New grad RN starting salary 2017 & 2018

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Hello all, I'm trying to figure out. How does one know when they are absolutely being lowballed?! I'm an accelerated BSN grad & already secured a job which involved a move as I only wanted to work in a hospital so as to utilize all my skills and learn more. During my interviews I noticed that some LTC & physician offices were actually paying more than hospitals for new grads & had starting bonuses. Of course very tempting but I was also aware that experience received in hospitals is much better. So my question is, what is the starting salary for a brand new grad at your hospital & mention state please? & what is a reasonable new grad hospital starting salary in 2017/2018?

Thank you :-)

NICU Guy, BSN, RN

4,161 Posts

Specializes in NICU.

Be careful of clinics offering high wage than prevailing wage in your town and offering sign on bonuses. They don't give sign on bonuses because they are a generous hospital. They give bonuses because they have a hard time recruiting and retaining nurses.

Specializes in Surgical, CVICU & Oncology, Med/Surg.
Be careful of clinics offering high wage than prevailing wage in your town and offering sign on bonuses. They don't give sign on bonuses because they are a generous hospital. They give bonuses because they have a hard time recruiting and retaining nurses.

This must be true because everytime I researched employee reviews (on glassdoor & indeed) of these clinics or LTC centres, they were filled with bad reviews including; poor management, poor rentention, nurses feeling like they were overworked or having to watch their backs alot because being fired was easy & would take anything such as pissing off some manager. These were in NY btw (different boroughs/counties).

Specializes in Ambulatory Care-Family Medicine.

LTC typically pay higher because of the workload. I made significantly more in LTC than I did in a clinic (almost $5/hour more starting out) but the work was terrible. Clinics and school nursing are usually on the lower end of the pay scale. Google the hospital you are wanting to work in and look at websites like Glassdoor. They typically have salary ranges and employee reviews.

Specializes in Surgical, CVICU & Oncology, Med/Surg.
LTC typically pay higher because of the workload. I made significantly more in LTC than I did in a clinic (almost $5/hour more starting out) but the work was terrible. Clinics and school nursing are usually on the lower end of the pay scale. Google the hospital you are wanting to work in and look at websites like Glassdoor. They typically have salary ranges and employee reviews.

True, but just wondering what a reasonable starting salary for a new grad? Mostly the salaries stated on search boards are for seasoned nurses or nurses with some experience.

Specializes in Ambulatory Care-Family Medicine.
True, but just wondering what a reasonable starting salary for a new grad? Mostly the salaries stated on search boards are for seasoned nurses or nurses with some experience.

It will depend greatly on where you live. What a new grad makes here in Central Texas where I am is going to be drastically different then a new grad in New York. It can vary anywhere from something in $20/hour range to $40/hour depending on where you live as cost of living varies between geographical locations.

Look at the salaries on glass door. It should give you a ballpark idea. If glass door is showing a median of $40/hour and they're only offering you $20/hour then yes most likely you are being low balled, but if they are offering you say $34/hour and glass door is showing $40/hour then that might be a fair offer for a new grad.

By the way there are several salary posts in AllNurses. You may want to do a search for those topics. It will show you how drastically salaries differ across the nation.

Mavrick, BSN, RN

1,578 Posts

Specializes in 15 years in ICU, 22 years in PACU.

Here in Seattle the going rate per WSNA Union contract for Step 0 RNs at my University-affiliated Hospital is $30.26. Increases to $31.17 in May.

Specializes in Surgical, CVICU & Oncology, Med/Surg.
Here in Seattle the going rate per WSNA Union contract for Step 0 RNs at my University-affiliated Hospital is $30.26. Increases to $31.17 in May.

Thank you. This is what I'm looking for. It helps to have a comparison of actual numbers in different states

katyq82

117 Posts

All Nurses does an annual salary survey: https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/2017-allnurses-salary-1108911.html

- Scroll down to Compensation and there are links for additional ways to sort the data.

I am still in school but from what I understand new nurses in RI are starting between $25-30/hour depending on the facility.

Specializes in Psychiatric, Med-Surg.

Central Florida hospitals new RN grad $23-25 hr plus shift differentials ($1-4).

Specializes in Surgical, CVICU & Oncology, Med/Surg.
All Nurses does an annual salary survey: https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/2017-allnurses-salary-1108911.html

- Scroll down to Compensation and there are links for additional ways to sort the data.

I am still in school but from what I understand new nurses in RI are starting between $25-30/hour depending on the facility.

Thank you!

kobbysm

11 Posts

Specializes in Hospice.

"Thank you. This is what I'm looking for. It helps to have a comparison of actual numbers in different states"

Looking only at the pay rate without taking into consideration the cost of living, is making a comparison in a vacuum. If the cost of living where you live is 2X that of mine, of course seeing that you make almost 1.5X more per hour than I do, would make it seem like a lot of money. It's a lot more than just how much per hour.

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