How much do you make?

allnurses Guide · Jan 25, 2013

When did majors start making $140k?

This will be my pay as a Major with 12yrs for my duty location.Base pay 6803.00/moBAH. pay 2808.00/moBAS. Pay 242.00/moOCola pay 1150.00/mo (varies monthly)132,036/yr + bonuses and certification pay puts me well above 140,000/yr.

manusko · Jan 25, 2013

This will be my pay as a Major with 12yrs for my duty location.Base pay 6803.00/moBAH. pay 2808.00/moBAS. Pay 242.00/moOCola pay 1150.00/mo (varies monthly)132036/yr + bonuses and certification pay puts me well above 140,000/yr.[/quote']
Yeah with the cola and the bonus That makes more sense. Plus the untaxed portion is great. The extra military pay depends on where you live and what job you have as well.

SRNA4U, BSN, DNP, RN, CRNA · Jan 26, 2013

That isn't necessarily true. I have seen several CRNA jobs advertised in "southern states" in the 200-300K/yr range. The lowest pay states seem to be the ones with the most CRNA school.

In the South, I was referring to states such as MS, LA, AL, FL, SC, etc. There have been articles written regarding the low end in salaries for CRNAs in those states, especially the ones that have a lot of programs.

SRNA4U, BSN, DNP, RN, CRNA · Jan 26, 2013

When did majors start making $140k?

My BAH (housing allowance) is around $2770 for the DC area, which has a higher cost of living as compared to a person with the same rank as living in CA or TX. I also moonlight as an OR nurse in the DC area and I make around $55/hr for PRN and I get time and half when I get called in for a case. Being a single Major definintely has it benefits. The good thing about the military is that our BAH and BAS (food allowance) are all tax free. So the only thing that gets reported for tax purposes are our base pay.

Once you make Captain and have been in that rank around the 4th or 5th year, you can easily start to hit the 6 figures a year mark. If you deploy, such as I am now, then your whole pay is tax exempt while you are gone, which is a reason why so many military members volunteer to deploy.\

Since I will be using my Post 9/11 GI Bill for CRNA school, I will get paid $1800/month for housing and my tuition will be covered (about 40%) from the military and since my program is a private school, they are covering the rest of the tuition, which means I won't need any loans and my tuition is already taken care of. Also, with the bonuses we get, I have saved well over 6 figures to live off of when I am in school for the 28 months without having to work at all. I will tell anybody, the military is the place to go for the best educational benefits.

Since my program offers all their core courses online, I will only be left with my actual anesthesia courses, which will end up being about 2-3 classes a quarter, which will lighten my load considerably allowing me to just focus on those courses. A couple of quarters, I will be down to just 1 anesthesia class towards the end of the program. I know some programs like the military schools, yo are taking around 18 cr hrs of classes a semester. Since I already have a MSN, I was exempt from all the core courses except pharmacology and physiology since my MSN was in a non-clinical specialty.

allnurses Guide · Jan 26, 2013

In the South, I was referring to states such as MS, LA, AL, FL, SC, etc. There have been articles written regarding the low end in salaries for CRNAs in those states, especially the ones that have a lot of programs.

The NE and Florida is where I've noticed the lowest salaries. Except fo Florida I don't see those other states advertising that many CRNA jobs. The Midwest in rural areas seem to have consistently the highest advertised salaries.

Topher53 · Jan 27, 2013

So is the military route one of the better ways to go? All those allowances and tax free deductions seem great!

allnurses Guide · Jan 27, 2013

So is the military route one of the better ways to go? All those allowances and tax free deductions seem great!

Depends do you think the money is worth being away from your family in a hostile environment every 18 months for 6months or more. Then when you get back home you have to work 50+hours a week and be told you can't take leave every summer because of low staffing.

I can easily make 200-300k/yr working on the outside. The money is okay as an officer in the military, but it doesn't even come close to compensating us for what we do in the military.

IndiCRNA · Jan 27, 2013

Now, before I get blown up with comments saying "it's not about money, but patient care". I get that. No need to tell me over and over. I heard CRNAs mainly get hired in rural areas, which kind of scares me. I would simply like to know the average starting salary of your line of work, plus the area you live in, and/or the amount of experience you have as a CRNA. Thank you!

