Best Paid State For Nursing

gecko972 · Oct 23, 2010

I live and work in Albuquerque, New Mexico. New grads at my hospital start at around $32/hour and if you work weekend nights the differential is $8.25/hr. I think it breaks out to $3.50/hr for nights and $4.75/hr for weekends. Some nurses make $40/hr base pay easy and there may even still be a sign on bonus. It was $15-20K for a two year commitment but I'm not sure that is still in effect since nurses are a bit easier to come by now. However, they are still paying us referral bonuses so I guess it's not as easy to find qualified nurses as they make it seem. Our wages may not be as much as Hawaii but our cost of living is so much lower. New Mexico is actually probably one of the best paying states in relation to cost of living. I work with many nurses who used to be travelers but signed on with the hospital several years ago. Now they would like to go home but don't want to give up the money. It's not a bad place to live and get some experience so you can eventually go back to Hawaii. Hawaii will have a shortage again very soon, the current situation cannot last...baby boomers, aging nurses, economic recovery, etc.

Ashley2011 · Feb 5, 2012

bashy said:

best paid state for nursing

I am a new grad. I have a list of states that I am considering going to, but I need to find out what the salary ranges are especially for a new grad. I have Hawaii, maryland, newyork, georgia, california and nevada on my mind so far. Is there somewhere that ranks states according to salary for nursing and standard of living. I would like to do a comparison.

I moved from the Jersey shore to Houston, TX... I only make about a $2/hr less and the cost of living is SOOOOO much CHEAPER!! Plus, there is no state income tax here unlike NJ.