Objective To investigate the current status and influencing factors of the subjective social status of nurses in Shanghai. Methods A total of 6,539 nurses were recruited from 19 tertiary hospitals in Shanghai by convenience sampling, and the general information questionnaire, the MacArthur Subjective Socioeconomic Status Scale, the Organizational Justice Scale, and the Nurse Professional Benefit Questionnaire were used to conduct the investigation. Results The total score of subjective social status was 5.50±1.34, the total score of sense of organizational justice was 77.97±14.83, and the total score of professional benefit was 115.90±19.39. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that gender, presence of children, initial education, after-tax annual income, department, position, household location, number of experiences of nurse-patient conflicts, organizational justice and professional benefit were the influencing factors of nurses′ subjective social status (all P<0.05), together explaining 35.7% of the total variance. Conclusion The subjective social status of nurses in tertiary hospitals in Shanghai is at a moderate level. It is suggested that measures such as increasing nurses′ income, promoting the development of nursing higher education, improving the professionalism of nursing work, and improving the sense of organizational justice and professional benefit can be taken to improve nurses′ subjective social status.