Highest paid nursing field?

Aongroup1990, CNA · May 14, 2012

Money is a source of our happiness, but finding something we love will be greater in terms of being happy and not miserable All jobs are challenging, but I love being a nurse even if it's being a cna. You have to be social and network, and learn to to other things to get the position that you want. Money isn't everything.

hopeful_27 · Oct 5, 2012

Sorry for resurrecting this old thread but I am curious as to know as well what is the highest paying field for nurses? I see that OR, dialysis, and skilled nursing is the top three from two years ago but is it still currently the same?

I know this may bother some for my asking so I am going to apologize in advance for that! Sorry!

I just graduated from nursing school this past May and my loans are about $90,000 from tuition, uniform, books, and living expense. I am in desperate need of finding a job that will pay well later on because of this. I know as a new grad you get base pay but need to know what's good in the long run?

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Oct 5, 2012

Get certified in a specialty (certification usually requires several years in clinical practice and some subset of coursework/examination/demonstration) and you can make more. I have colleagues in life care planning who routinely pull down >$400K annually. Not a typo-- that's four hunnert grand a year. Not me, I hasten to add, but still something to which to aspire.

enchantmentdis, BSN, RN · Oct 7, 2012

To the OP: don't let anyone make you feel ashamed or like you are doing something wrong for wanting to know about salaries. I'd be willing to bet these people aren't working for free, I'd also be willing to bet they are trying to get the most out of their salary they can.
Yes, when you are a single mother or sole wage earner in your family money does matter, especially when you work in such a filthy business as nursing. That being said, I have chosen a lower paying job with less stress than a higher paying job that was so stressful it made me physically sick. If you can swing that high stress job you deserve to make the money that goes with it. Never feel guilty about that.

Very well said. Thank you. A simple question from the OP should not have to turn into an ethical/moral discussion about "why are you asking about money". Even if she wants to have the nursing job that has the highest pay, though there was no indication of that from her initial query, so what. What would it do to you people if someone wanted to be a nurse only for the money anyway? She asked a simple question. A simple answer should have sufficed.

enchantmentdis, BSN, RN · Oct 7, 2012

Obviously people go to school to get better salaries. I was just saying that it seemed like thats all she cared about. I myself decided not to be a baby machine so I can't relate to whole supporting the family thing.

You get all that from one question that the OP asked? Baby machine? Your moniker is candijunkie.

enchantmentdis, BSN, RN · Oct 7, 2012

Thanks for all the info you guys! Thanks for backin me up. Im really not trying to seem like Im money hungry but money is what puts my childrens food on the table. Money is buying the healthier food than just unhealthy cheap food. Money is being able to afford that organic milk(that I like to give my kids but too expensive) Anyways, Im just trying to see what area would be smartest to start with money wise,being I have no preference at the moment. Thank you all.

You don't have to explain anything to us on here. Just have a good life and make as much as you can for your children. A simple question doesn't deserve lectures from anyone.

PMFB-RN, RN · Oct 7, 2012

As far as I can tell it's not a particular field that is the highest paying, but a combination of the right location and organization. In my experience all nurses with the same experience get paid the same in a particular organization. For example one place where I currently work a flight nurse gets paid exactly the same as a rehab or med-surg nurse if they have similar number of years of service.

I searched long and hard to find my current situation. I wanted to make well over $100K (not counting OT) and I wanted to live in a reasonable cost of living area. I also wanted a fun (for me) job with lots of autonomy. I looked into many organizations, states and cities. Here is what I found. The higest paid areas is the Bay area of California and San Jose area of Ca. However the Bay area didn't fit into my reasonable cost of living requirment. Another very high paying option was the California Department of Corrections. they start new grads out at $90-$100K with potential to make a LOT more and with their many locations could fit the reasonable cost of living. However corrections wouldn't be a fun job (for me) providing autonomy.

After a lot of searching I discovered certain areas of the upper mid west (MN in the Twin Cities area and Madison WI) and the particular organization I work for now. I am a full time rapid response nurse in a medium sized hospital. That's the fun part. The cost of living here is very reasonable. After a little over 2 years with this organization I am making well over $100K without doing OT. After 5-10 years I expect to be making over $120K not counting OT. As a bonus the nursing schools in Wisconsin are very veteran friendly and bent over backwards to help me get my RN license.

For me a long cold winter wasn't a disqualifier. It may be for others.

Multicollinearity, BSN, RN · Oct 7, 2012

I managed a $24,000 increase in yearly salary by switching to acute care psych. Psych nurses make more in my area. What's interesting is that my psych job is 1/4 of the work load and stress that my previous job was in corrections.

It just goes to show that salary and earnings are about supply v. demand and not necessarily about responsibility and workload demands.