Best pay for RN's when cost of living is factored into the equation...

[Roland]

I would vote for the Indianapolis area. I know several RN's who earned over $24.00 per hour right out of school (ADN program). Furthermore, the cost of living in Indiana is very reasonable. You can buy a nice house for about 120K, or rent a decent two bedroom apartment for around $600 to $700 a month. Now it's true that maybe in Chicago you might be able to start at $28.00 or so per hour, but housing is MUCH more expensive (250K minimum for the same house that would be 120K here, and the same probably applies to apartments). My point is that for good pay relative to low cost of living you CAN'T beat the heartland cities like Cinncinatti, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Nashville, Salt Lake City, and others are tops. I suspect that those on the coasts really lose out big time. Sure they might earn a BIT more, but the costs of living are exponentially higher.

Also, while we are on the subject, wouldn't it be neat if websites like Salary.com would provide a "job availability quotient" to give you an idea how easy jobs are to get in various fields, and various locales. Thus, a fairly "in demand" job like nursing or pharmacy might get a job availibility quotient of say eight or nine. While a job that might appear high paying such as museum curator might receive a low number like two or three. It would be useful information in helping people not only to choose career paths, but also AREAS of the nation where they might live and further their careers.

[SnowymtnRN]

What's so sad is RN's don't make that much in Chicago. its closer to $22-$24 like in INdiana, along WITH the cost of living. Sucks. But i do agree with what you say about salary.com! Great idea!

[Roland]

more in larger cities, relative to smaller ones. Consider, that my brother moved from Indianapolis to Chicago MANY years ago because he had the chance to go from earning around 50K to over 170K as VP of a tellicommunications company. My niece Deanna earns well over 100K in Chicago as a construction project manager. Here in Indianapolis she would do well to earn HALF of that amount.

[kate930]

We are a military family, and with our moves, we're always trying to figure out how the cost of living at the next duty station will effect us.

We have found a really good cost of living calculator that allows you to compare salaries to different cities and how they compare to each other.

EX.: It says that if you make $40K in Chicago, you only need to make $21,653 to have a comparable lifestyle in Indianapolis. (housing taxes, utlities, etc)

Likewise, if you make $40K in Indianapolis, you would need to make $73,893 in Chicago.

Huge difference!!!!

Cost of Living Calculator

[WyomingRN]

When I last look at salary.com, heavy equipment operators, plumbers, electricians and even paralegals all made more than nurses for our area; but not one of them requires any college. When looking at what nurses make, also look at what others are making.

Simply put, I did not go to the time, trouble and expense of college to be paid less than non-college educated wage. I was at the accountants last week and my husband asked her if she would still be an accountant if she made less than these non-college jobs. She said absolutely not.

My concern and question is not what wage nurses are starting out at, but rather, what are the 15, 18 and 20 year veterans making? In our area, they are starting out new grads higher than ever before - but the veterans have not seen any pay increase. As a 12 years veteran nurses, I was topped out at $18 an hour. Compare that to paralegals in our area who average $25 with just 5-6 years experience. And I won't even get into the fact that paralegals don't work nights, weekends, holidays, risk any license (as they have no license to risk), have to pay for continuing education, put up with management and family, etc., etc.

Maybe $24 an hour for a new grad is good pay, but it is not what you start out with, it is what you end up getting for your additional knowledge and experience 10, 12 or 15 years downs the road. I've said it before and I'll say it again, any nurse with 5 years of experience who is not making at least $30 an hours, probably shouldn't be a nurse; any nurse with 10 years of experience should be making at least $40 an hour; and a nurse with 15 years should be making $50 an hour.

TO put this into even more perspective, I think you can gather that I am in Wyoming - one of the lowest cost of living States. No income tax and the average rent is around $550 a month. If I lived in a State which had a higher cost of living, I would have to add 5-15% to the above estimates. If I was a nurse in California, I would have to probably increase them by 50% .

I guess my point is that you have to take into account many other factors before deciding whether $24 an hour is good or not. There is a very interesting article about nurses and this subject at -

[oramar]

Many people post a question about where are the best salaries. My reply has always been there is a lot more to it than just salaries.

[rn-jane]

Nursing is more than just pay, what about benefits, job satisfaction etc

[pinkpalaceRN]

I work in Oklahoma and as a nurse with 15years pediatric experience I only make $5 more than a new grad, yet I am expected to be happy about that and teach them all I know....it is very frustrating. When I talk to my other "oldtime" co-workers (ones that have been there with me 10+ years), we have concluded that we are "trapped" because if we go to another place to work we will not get our benefits or hours or seniority...so it is more that just pay that keeps us at our jobs. It's our co-workers and the benefits (vacation time, hours, shift diffs, etc) . I have heard that anyone with over 5years experience will not be compensated for that experience in wages. Has anyone else heard that???

[rstewart]

Well, for more than one Oklahoma City hospital I know that to be a fact.

What they do actually is refuse to offer potential new hires above the midpoint on the salary range. In most cases, nurses reach midpoint after 6-8 years. So, any experience a nurse may have above that is essentially discounted.

[angel337, MSN, RN]

the subject of nurses being underpaid can be debated on forever and ever. but in reality nurses DO make alot more than other professions with degrees. i know alot of people with business degrees, marketing degrees and psychology/sociology degrees who are barely making $25,000 a year and they have student loans to pay back. i live in chicago, and there is great potential to make high earnings in nursing here. the base rate for new grads are average ($21-25/hr), but most of the hospitals here offer nice bonuses and other incentives to nurses. computer programmers make more than nurses, but they are more likely to get laid off more than once during their career. i know a nurse here who made $85,000 last year (she works in house registry and agency) and she has a two year degree and has been a nurse for only 3 years. we all feel that we should get paid more and it is okay to feel that way, but i think we should also count our blessings. nursing is the kind of career that offers alot of stability and i think to some degree it is taken for granted that it will always be stable. some things you don't miss until its gone.

[pghfoxfan]

Well...I don't know where you all work, but, I have been a nurse for over 21 years and only make around $26.00/hour

[pinkpalaceRN]

:sniff:

angel---- I wish I made $85,000 now! I have worked as a ped. nurse for 15 years now and I don't make that much---your friend is lucky for only having worked 3 years!!! I started out making ~$20,000/year and now double that 15 years later.....it stinks, but I need the benefits....that outweighs the salary for me and I like the people (most of them) that I work with......and I LOVE the kids I take care of (besides my own). :)