Comparing A Nurses' Salary

Nurses Rock Toon

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    by Joe V
    Specializes in Programming / Strategist for allnurses.

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Specializes in Anesthesia.

I've been working as an RN here in Southern California since March of this year. I'm set to pull in about 75k this year with night shift diff, and that's with working the first 3 months of the year as an LVN. Of course our cost of living is ridiculous compared to other people's. For instance: Someone here wrote that they pay 700/month mortgage. I'm currently trying to buy a home, and even if I buy a cheaper home I'm looking @ 1500/month. On a side note, it seems all of my coworkers who have worked at my facility for 5-10 years pull in 90-120k. Salaries in Northern California are even higher. My cousin started out @ kaiser making 50/hr. Of course the average home price up north is 600k though.

I do feel like I am reasonably reimbursed for the work I do.

Specializes in Anesthesia.

Oh..and I only have an ADN

Peonysorbet

2 Posts

7yrs. experienced RNs in Northern California make ~125K/yr., but can go up to $200K if they do on-calls (extra work). But I do agree that 30K for new grad RN is quite insulting to the profession, guess depends on what type of nursing job & where you live. Our minimum wage here is $8/hr, $10.20 in San Francisco (but cost of living there is among highest in US, next to Manhattan, NY).

Specializes in PDN; Burn; Phone triage.
ProgressiveThinking said:
I've been working as an RN here in Southern California since March of this year. I'm set to pull in about 75k this year with night shift diff, and that's with working the first 3 months of the year as an LVN. Of course our cost of living is ridiculous compared to other people's. For instance: Someone here wrote that they pay 700/month mortgage. I'm currently trying to buy a home, and even if I buy a cheaper home I'm looking @ 1500/month. On a side note, it seems all of my coworkers who have worked at my facility for 5-10 years pull in 90-120k. Salaries in Northern California are even higher. My cousin started out @ kaiser making 50/hr. Of course the average home price up north is 600k though.

I do feel like I am reasonably reimbursed for the work I do.

This is pretty much what I was trying to say. I also feel like I'm reasonably reimbursed for the work that I do.

Feels like nobody considers cost of living these days.

Guest372004

425 Posts

Like Nursie Nursie #13, I live in the Bay Area Calif. But although salaries are good, cost of living is very high so it may all be relative. Home sales were not hit hard here and houses sell above asking and are on market 2 wks max in the area I live in. The Bay Area is HUGE so where it is high priced one place, it is not in another. Remember, Google, and FB, Oracle, Apple are here so there is a lot of $ here. That doesn't make it a better place, just more economically secure. Our energy bills are low as we can get by without AC for example and it doesn't snow either.

bubblejet50

230 Posts

Yea here in iowa housing is cheap. Like I said earlier I pay $655 for my 2bdrm apartment, gas is 3.59 as of this morning, and I can buy a week of groceries for under $100. So my $41k/yr is quite comfortable for my living costs.

Guest372004

425 Posts

exactly bubble. That two bedroom apt here would be 2K/mo. So salary is not always what it appears to be when one factors in cost of living.

Yoj12

2 Posts

I am starting a new travel job as a nurse in Barstow CA. Does anyone know how much is nursing salary per hour if you work in ED.

I had work in San Francisco, CA.And I got pain 42/hr in a meds/surg floor (this was back on 2005). Now I have 4 years experience as an ED nurse & 5 years experience as Telemetry nurse.

Im getting an offer of regular rate - $ 16.79 & overtime rate - $ 25.19/hr. For me I think this is to low, as an experience nurse. Maybe Im wrong and Im still new as a travel nurse. I was always told they get paid higher.

Can anyone give some information?

Thank you

magnoliapn

3 Posts

Really!! I'm a two year lpn working in Mississippi. I hate it here and want to move to Colorado My husband says we can move as soon as I get my RN because I'd earn upp to $20,000 more than I earn now. Can you really earn what you said as an lpn in Colorado, what area do you live in. The sooner I can get away from here the better .. Did I mention I can't stand Mississippi!!!!!!

Guest372004

425 Posts

Yoj that is a very low salary but Barstow (sorry to say but my opinion) is an armpit of California. Better to get to S.F. again or at least areas around S.F. that will pay tons more and share an apt. than get paid so low. Just my opinion. If anyone in Barstow disagrees I apologize.

libby11

83 Posts

This discussion board has some excellent points & a bit of unnecessary squabbling in my opinion...

I think it is interesting that a CNA must complete both a written and practical/clinical type examination, yet an RN must complete only the NCLEX questionnaire.

I leave this discussion board a bit more worried about what my salary will be as a new grad in one year. If I stay here, my research tells me I may makes between $22-25/hr, but I think I'm headed off to TX. My research tells me the job market is fair, good wages and affordable cost of living. We shall seeeee!

It seems to me that the biggest difference between a BSN and ADN would be that BSN are eligible to move forward to working on MSN. I'm certain that there are plenty of BSNs & ADNs that you couldn't tell the difference between; comparisons in which you'd believe the ADN more skilled than the BSN; and displays where the ADN seems unprepared. As one person mentioned--BSN is a fair amount of 'filler,' but the extra courses in nursing certainly can elevate the nurses' level of understanding/competence. More important to me seems to be experience. Someone said, "A month of nursing experiences is a year of education--" well said.

That's the end of my scattered thoughts on that! Safe and happy holiday weekend to all!

SE_BSN_RN, BSN

805 Posts

Specializes in LTC, Agency, HHC.
libby11 said:
This discussion board has some excellent points & a bit of unnecessary squabbling in my opinion...

I think it is interesting that a CNA must complete both a written and practical/clinical type examination, yet an RN must complete only the NCLEX questionnaire.

I leave this discussion board a bit more worried about what my salary will be as a new grad in one year. If I stay here, my research tells me I may makes between $22-25/hr, but I think I'm headed off to TX. My research tells me the job market is fair, good wages and affordable cost of living. We shall seeeee!

It seems to me that the biggest difference between a BSN and ADN would be that BSN are eligible to move forward to working on MSN. I'm certain that there are plenty of BSNs & ADNs that you couldn't tell the difference between; comparisons in which you'd believe the ADN more skilled than the BSN; and displays where the ADN seems unprepared. As one person mentioned--BSN is a fair amount of 'filler,' but the extra courses in nursing certainly can elevate the nurses' level of understanding/competence. More important to me seems to be experience. Someone said, "A month of nursing experiences is a year of education--" well said.

That's the end of my scattered thoughts on that! Safe and happy holiday weekend to all!

You can't even come close to comparing 6-8 weeks of CNA courses and a written/skills licensing test to the 2-4 years of a nurse, no matter ADN or BSN. No, a month of nursing experience is not a year of education. Compare the ADN courses to the BSN courses. Most of them are not "filler" courses. Even a MD has to take the "filler" courses. 60-70 units to 120. Not even close. People need to do research before they say that ADN and BSN should be equal. The BON says they aren't, so there you have it. But that's just my 2 cents. I also don't think you can base job satisfaction on pay alone. I switched from LTC to HHC for about 10K a year loss in income, but my stress level has gone way down. No amount of money can compare to the stress and joy of nursing.

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