2017 Nurse Salary

Wolf at the Door, BSN · Feb 17, 2017

I am not the norm for my state, I will preface with that
Location: CO
Experience: 6 years BSN
Specialty: ER
Facility : Large Hospital
Pay: $43/hr + differentials and "incentive" shifts

Are you PRN?

umbdude, MSN, APRN · Feb 17, 2017

Just adding mine...

Location: MA (high cost area)

Experience: New grad (BSN). 2.5 years as psych tech

Specialty: Acute inpatient psych

Facility: Regional Hospital

Pay: $29.50 + $1.75 weekend diff + 10% eve. Had 2 other offers: (1) for-profit psych, $30 + $1.5 diff. (2) forensic psych, $31.5...not sure about diff.

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Feb 18, 2017

Location: California

Experience: Between 5 and 10 years

Specialty: Psych

Facility: Large hospital

Pay: base of $104k. Then add on shift/role differentials. And on top of that, there's plenty of extra work and OT opportunities.

But keep in mind I am in California, so the cost of living means this salary isn't as large as it sounds.

Ard123 · Feb 20, 2017

as of feb 2017

Location: northern Cali, san Jose

Job type: RN, outpatient for urban area, I work remotely 70% of the time, sun-thurs, 9-5am, 40hr schedule. I'm pretty efficient, so I actually probably only work 36hrs/week with 4 hrs down time/week

Base pay + weekend differential/hr= $74 + 7.40= $81.40/hr = $169,312/year (does not factor in overtime)

Cost of living: It's all relative, but if you'd like to compare my pay, here is a COL conversion calculator PayScale - Cost of Living Calculator

Living situation: $1750/month for 2 bed apt, but I plan to rent out 2nd bedroom for 850/mo in 3 months

Overtime (separate from base pay): I've worked 12 hours OT since the beginning of 2017 (1.5 differential of base, hourly after other weekend diff is $118/hr). So add an extra 12x$118= $1420 to my total pay at the end of the year... and I plan to work a bit more

Benefits (separate from base pay): the usual- comprehensive medical, dental, vision; 401k plan with 1% matching; free gym; 3 weeks vacation/year; 2 weeks sick leave/year; mileage reimbursements if I have to drive; 30 hours paid ed time plus up to $500 travel accommodations if out of area; planning to get Spanish speaking differential (50cents/hr more) if I can get myself to study; and health spending account that will allow me to shelter 2500 from taxes this year when I get some dental/vision work done;all in all, employer estimates approximately $30k in benefits;

So all in all (pay plus ot plus bennies as of Feb 2017)= 169.3k+1.4k+30k= 201.7k

Not bad, Look forward to paying the bills, savings, and having some fun

Wolf at the Door, BSN · Feb 20, 2017

^what shady place are you staying in to get a 2bedroom 1750 in san jose? decent 2brs is 2600 min. I wouldn't sacrifice my comfort for a few dollars. Working nights can be difficult enough without a roommate. Remember 1750 includes paper thin walls.

Ard123 · Feb 21, 2017

How much bonus do you get a year (on average)?

Ard123 · Feb 21, 2017

^what shady place are you staying in to get a 2bedroom 1750 in san jose? decent 2brs is 2600 min. I wouldn't sacrifice my comfort for a few dollars. Working nights can be difficult enough without a roommate. Remember 1750 includes paper thin walls.

The apt is in hayward, work is in sj. I got this apt a while ago and I know the landlord who hasn't took it upon himself to raise renthe very much. it's ok, not the best, but it's a place to live, and so far I'm saving at least 800 + / month compared to other places, which will help for a home down payment . I figure a bit of sacrifice now will be a nicer return in the future.

**NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN** · Mar 5, 2017

I don't understand how peope get by in other states. I mean I live comfortably on 70+ an hour but we have a regular house and our mortgage is 1850 a month. I know cost of living is cheaper....but a lot of times when I toy with moving I don't see houses cheaper than my 300k mortgage in other areas. (Mainly looking at Arizona to be closer to family)

Seriously guys, how do you do it?

Libby1987 · Mar 6, 2017

I really wish posters would represent their area that someone could expect to obtain, not their special circumstances. I have an $1,100 mortgage for a newer home on horse property in California but that number is useless to anyone else because it's based on many factors not just COL.

What needs to be provided is average cost per SF or rent for a 3bd 2ba in a safe neighborhood, apples to apples. Outliers are irrelevant for the purpose of this thread.

Wolf at the Door, BSN · Mar 6, 2017

I really wish posters would represent their area that someone could expect to obtain, not their special circumstances. I have an $1,100 mortgage for a newer home on horse property in California but that number is useless to anyone else because it's based on many factors not just COL.
What needs to be provided is average cost per SF or rent for a 3bd 2ba in a safe neighborhood, apples to apples. Outliers are irrelevant for the purpose of this thread.

I like the idea of provide per square foot based on your city. I can't narrow it down when nurses say North Texas. I have to assume you are referring to DFW area. Dallas COL is vastly different than Arlington.

Ard123 · Mar 11, 2017

I really wish posters would represent their area that someone could expect to obtain, not their special circumstances. I have an $1,100 mortgage for a newer home on horse property in California but that number is useless to anyone else because it's based on many factors not just COL.
Libby1987,
The COL calculators available online already factor in a ballpark estimate of how somebody's purchasing power is in a general area, and already includes mortgage/rent, food, consumer pricing goods, medical care, transportation, etc. And while these calculators don't capture everything, they give us all on these threads a way to compare our situations without having to start from scratch and calculate every single factor that affects standard of living (can you imagine how hard that would be?)
Your query of comparing the "Average cost per SF or rent for a 3bd 2ba in a safe neighborhood" is problematic in many ways. First off, the word "safe" itself is too subjective. second, if you wanted to find out the average cost of your query, google it. It's all available. unfortunately, there are no "3bd 2ba in a safe neighborhood" calculators out there, but luckily, housing has already been factored into the COL. I trust the experts on that.
So yea, unfortunately, I think we're stuck with COL as the best option ot try to standardize responses on this thread, and unless you want every single person on this thread to try to look up the average cost of their area's rent/mortgage (which may be separate and different from what each individual actually pays in their area), and assume that we all think of the word "safe" in the same way, it'll be impossible to get that level of standardization you are looking for.
I advocate for the COL calculator at this time until somebody can come up with (and post with instructions) a more encompassing and easy to use way to compare our incomes/living standards apples to apples. ps, our posts aren't irrevelant.

Ard123 · Mar 11, 2017

I don't understand how peope get by in other states. I mean I live comfortably on 70+ an hour but we have a regular house and our mortgage is 1850 a month. I know cost of living is cheaper....but a lot of times when I toy with moving I don't see houses cheaper than my 300k mortgage in other areas. (Mainly looking at Arizona to be closer to family)
Seriously guys, how do you do it?

So I'm going to add to this post. The reason we live and get paid so well is because our unions fight for us to have good wages and good working conditions. I know that there are people in other parts of our country who want more pay, better working conditions, more recognition. You deserve it, and I will tell you that it is possible. If you're already in a union, reach out to your rep and get involved. Fight harder, smarter, and with more people. That's how we did it here.