$74,962 Median Starting Salary

$13,217 Median Student Debt

Baptist College of Health Sciences is a fairly small private not-for-profit college located in the city of Memphis.

Those nursing students who get their bachelor's degree from Baptist Memorial College of Health Sciences make $7,520 more than the average nursing graduate.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from Baptist Memorial College of Health Sciences

10

Lincoln Memorial University
Harrogate, TN

104 Annual Graduates

$59,588 Median Starting Salary

$9,740 Median Student Debt

LMU is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the distant town of Harrogate.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the nursing program make an average of $59,588 in their early career salary.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from Lincoln Memorial University

Best Nursing Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Nursing Colleges in the Southeast Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Florida	225	9,015
Georgia	224	3,954
North Carolina	213	3,488
Virginia	213	3,096
South Carolina	195	1,605
Kentucky	187	2,530
Alabama	184	2,607
Louisiana	171	1,963
Mississippi	169	1,307
Arkansas	167	1,371
West Virginia	147	774

View All Rankings >

Nursing Related Rankings by Major

One of 34 majors within the Health Professions area of study, Nursing has other similar majors worth exploring.

Nursing Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Registered Nursing	3,070
Nursing Practice	2

Most Popular Majors Related to Nursing

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Allied Health Professions	200
Communication Sciences	197
Health & Medical Administrative Services	147
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	142
Health/Medical Prep Programs	123
Other Health Professions	122
Dental Support Services	117
Public Health	110
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science	92
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	57

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to Aleksahgabrielle. More about our data sources and methodologies.