If you make over 100k/year as a nurse

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:yeah:What is your specialty?

how long have you been an RN?

and how many years have you been working?

Do you have a BSN or ADN?

Absolutely incorrect. Masters level nursing pays well over 100K. My friend is an anesthetist and makes over 200k per year. Many NP clear 100K and CNS can reach that figure.

I agree with Val -- highly variable. I'm a CNS who's never come close to $100k, and no one (MSN-prepared) that I know personally has, either. I live in a rural area in a Southern state. However, with the cost of living in this area, I live comfortably on what I do make.

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What I think everyone is missing is...It's all about where you live!! Are you a staff nurse or an agency nurse? The south, (Louisiana), pays not so well, in my opinion for RN's. On the flip side of that, I am graduating in May and grad school in August and the companies I have contacted pays the average hourly pay to NP's here..so we too, can make 100K :-}

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In Sf, CA at the county hospital the starting wage is $45/hour for benefited employees, $55/hour for per diem. However, it's next to impossible finding a job here! (hmmm...wonder why?) So please, don't start packing those bags!

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I make 100k/yr and i do not usually work OT. I'm in float pool at a large hospital. No specialty just medsurg/tele. I have an associates degree and been a nurse 3.5 yrs. :smokin:

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Specializes in ICU.
My two cents? (cuz you're all dieing to know, right?)

If you want to pull in 6 figures a year... DON'T go into nursing. Nursing has a lot to offer, but awesome financial compensation isn't it.

I know lots of computer engineers, all making atleast 135k/year about 5-7 years into their careers. They get hour lunch breaks where they get to leave the building, are on FB most of the day and get to pee multiple times per day. Half of them are on "down-time" right now and basically go to work and have nothing to do.

Nursing is not the career for these things.

I live about 20 min outside NYC in NJ. The cost of living here is ridiculous. The most I have made was $88k/year as a nurse manager.

The ones I know who make over 100K work OT and have per diem jobs, just to pay the mortgage and raise their kids.

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Specializes in acute care then Home health.

When I was a new grad I worked at a big hospital in LA. My goal was to make 100k right outa the gate. After a year of contant acid reflux and aging myself about 5.. I figured out that it wasn't worth the money and got out of hospital nursing for good. Way happier in home health even tho I'm making less. No weekends, no nights, no headaches.

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Specializes in Leadership, Psych, HomeCare, Amb. Care.

I mighta hit $100 a few years ago. Between a severance package and 4-8 hours OT ppp, shift differential etc, it all added up

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Specializes in geriatrics.

It also depends where you live. Canadian RNs for example are unionized. Pay is good. I'm a new grad reaching my 1 year mark. At the end of the year, I'll make about 90 k. Experienced nurses and agency make a lot more here.

From reading these boards, I've come to realize that many American RNs are underpaid. That's a shame.

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Specializes in Psychiatry.

Glad I found this post. I started a similar one asking how to make the most money with a nursing degree. I initally started nursing school to become a nurse anesthetist, but changed tracks when I caught the psych bug. I've worked nights on a psych unit since I graduated a couple years ago and make about $85K. I changed my schedule to Tue-Sat so I could get both w/e differentials (10%); am the only nurse so I automatically get charge (10%); shift differential (15%); get $3 more an hour for having been certified and a buck for Clinical Ladder II (they refused to let me apply for III, whatever). It adds up, and I'm grateful because the base salary here is awful compared to any other hospital in the state (CT), probably. I'll be finishing up a BSN program shortly ... now what? I had Psych NP in my sights for a while, which is why I'm picking up this BSN instead of bridging to a Master's because the only 2 schools in the state that offer this program said it would be a good idea. But now with this conversion to DNP looming, and the fact that after all the work and all the tuition I'll probably only make a certain degree more than I do now, I'm not so sure. My preceptor for my current field experience for some ridiculous class tells me I can make $150K+ as a visiting psych nurse. He seems like a good enough guy & has offered me a job. I may work per diem after I graduate to see if I like it. I'm rambling now, but I just would really like to figure out a way to make "real" money doing something that I love. If it comes down to having to get an MBA and wearing a tie and looking at pictures of my family on a desk, I'll sell my soul and do it I guess. I'd rather not have to.

Also, I'm as idealistic and prone to romanticizing the art of nursing as the next person, so I'm glad this thread hasn't been littered with nurses who are offended or doubt others' motivation or value system because they want to make money.

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Specializes in geriatrics.

I work permanent nights, my meals are paid, and I get responsibility pay (charge). With my base wage, it all adds up. Depending where you live and work, it IS possible to make a really good living without working 2 jobs or a ton of OT every month.

I know California nurses are paid well. As I mentioned in a previous thread, agency or travel nursing is great too.

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Specializes in Psychiatry.

joanna73 ... Hi again. I think anyone who isn't tied down by family or other circumstances is crazy for not at least considering travel nursing. What a great opportunity, for a number of reasons. The money, first of all - making $100K+ to work 9 months out of the year sounds like a good deal to me.

I've said it before, in my next life I'll be single in nursing school (it was awful - 10:1 ratio, each girl/woman prettier and more motivated than the next, etc. and so on, and so on). I'm also pretty certain I'd have made the decision to become a "murse" a decade or so before I did this time around, and that I would've become a travel nurse. Also, I would have invested in Keurig (GMCR) before these stupid K-cups took off like they did. Oh well. At least I have a wonderful wife and some amazing kids to ease my suffering.

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I am very intersted in becoming a NP. It's just very intimidating.

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