Are you being underpaid?

[control]

I am thinking of asking my company for a raise, so I wanted to check where I stand salary wise on http://www.salary.com I just found out I am below the 25th percentile for the annual pay for RNs in my area. To say the least, I am not pleased. I work for a company that contracts with my state, not as a staff RN.

I have a BSN and have been out of university for 4 years, so that's 4 years of being licensed and practicing. What gives? I'd like to at least be at the 50th percentile, but then we're talking around 20k more than what I'm making right now. No company is going to give me that big of a raise. I was talking to some of my coworkers (who are not RNs, mostly social workers), and they said they can expect a 2% raise every year. It would take me around 7-10 years to get to the 50th percentile.

I know, it is uncouth to talk about how much we're actually being paid. But apparently someone's talking about it to come up with these ranges.

Do you feel like (or do you know) you are being underpaid? When I worked on the floor I know I felt underpaid, although with overtime I was making close to 6k more then than I am now.

[burn out]

I don't think we will ever get paid what we truly deserve to be paid. I think the primary basis for pay is determined by your geographical location.