Compare Nurses Salaries Across The Nation

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Wondering how nurse salaries are comparing as a whole across the nation. Are you paid more for having a BSN or Masters as compared to those with an ASN degree? I am writing from Florida where our RN's start at about 17.00 an hour. The high end of the scale will top out at about 23 or 24 an hour if they have many many years of experiance and a higher degree. How does this compare to the rest of the states?

do it alot , just like to share . hee hee...

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I am an LPN 5yrs experience. I started out as charge nurse on nights at NH making 11.25hr with .75 for nights shift diff. I left there after 2 yrs making 13.32 plus the .75 shift diff. Where I work now LTC for hanicapped I make 17.52 hr no shift diff no bennies. What really gets me is the other nurse I work nights with is an RN with 20+ yrs experience and she only makes 20.10 She can get med ins but she will have to pay nearly 300 dollars every pay period. Still no retirement plan. I will never understand how we can work our buts off and pay out the nose to go to school to take a job where we litterally at times hold peoples lives in our hands and still make less than a post hole digger. Around here they train 6 months and get paid while training when the training is over they make 30hr. If we make a mistake someone may lose a life, we may lose our license and we can be sued, If the post whole digger digs a whole in the wrong spot they will have to refill it and dig again. For this they may take a razzing from coworkers but no harm no foul. I just dont get it.

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I have very much enjoyed reading this thread. According to one of those RN salary comparator sites I viewed (I cannot recall the URL for the life of me), California nurses apparently rake in the most; I think the starting figure was around $56000 per annum. My wife and I have long been toying with the notion of relocating to the USA (i.e., we've been passively nosing around, but not actively job seeking). Based purely on exchange rates, I myself could not work for less than CAD $35 or USD $25 per hour. I admit that I am at the high end of the scale in Canada, because I practice in the true north, next door to Alaska. Typically Irish, I have loads of family in New York and Boston, but it seems to me that the cost of living is prohibitive in the northeastern cities of the lower 48. As an experienced specialist RN (psychiatry), I would expect paid relocation, tuition reimbursement in exchange for service, etc., if I were to move. Of interest, nurses in Atlantic Canada are generally the most poorly paid in our country, while those of us living north of 60 earn the most, due to isolation pay. As the debate about the RN shortage continues, we often read that as many as 10 percent of Canadian grad nurses flock to the United States. For this reason, I expect that money will indeed become a bigger issue north of the border.

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Originally posted by YukonSean

As an experienced specialist RN (psychiatry)....

I'm not speaking for all areas of the U.S. but in the Southern California area, most of the in-patient mental health units were closed down or reduced in size a couple of years ago. You might find it a little difficult, with that specialty, to find a high paying job in our area.

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Hello!!! I work in a hospital on Long Island. I have a BSN and have been working for 1 year. My base salary is $28 an hour with a $2 shift differential. I am happy with that ;-)

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I have family in Long Island (Baldwin, Rockville Centre). I've spent loads of time there; I don't think the cost of living is as unaffordable as in the City. I do not know how an RN could survive NYC financially!

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Specializes in Hemodialysis, Home Health.

Southwestern corner of Va. checking in here... I think we're next in line after Ark. as far as sukky wages. New grad RN pay starting out at 15.76/hr. Since it's dialysis (clinic), there's no shift differentials to up it any. The local hospital in my area just got a raise for their nurses.. new grad RNs now start at $17.90... it used to be something like $15.00/hour until just a few months ago ! So now we at dialysis are waiting for our income to be brought up more in line with the local hospitals... but of course there is the issue of medicare and composite rates.... so it's not promising. :o

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Well, i noticed that DC has nice pay rates. My friend is a RN,BSN and is making $20hr at a MD hospital. My husband is an LPN and got a job in DC making $22hr as a graduate. So, I don't understand why the pay rates are higher in nursing homes compared to hospitals. Well, when I told my friend to check out DC nursing homes, he did, and got a PRN position at a DC nursing home making $33hr, no benefits

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Specializes in Cardiac/Vascular & Healing Touch.

I get $0.60 more for my BSN, $1.00 more for national cert, $1.00 more for ACLS, $1.00 more for charge nurse, & $3.00/hr for nites.....no more for MSN or PhD. But we have clinical ladder & I am the highest level, IV, expert RN. One must have a national certification, a BSN, or higher, & meet rigid qualifications to get this....& it is re-evaluated quarterly, if one doesn't meet the requirements, then no $$$. My rate with diffs is $28.50/hr & that is with 14+ years of uninterrupted service!!!!! I am maxed @ accumulation of sick time (720 hours-or 20 weeks). Would love a raise!!!! :chuckle

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I have two years experience as an RN in L&D in northern California. Just received a 7 percent raise, bringing me up to $30.26 an hour, but with weekend and 12 hr diffs I make $33.50 an hour. I'm pretty happy with that as it's comparable with other hospitals in my area.

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I'm a LPN from the north eastern part of Ohio. I am the manager of OT/PT/SP therapies and also the restorative nurse here at a LTC .I also become the facility charge when the RN supervisor covers as the acting DON. I make $15.55 plus diff when I am the facility charge. Sometimes I don't think it's enough with all the inside and outside marketing also, but not working weekends, setting my own hours and being so close to work and working for a family owned business vs a corperate owned facility outweighs that. LPNs do not necessarily have to just pass meds, provide hands on care. Thanks for listening.

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Hi, I kinda take exception to the quote the RNs have taken the NCLEX and are licensed. Thats what the L in LVN stands for. We also have taken the NCLEX and passed. I work in Texas in L&D and my base pay is 14.97 with 1.00 hour market pay for a specialty area, I work 2nd shift with 1.75 hour shift diff, (nights is 2.25) and 3.00 hour weekend shift diff. So with all the shift diffs and market pay I make 20.72 on weekends and 17.72 during the week. I don't consider that bad at all when where I live LVNs make 10.50 an hour. I drive a ways to work of course but have full 100% benefits that only cost me 45 per paycheck for my whole family with 5 weeks vacation per year and I have been here going on 2 years. I'll have to be pried out with a crow bar. lol:chuckle

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