100k salary?

[pilot833]

18 year old male. I've wanted to be a nurse for a couple years and will be starting to work towards my BSN this fall. I've volunteered at the local hospital on med/surg floors and the ER room to make sure this is what I want. I will be taking classes to be an EMT-B or ER tech during college in order to gain medical knowledge, contacts in the hospital, and experience in an acute care setting.

Med/surg floors are........eh...but I am absolutely in love with the ICU and ER. When I was volunteering on a med/surg floor a male nurse said he had worked 20 years as a nurse an was making 120k

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My question is how possible is it for a nurse to make over 100k a year?

Does it pretty much require overtime to make that?

Whats the highest you have ever heard of a nurse making that wasn't a anesthetist or practitioner? And what did that require(overtime, certifications, years of experience, department,etc)?

I was thinking of becoming a charge nurse for the ER eventually. Good or bad idea?

I want to make it clear I am NOT getting into nursing for the money, but just like everyone I wouldn't mind making a decent amount doing what I love. I am just interested in how obtainable a "decent" salary is when it comes to nursing

[pinkfluffybunny]

Basically if you made 30 dollars an hour and worked 40 hours plus 25 hours overtime at time and a half you would. But you would have a nervous breakdown more than likely.

[pilot833]

so basically it requires an insane amount of overtime and nothing else? What nursing specialty pays the best that isn't anesthetist or practitioner. Like icu, surgery, neonatal, ER, etc

[BostonTerrierLover, BSN, RN]

Go to Travel Nursing Sites: Fastaff, American Mobile/Nursing, and On Assignment/Nursing- and look at example salaries. I have never worked a strike, strictly Travel/Per Diem/Contract, and it is very possible to make over 100K per year even as an ADN. It may not be as normal as before the Great Recession, but Full Time, 12 Monthers making $39-42 hr can rake it in pretty quick. When you go into overtime making $42/hr, it doesn't take long to get there. Good Luck.

I didn't get into Nursing for the Money either, but there is NO shame in wanting to profit and prosper from your hardwork, knowledge, and skills. I have values against strike nursing, but there are plenty who don't mind it- I don't condemn them as someone has to be there with the patient- but I have worked in some of the facilities that LATER had a strike, and I know what those nurses were putting up with. That said, "Strike Nursing" can pay upwards of $50-100/hr.

Per Diem, in my experience, has paid the highest hourly rates/hr. But, it is important to add that there are NO BENEFITs given with the assignment. Therefore, unless it is local, you will be responsible for housing, travel, and any other expense that is accumulated.

All of these, Strike/Contract/Travel Nursing, usually come with fully furnished private housing, trip reimbursement, and many have additional completion bonuses. Last year I got $5,000 for working a certain amount of hours from Thanksgiving to New Years Day including all 3 major holidays. They help arrange, and pay for any continuing education needed, certifications, and/or Licenses. It really spoiled me working with the three travel agencies I mentioned. No electric, water, rent, or cable bill was nice too while I was saving. I loved the lifestyle, and I loved to travel, just realized money doesn't equal happiness, and finally settled back at home; But, I could get the "itch" again anytime.

If you don't mind living out of your suitcase for awhile, and being exhiled from family members in some cases, There is $$$ to be made in non-traditional hiring/placement.

[pilot833]

thank you so much boston for such a informative post! i am new to this lingo and i do know what travel nursing is, however i am not familiar with what you mean by:

per diem ,strike nursing, contract nursing, or adn. if you could further elaborate on each that would be stunning!

i actually love traveling and my goal in life is to travel the world. is there a good supply of travel nurses or are they in demand? if so, how much experience is usually required?

[ange09, ADN, RN]

Hey Pilot, I am not a travel nurse, but several of my friends are.From what they tell me it goes in cycles with the demand of travel nurses.Some people are willing to locate anywhere, where others just stay within their state or region. If you can believe it, my good friend has been working at the same facility for 3 yrs as a travel nurse. She lives an hr away from the hospital! The hospital keeps renewing the contract with her agency.I talked to several of the travel nurses and they said sometimes its really hard to get a contract and other times they have a nice pick of where they want to go. Per diem is as needed. I just accepted a per diem position and I am only required to do 2 shifts/wk and make my own schedule, choose which unit I go to,etc. My friend is making good money doing it, but there are no benefits with this type of position. Both travel nursing and per diem require you to have experience. You are filling in the gaps for the staff that is not there so they need you to hit the floor running. I would say at least 2 yrs of full-time experience.The facility I used to work at pays their new grads $15/hr till they are trained and then it ges up to 20. Just telling you cause not everywhere pays great. After you gain experience and move on you will be compensated much better.Best of luck to you!

[Ruas61, BSN, RN]

Be thoughtful with the debt you incur with any student loans on the way.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Depending on you location almost impossible without an advance practice degree.

A nurse with 20 years experience is A LOT of experience.....you will start NO WHERE near that.

[CT Pixie, BSN, RN]

I have a good friend who is a new ADN grad (no experience as an RN and none in any aspect of health care) who was hired at $30/hr. 40 hrs a week x 30/hr is $1200/month ($62,400/yr).In order for her to get close to $100,000 she'd have to work 56 hrs a week every week and be getting time and a half for those additional 16 hours. We live in an area of the Country that pays more than most areas for RNs (actually for pretty much any profession) BUT our cost of living is out of control.

Is it possible? Yes. In certain areas of the country, with overtime. Do you HAVE to have a BSN or higher..no but it would be much easier to get to that $100K mark with it. Do you HAVE to have experience, nope but its tough out there for new grads with no experience to even find a job.

[33762FL]

It depends where you're located. $30/hr is lower than even what a new grad makes per hour in a hospital job in my area. So for example, you can make more per hour around here, and if you work OT or have a second per diem job at another facility (per diem work pays more per hour than a regular FT or PT job, usually) then you can probably do pretty well.

[AnonRNC]

$100K is tough without overtime. I've been a nurse for 13 years, my base wage is $37/hr + $1 for BSN + $1 for Specialty Certification + $3 for charge + $4 for nocs. If I worked 2 weekend shifs + $4 (12-hour shifts) EVERY week and 1 weekday shift, my gross would be $91,000.

[Altra, BSN, RN]

Overview of BLS Wage Data by Area and Occupation

OP, wages and costs of living (housing, transportation, state & local taxes, costs of food and everything else) vary dramatically by region. Start here: Overview of BLS Wage Data by Area and Occupation and see what you can learn about nursing wages in your area or the area you see yourself living in after college. Then take a look at real estate/rental ads and other sources of information specific to that area and you'll get a better idea of what $50K or $100K means in real terms.

Study hard ... good luck to you. :)