Can an RN make $200K a year working 24 hours a week?

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Hello there. One of the NPs at my clinic told me he is thinking of quitting being an NP and going back to being an RN so he can make more money. He has 4 years of RN experience and 4 years of NP experience. He said a friend of his in the San Francisco Bay Area got a job as an RN with Kaiser working 24 hours per week and making $200K per year. When I asked him for more specifics on his friend's job, he didn't know. Honestly, if RNs can make $200K a year working 3 days a week, everyone would want to be an RN! I think there are a lot of MDs that would take that job! Is this even possible or is my friend confused?

I'm assuming those nurses who live out of state get free room and board with their contracts.

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As a per diem RN with 10 years experience, in SF I can get somewhat close to 200K IF I work 36 hours a week. I would have to do a lot of OT and pick up shifts to cover that difference.

However I work days, but I don't think the differentials would quite get me there either.

You also need to consider what Federal tax bracket you will fall into (are you single/ married) and how will that affect your overall income.

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If you are making the 200k range, you are already one of the very lucky folks who don't pay Social Security tax on much of their income.

Income taxes are based on marginal rates. There is no such thing as, I went from 190 to 200, and now my taxes are completely different,

Throughout my life, from starting as a teacher in the 80's making 14k, to my current salary, I have always paid about 1/3 of my income in tax.

Sad, though, there are parts of the country where 200k makes you middle class.

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Specializes in ICU, trauma, neuro.

Keep, in mind that many travel nurses try to maximize the amount of income that is paid as "expense housing reimbursement" because this part of their income is not subject to federal, state, or local taxes. Thus, it might be possible to approach that number with the "right" contract that was heavily loaded towards the expense reimbursement part of the contract. However, even in S.F this is a stretch (at 24, but not 36 hours), and if one were audited by the IRS there might be an issue.

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Not happening. I know a few RNs in the Bay Area making over $200k and know that some are making over $300k, but they all do a lot of overtime.

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Specializes in Psychiatry.

If you can do it behind a desk wearing anything but scrubs I'm in.

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It's possible depending on what step you're in and the years of experience. At kaiser anything after 8 hr is 1.5x and after 12x is double time.  If I had 4-5 years experience, 24hrs / week is possible and make $200k - as a per diem nurse.
By 2025 my hourly per diem rate would be 124.74/ with 4 yrs exp. differentials are also multiplied with OT. Evening = 11%base and nights are 17.5% base. 
 

example doing 3pm-7am shift (16hrs) 

Jan 2025 step 4  = 121.7

121.7 x 8 = 973.6

182.55 x 4 = 730.2 

243.4 x 3.5 = 851.9

= 2555.7 base 

differentials

Evening 1st 8 hrs = 13.38 * 8 = 107.09

Night 1st 4 hrs = 31.94* 4 = 127.76

Night last 4hrs =  42.58*3.5 = 149.03

= 383.8

Total for 16 hr shift= 2939.58

 

Weekly if 2 shifts = $5879.16

Total for doing 2-16hr shifts week for a year is:

$305,716 


some kaisers offer a lot more overtime than others. It's very unpredictable and that's not a schedule I want to live by. I would rather have a set schedule knowing what my next month looks like than constantly being on-call and coming in when they're short staffed. It's not a great work life balance. 
 

The nursing culture at kaiser really sucks in my opinion. Yes I am greateful for the pay but really sucks working there. I would never want to be a patient at a kaiser. Stanford / UCSF are superb when it comes to inpatient care - speaking for ICU. At Stanford with 2.5 yrs exp on nights 3/12hr shifts I was making 200k with a predictable schedule, less stressful to me because we were never short staffed on my unit. At kaiser, you work very hard for that money. 

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Specializes in Surgery.

200K year is roughly $100/hour. Yes, possible in San Francisco, but its probably based on three 12 hour shifts, 36 hours.

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