Nurse Annual Wages

[massieagere]

Hi Fellow Nurses,

I am sure this has been asked before somewhere but I will ask as well.

I am an internationally trained nurse with 14 years General Nursing experience and about 10 of those in Adult ICU.

I have worked in Africa, Europe and now in Australia and my next adventure target is the USA.

I have been looking at wages in different states and territories of the US and there seem to be a huge difference in wages ranging from 45K to as much as 140K.

My question is there what is the average wage for someone with my years of experience and a post graduate qualification in critical care nursing.

I am also keen to here from those that do a variety of shift work if there is any hourly differential between shifts.

As an example answer:

Day Shift : $30 ph

Afternoon : $35 ph

Night Shift: $40 ph

Average Yearly wage working 40 hrs p/w 60K p/a including the shift penalties.

Thank you all for your responses.

[ArtClassRN, ADN, RN]

Check the Salary Survey threads for the information you seek.

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

The simple truth is that nurse wages do vary hugely. I saw my preceptor's check at my current job - she has been a nurse for as long as you have, and has worked in critical care for eight years - and she makes $28.50/hr base. With our night diff added, she would make around $60k/year with no overtime. She told me she made $40k in overtime last year because she picks up 1-2 extra shifts per week, so she actually made around $100k.

So, your pay is going to depend on where you want to work and how much overtime you are planning to pick up. I would say the bare minimum you could expect with as many years as you've worked is around 50k/year, and that would be in the lowest paid areas of the country.

[massieagere]

Thank you for your responses. I will checkout the salary survey thread.

[PinayUSA]

Cost of living in each area compared to salary is where the real answer you need to find....

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

The simple truth is that nurse wages do vary hugely. I saw my preceptor's check at my current job - she has been a nurse for as long as you have, and has worked in critical care for eight years - and she makes $28.50/hr base. With our night diff added, she would make around $60k/year with no overtime. She told me she made $40k in overtime last year because she picks up 1-2 extra shifts per week, so she actually made around $100k.

So, your pay is going to depend on where you want to work and how much overtime you are planning to pick up. I would say the bare minimum you could expect with as many years as you've worked is around 50k/year, and that would be in the lowest paid areas of the country.

$28.50/hr base as a nurse with 14 years experience? New grads make more than that in my area.

OP, as you can see it varies widely. I can't imagine an experienced nurse working full time hours making $50k/year, that's lower than my new grad salary was in 07. What part of the country are you looking at?

[FlyingScot, RN]

2008. 20 plus years of experience. Flight Nurse. $27/hr. Isn't much more now.