The answer is "it depends". Most of classmates/friends started at $130K-200K in this area. "this area" being between were we went to school in Minneapolis MN east through Wisconsin since most of us came to MN from Wisconsin for school then restured to Wisconsin (more than half of my class all came from one hospital's SICU and we all knew each other long before NA school). Those who took jobs in the city are making the least, those working in rural area the most. There are two of us, inlcuding me, who belong to all CRNA anethesia practices. I am not an employee but rather 1/3 owner of the practice. We have the exclusive contract to provide anesthesia sevices in a very busy smaller rural hospital, plus contracts to provide on call services for a couple tiny rural hospitals). My net (after taxes, health insurance, capital and interest payments to buy into the practice etc)for my first year will be over $300K. I make considerably less that the two senior partners at this point. We work a 6 week rotating schedual. 2 weeks of Monday-Friday schedualed cases in the OR and covering 2nd call in off hours and weekends (very rare to actually be called in, never happend to me so far). The second two weeks is no schedualed cases at all but on call 24/7. Actually average 21 hours a week of work during the call weeks. Then we are off for two weeks and the schedual repeats. I average slightly over 20 hours of work a week when six weeks of hours are devided by six. We take our call from home.

It is a fantastic qualiety of life. We are never medicaly directed, we ARE the anesthesia department. Complete autonomy. I love it and highly recomend it. However to work in this enviroment you have to feel confident in your skills since there is no back up as there is with an ACT model.

jakeb · Jan 28, 2013

IndiCRNA - You are living my dream! Some day (hopefully soon), I'll be in your shoes!

SRNA4U, BSN, DNP, RN, CRNA · Jan 28, 2013

The answer is "it depends". Most of classmates/friends started at $130K-200K in this area. "this area" being between were we went to school in Minneapolis MN east through Wisconsin since most of us came to MN from Wisconsin for school then restured to Wisconsin (more than half of my class all came from one hospital's SICU and we all knew each other long before NA school). Those who took jobs in the city are making the least, those working in rural area the most. There are two of us, inlcuding me, who belong to all CRNA anethesia practices. I am not an employee but rather 1/3 owner of the practice. We have the exclusive contract to provide anesthesia sevices in a very busy smaller rural hospital, plus contracts to provide on call services for a couple tiny rural hospitals). My net (after taxes, health insurance, capital and interest payments to buy into the practice etc)for my first year will be over $300K. I make considerably less that the two senior partners at this point. We work a 6 week rotating schedual. 2 weeks of Monday-Friday schedualed cases in the OR and covering 2nd call in off hours and weekends (very rare to actually be called in, never happend to me so far). The second two weeks is no schedualed cases at all but on call 24/7. Actually average 21 hours a week of work during the call weeks. Then we are off for two weeks and the schedual repeats. I average slightly over 20 hours of work a week when six weeks of hours are devided by six. We take our call from home.
It is a fantastic qualiety of life. We are never medicaly directed, we ARE the anesthesia department. Complete autonomy. I love it and highly recomend it. However to work in this enviroment you have to feel confident in your skills since there is no back up as there is with an ACT model.

You hit the nail right on the head. A friend of mine is a CRNA and a Navy reservist. He works in a rural area in Michigan and it's a CRNA only practice with him and 3 other CRNA's. He also said he makes over $300,000/year. They split the call amongst the 4 of them and they have an exclusive contract with their hospital to provide the anesthesia services. He told me they are very busy and are always looking for help. He even offered me a job when I finish school but rural work is not what I'm looking for. I'm a big city person lol. Maybe could work in the suburbs. My goals is to finish school and work at Baltimore Shock trauma for a couple of years before branching out to areas without the ACT model. My Program Director highly discourages us from working in opt-out states immediately after graduating since we would be totally on our own without backup. The money I must admit does sound good :)

FutureCRNA?, BSN, RN · Jan 28, 2013

I didn't not know that about rural areas. It goes against conventional wisdom (city = more $) however it makes perfect sense. I live in the rural Midwest (an hour south of KC) and I plan on staying here long term. Sounds like it may end up working out well for me :) Thanks for the insight.

allnurses Guide · Jan 28, 2013

You hit the nail right on the head. A friend of mine is a CRNA and a Navy reservist. He works in a rural area in Michigan and it's a CRNA only practice with him and 3 other CRNA's. He also said he makes over $300,000/year. They split the call amongst the 4 of them and they have an exclusive contract with their hospital to provide the anesthesia services. He told me they are very busy and are always looking for help. He even offered me a job when I finish school but rural work is not what I'm looking for. I'm a big city person lol. Maybe could work in the suburbs. My goals is to finish school and work at Baltimore Shock trauma for a couple of years before branching out to areas without the ACT model. My Program Director highly discourages us from working in opt-out states immediately after graduating since we would be totally on our own without backup. The money I must admit does sound good :)

If your PD truly is telling you not to work in opt out states he or she should fired on the spot just for shear stupidity. Opt out has to do with billing for a part of Medicare. There are independent CRNAs all over the US and there are ACT practices in every opt out state. This kinda of sentiment just irks me to no end. CRNAs do not need anesthesiologists to practice safely.