Georgia Nursing Pay: looking at Savannah, GA

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Specializes in Neonatal Intensive Care.

Hello everyone,

My husband and I are looking to move out of MN. My husbands job is mostly outdoors and these harsh winters are really getting old. I have my 4 year BSN from a private college and have been working for 7 months as an RN in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. I can't seem to find any hospitals that list their pay scales. By the time we moved I would have 2 years experience since we know it would be another year and a half before we could go. I want to stay in NICU and am looking at Memorial Health in Savannah. My problem is in MN we are unionized and my job started at over $30/hour not including shift or weekend differentials and from what I am seeing online Georgia nurses get paid way below that. Does anyone know what an experienced ICU nurse with a BSN might get paid. After seeing how poorly nurses in Georgia are paid I am considering not even applying to anything down there. Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated! Thanks!

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

I'd like to know this as well. I am in the Savannah area, but military ... but only military for a little more than a year, and then I will be looking for civilian employment.

Edited to add: salary.com shows median ER nurse income at $29/hr in Savannah. I have no clue how accurate that is. lol

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Specializes in Neonatal Intensive Care.

Yeah I looked at indeed.com but I don't think that it's very accurate because I looked at Florida RN nursing jobs and it said that Florida nurses made more yearly than MN nurses yet when I contacted a recruiter from a children's hospital in the city I was looking at she said starting was only $24.95/hour for the NICU job I was looking at with 2 years ICU experience. Yet the hospital I work at here starts people out at $31/hour. It didn't add up.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

Hmmm. Please let me know if you run across any more info.

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salary websites are very inaccurate. I've actually called HR offices to ask them for their RN base salary. some hospitals have HR that will answer their phones, some don't, but if you can get at least one hospital to tell you what their base is you can expect others to be in the same range +/- a few dollars.

So far I only looked into florida hospitals, georgia is on my to do list.

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Well I hate to be the one who gives the bad news, but the AVG base pay for a 2yr RN in ICU settings is $21-$22 in the hospitals. Shift diff is different from facility to facility. There may be more pay in the private sector but if you are getting $30 as base pay be looking for a pay cut in Georgia. I can say though, Savannah is a pretty cool place to live and may be worth the pay drop.

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Specializes in SRNA.

Savannah sure is a beautiful place to live. I'd love to live there. I'm not sure how much they pay but if you find out please share. In North GA I don't think the pay is as low as 22 an hour but maybe it is in Savannah?

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Specializes in Neonatal Intensive Care.

I have my 4 year BSN from a private college so that may help but I definitely wouldn't take a job anywhere for less than $25 an hour with benefits and good shift differential no matter where we went. We have kind of refocused on Florida because the schools in Georgia are just not very good. Who knows it may still be considered but we won't be moving for another 18 months so we have time to decide!

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

I am a board certified (adult/peds) ER RN who will have 7+ years of experience by the time I'm job hunting in Savannah next year, and I'll have my MSN. Hopefully I can get a slightly better RN salary with all that stuff! lol. I have a friend who is going to work per diem in an ICU at one of the Savannah hospitals, so I'll ask her about salary.

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Specializes in Neonatal Intensive Care.

Oh with all of that I would hope they pay you extra. If you have those degrees and certifications they really should! The hospital I work for only pays their BSN nurses an extra $0.50 an hour versus their two year nurses from what I understand. Although the ICU's aren't hiring 2 year nurses anymore they just grandfathered in the ones they had. We do have one nurse with an MSN but I haven't asked her if she is paid more. I will have to see:) Good luck with your job search! I was in Savannah last January and loved it. It's gorgeous.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

Cost of living is pretty reasonable here, but I understand about the pay cut. I was making upwards of $30/hr before differential when I commissioned into the Army, and the Army was a pay cut for me. I am finally about where I was as a civilian, but it took me three years and two promotions to get there! lol. I don't blame you for wanting to get away from harsh winters. I was in Afghanistan for most of this winter and wishing for Savannah sunshine! It's nice to be home. I keep reminding myself of that when the sand gnats are biting me here. :D

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

So I can tell you that there really isn't any negotiation with salary - it's based on how long you've been a nurse and what kind of degree you have. As a BSN RN with 6.5 years of experience, my base is a little over $26.

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