Making 100k salary/ income as a nurse?

I am interested in what specialties are making 100k. I have 3 daughters in nursing school and can advise them on a lot, but not necessarily give them a big pic of the financial opportunities from across the nation. I am a 25 year RN and have a 65k salary, but double it most years with ot. not much fun working 68-72 hour weeks though. please tell me your specialty, experience , salary, and salary with diff and ot. oh, and where you r in the USA thank you all and hope your practice is professionally and financially rewarding

Specializes in Emergency, Critical Care, Pre-Hospital,.

Yup, I didn't, knowingly, take a vow of poverty. This is a business proposition. I provide you with a service and you pay me a acceptable wage. If either of us fail that contract, we are free to move on, no excommunication needed.

Specializes in ICU.
I do. Operating Room, my Hospital pays a higher rate for the OR, plus with call... all the OT I care to pick up-- well , well over 100k

interested???

Maye but, I have a feeling you are referring to Boston area.

AliNajaCat said:
I think I said it before (not going back to read the whole 147 posts...) Money isn't everything. I've taken jobs that pay less but that give me maximal work/life balance. The cliche is that nobody ever lay on her deathbed and said she wished she'd spent more time at work. I sure won't.

This just made me laugh out loud, because I actually have said those exact words. But not on my death bed. More like after getting home and dealing with WW3 between the kids.

As many have said, working travel it's doable, especially if you really learn how to make the most of being a travel nurse. When I did my first assignment I was a fool and barely made ends meet. But I got smart real quick on how to pocket most of that money.

Also working PRN at a hospital that pays good PRN wages it's doable. I was working at one hospital that doesn't pay well even though it's a higher cost area. They say it's on the beach and a big tourist spot so the perks of where you live should be enough. Yea that's a negative. They did have amazing health care premiums though and still did pensions. Anyway was talking to a few nurses there that were going to PRN positions so they had the schedule flexibility and I mentioned at least it will be higher pay as well. They both stated they weren't getting a pay increase. I was like WHAT??? The hospital told them the perk to PRN was they got to pick when they worked. But it didn't pay any different. Crazy!!!

As far as the poster that was asking about working two FT jobs as a new grad. Not gonna happen. Well I would say 99% not going to happen as a new grad. As the newbie you're not going to be able to go in making schedule demands at not just one but two places and neither one will go for you being in dual new grad residency programs.

That said when you are done as a new grad it is possible if you have self scheduling. I did in fact do this for 2 months because I was leaving one full time job and starting another and the way it worked out I was going to be committed to both for 2 months. I also had a PRN job. I was crazy. My plan was to have one Full Time and one PRN.

Anyway although it's doable you need to consider a few things such as there is no leeway for missing days because between the 2 jobs you're committed to 6 days already. There will end up being conflicts and it's not lucrative money wise because you have to do you 40 before getting your OT. If you're wanting the most lucrative way to work 2 jobs (not considering traveling but just as a staff nurse and baring you need the healthcare and stuff) do 1 full time and a good paying PRN staff job or PRN local travel job. We have a few local places that are PRN travel that pay 46 p/h

Just my thoughts.

Specializes in NICU, ER, OR.

Operating room... lots of OT, and on call

Specializes in Psychiatry, Forensics, Addictions.

I make anywhere from $100 to $150K a year, live in the Northeast, and am a forensic psychiatric nurse. I have been an RN for 5 years. I do a lot of OT and MOT.

Specializes in Critical Care and ED.

I'm close to six figures and work in informatics with no call, weekends or holidays. I have a BSN and three certifications and am in NP school (close to finishing). I'm in the Northeast though...high COL. I could make more going back to the ICU and working shifts/OT/nights. RNOTODAY I think I know where you're referring to....I'm pretty close if I'm right. I might be interested in that if I went back to clinical practice. Haven't worked in the OR for quite a few years though, but I loved it!

What area of NJ?

Making 85k/yr 2nd yr as a nurse. NJ. If I did overtime probably could reach 100k. I work in the ER. Don't want to do overtime. To stressed and starting to feel burnt out.

Thinking of taking pay cut 65k/yr for clinic desk job. Closer to the house better hrs in the day.

Specializes in Hospice.
I dont believe we need to be called like a vocation, but I've never seen a strictly money driven nurse succeed in the field. The crap we tolerate is tolerated because we really want to be nurses. I believe we should all make great money for what we do. But if you're driven by dollars? You won't be able to tolerate what we tolerate.

Maybe it's because our salaries haven't kept up with inflation and we are more desperate than ever to make ends meet. Truthfully my "calling" is to be rich and travel the world, since that's not in the cards just yet, being a nurse pays the bills (barely).

Industry. I work for one of the oldest med tech companies in the country. I travel the US and consult/educate surgeons, clinicians and hospital administrations regarding infection prevention and how our products help to decrease HAIs. I effect change and encourage best practice on a large scale, many patients at a time.

I make over 100k a year, plus a pension, car, and I keep all my travel points. It is an amazing job!

You have twenty-five years of experience and only make 65k/base? Where on Earth do you live?

That is the average annual pay for nursing. I don't think it's unusually low. Nursing often don't reflect years if experience (or we reach the ceiling pretty quickly).

My friend just graduated bsn last year and her starting salary was 85-90k. Some hospitals here pay higher. She works here in nyc.

+ Join the Discussion