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

I work in AZ for the federal government as a staff nurse and make 100,00/yr. I work 84 hours per pay period.

In my experience, to earn 100,000 as an RN you usually have to work a lot of overtime. For me, 100,000 isn't worth working 70+ hours (especially including weekends, holiday, etc.) There's nothing wrong with doing that, but it's not easy and it's not for everyone.

The other, most common alternative is to become an NP. New NPs in many regions of the country can make upwards of 100,000. Keep in mind, though, that these jobs are often in areas with a high cost-of-living (think costal/metropolitan areas). I'm a new NP and took an 85,000 job over a 105,000 because the former is in an area with a much lower cost-of-living (and also a place I grew up near and love, but that's beside the point). Additionally, they provide tuition reimbursement and excellent loan repayment, which brings me to my next point... you may find that it will be difficult to be in a position to earn 100,000 without also being in a sizable amount of debt.

Certainly there are nurses who make 100,000 plus with little/no debt. In fact, I know there are at least a couple of people on this site who have managed to do just that. However, don't expect to find these jobs easily or immediately.

Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.
You have twenty-five years of experience and only make 65k/base? Where on Earth do you live?

Probably near where I live. I have 13 years and currently do not even make anywhere close to that, nor will I likely be making that at 25 years, so actually that poster probably does NOT live near me.

Where I live, the cost of living is pretty low, so I'm in good shape.

Specializes in Nursing Home / Prison / Hospital.

Stay out of debt and work the minimum amount of hours needed to get by. Which do you look forward to the most? Payday or your days off?

VT247

$172K 2nd full yr out of CRNA school in Texas. That does not include OT. Doesnt get better than this.

True, but it proves the point that those kinds of salaries rarely happen without significant higher education. That's particularly true in Texas. Congrats on seeing the fruits of your hard work.

Specializes in 8 yrs LTC, 12 yrs school nursing.

I live in MA and work as a school nurse (7 years) but has been a nurse since 1995. I make $86K with summers and all school holidays off. I sometimes work in the summer (school nurse too) and make $45/hr. I love my job and thoroughly enjoy the people I work with (young and old)- not many nurses can say that so I am very lucky.

I work in Virginia in a low-mid cost of living area that is fairly rural. I took a pay cut to work at my current job, so I will speak to the job I had beforehand. That was my highest paying job.

It was in the PICU at a nationally renowned university hospital. When I left, I had 13 years experience. My base pay was $37/hour; that was determined by the hospital's experience based pay scale and was non-negotiable. I worked night shift, which had a shift differential of $4/hour. I also worked my every other weekend requirement, which was an additional $3/hour on top of base pay plus night shift diff. I worked 36 hours per week and no overtime (never wanted to work OT).

So, that made my AVERAGE hourly salary about $42.50/hour for 72 hours. That equals $79,560 a year. That was also the highest paying hospital in my area.

Specializes in TSICU.

In it for the money? Quit nursing and do law school. Otherwise work in an area they like and enjoy going to work and it will be a good salary to live on anywhere. More schooling (graduate) opens higher paying opportunities if they want to specialize in an area.

Specializes in Cardiac (adult), CC, Peds, MH/Substance.
I'd wager they were somewhere in the South. That income sounds about right.

Keep in mind all "South" is not equal. Salaries in Fort Worth are typically higher than South Carolina, for example

Easy to make 100k/yr in NY but cost of living is high. Base 80k, night diff 6k, experience 1.2k/yr, BSN 1.5k, certification 1.5k, per diem 54$/hr-56$/hr, 3% raise March 1st. Other hospitals maybe a little hig/low

Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.
nicktexas said:
Keep in mind all "South" is not equal. Salaries in Fort Worth are typically higher than South Carolina, for example

I did say "somewhere"... 

I lived in the South for more than a decade. Generally, the deeper south you go in the South, the less the wages are. Though better pay is found in larger metro areas like Charlotte, Atlanta, and such. But the cost of living is also lower in the South, which helps compensate for the lower wages.

I wouldn't consider Fort Worth as being in the South, because Texas is its own world. And yes, I lived in Texas too ?

The best thing you could do is to tell your daughters to change their major & get out of the nursing curriculum. Nursing has gone down the toilet & it's only going to get worse. I'm a CRNA, make a great salary, but also tolerate a lot of B.S. from nurse managers about O.R. turnover time and other ridiculous stuff because they clearly do not understand that paralyzed patients cannot breathe on their own & if removed from the anesthesia machine vent, they'll die. You can't take a patient that isn't breathing to PACU on a t-piece, but the nurse managers think you can. There is a lot of conflict with MD anesthesiologists because they think we are taking jobs away from them.

Even if nurses were paid $100k/year, they would still be underpaid. Healthcare IS NOT the place to be if your daughters want to make $100k+ a year. Tell them to change their major to architecture, accounting or business, where it is quite possible to make $100k/year after just a few years of being out of college.

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