Hourly wage with "normal" hours (South)

Nurses General Nursing

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I'm not sure if it's right to ask how much people make, but I'm trying to get an idea of how much nurses usually make in the south. Most figures include data from states where pay is much higher.

Specifically, I'm looking for wages for weekday day shift nurses...so not including any night or weekend differentials.

Please include years of experience.

I'm curious to know if $100,000 is possible without working nights, weekends or crazy amounts of overtime...

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
So what do yall think the top 5% of RNs working days in a hospital down south are making?

Would you say they average about $85k (~$45/hr)? Little more little less?

Do you mean staff nurses with enty level degrees? Or do you mean top level administrators (or advanced practice nurses) with graduate degrees?

Yes, administrators and advanced practice nurses can make that much ... but staff nurses, no.

Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Would you say they average about $85k (~$45/hr)? Little more little less?
I know nurses with 40+ years of experience who are barely earning in the mid to high $30s per hour as full time staff in the metro area where I live.

One of my coworkers has been an RN since the early 1970s and earns less than $40 per hour. Another coworker has been an RN since the 1960s and she also makes less than $40 hourly. Both nurses have worked for the same company for many years.

My friend earns $40 hourly, but she has a managerial position as a staff development coordinator.

I earned $87k last year, but only because I worked two PRN night shift jobs that resulted in more money through shift differentials and forgoing benefits that full-time staff members receive.

Do you mean staff nurses with enty level degrees? Or do you mean top level administrators (or advanced practice nurses) with graduate degrees?

Yes, administrators and advanced practice nurses can make that much ... but staff nurses, no.

Staff w/ ADN/BSN degree.

Maaaybe if you're non-benefit, PRN, or float pool, but regular floor nurse on days. In a word, no.

Specializes in Med-Surg.

Atlanta area, agency work pays between 28-33$/hour, or so I've been told. Home health where I work, lower than that.

Specializes in Hospice, LTC, Rehab, Home Health.

Staff RN w/19 yrs experience working 12 hr shifts overnight; work in FL. $61K/year. Hospice

No need to say, Alabama's LARGEST hospital (UAB) has a starting pay for RN's at $20.10. Nurse Practitioner's start at about $67,000 (which is salaried TRANSLATION they WILL work you to death). Other hospitals in this state generally tend to follow UAB's lead.

****Just an FYI, Alabama does not have a nursing union such as New York or California which may explain why nurses here are paid MUCH less than other states. Also the cost of living here is very low compared to NY or CA.

If you are curious you can use this link to search UAB jobs Nursing Jobs | UAB Medicine

So what do yall think the top 5% of RNs working days in a hospital down south are making?

Would you say they average about $85k (~$45/hr)? Little more little less?

Only if there's a strip club called, "in a hospital down south." Last I heard only RNs down south making that money on dayshifts are working at the Cheetah.

Only if there's a strip club called, "in a hospital down south." Last I heard only RNs down south making that money on dayshifts are working at the Cheetah.

Hilarious!!!... And agreed.

Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
Is it possible anywhere without overtime? I calculate that to being about $53+ an hour for 36 hour weeks. I worked in a high COL area and wages weren't close to that even with experience.

*** Absolutly possible. I make well over 100K not counting OT, though I do work 40 hours a week, not 36. Many other people doing it, though from what I have read here not in the south.

Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.

I see several people mention the cost of living as an explanation why wages are what they are. I don't really get that. Of course on a personal level one would be well advised to consider cost of living in equal measure with pay when considering a job or location. However a hospital in Alabama is reimbursed for a particular procedure the same amount of money a hospital in California is. Why should there be a pay difference? My other question is if hospitals in California and Alabama are both paid X for (let's say a CABG), the hospital in Alabama pays it's nurses $20/hour and hospital in California pays it's nurses $40/hour. What happend to that VAST amount of money the Alabama hospital recives that it doesn't have to pay out to it's nurses like the California hospital does? My guess is that nurses working in Alabama are hearing the same thing from their hospital about the need to cut costs the nurses in California are hearing. Seems to me that the Alabama hospital should be absolutly rolling in cash.

I would not, and do not accept, an area's cost of living as an excuse to underpay RNs. When I was looking for a place to relocate to one of the things I noticed was the states with strong nurses unions paid far more than states without unions. I live in Wisconsin and we do not have a nurses union here with one exeption. The university hospital in Madison is unionized. Nurses wages in Madison are MUCH higher than nurses wages in the rest of the state. Down in Madison new grads would start at $30+/hour base. Grad nurses up here in the northern part are lucky to start at $20/hour.

I think the lower COL is only an excuse. The real driver of nurses wages is supply and demand and unions have the power to limit the supply (through strikes).

I think unions have a lot more to do with our crappy pay than COL. But it is what it is...

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