Nurses Make The Big Bucks

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Specializes in Ortho and Tele med/surg.

I get this a lot and I'm sure you guys get this too! When I tell people that I'm a nursing student and that I want to be a nurse, they starting telling me, "You are going to make so much money!" One guy was rubbing his fingers together signaling that nurses make a lot of money. I was offended by it. I never got into it for the money and I keeping telling them it's hard work.

What do you guys think? Do you also get that too from friends, family, relatives and strangers? How do you respond to them?

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

Yes I am offended. I only make big bucks if I put in big hours. I still feel that as nurses we are not being paid what we should be.

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I guess it depends on who you are talking to. I am a nursing student, I used to be in IT, and I usually get "Why would you lower yourself to be a nurse? You could make so much more if you went back into IT..."

(Maybe because I want to be a nurse, there are not so many IT jobs in Michigan, and I haven't done it in 10 years...)

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Specializes in Critical Care.

They say that because nursing is a highly lucrative job for the amount of required education. There are very few associates or even bachelors programs that allow for one to make $55-80K nearly right out of school these days.

To illustrate, here's a bad joke: What do you call somebody that graduates with a bachelors in philosophy? Barista. :p

To further illustrate the median household income in the USA is $41,994 according to census.gov.

Most new grad nurses exceed the median household income their first year out of school.

While no one's getting rich off nursing, compared to the bulk of the labor force nursing is quite lucrative.

To sum it up, they say that because quite frankly they're envious.

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Now that's not to say nursing isn't tough or that often job demands exceed the level of pay, but that's another story entirely. Compared to other careers with similar education, nursing is at the top of the pay scale.

We drop the ball a bit with our masters and doctorate prepared nurses, however. Many of them get paid less or equal to what a staff nurse makes-- clearly their income to level of education does not compare favorably when compared to other graduate level programs (excluding academia, which pays poorly all around).

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

Last year I worked so much OT, I made 75k and the year before that 80k only because I worked a ton of OT. This year I've only made 30k at my fulltime job and 9k at my contingent job. I'm probably going to quit my contingent job because the whole next schedule, they could only put me on one day. Whatever.

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If someone in the Pittsburgh area is making $55 to $80 K right after graduating I will be suprised. I think $45 K is more like it. ADD to the fact that most of them will be here posting about how horrible it is and I will still thank God everyday when I wake up that I am retired. PS that salary is based on $22 to $24 an hour and does not include overtime. You certainly can increase your earning power with overtime but you can wreck you mental and physical health with it also.

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Specializes in Critical Care.
If someone in the Pittsburgh area is making $55 to $80 K right after graduating I will be suprised. I think $45 K is more like it. ADD to the fact that most of them will be here posting about how horrible it is and I will still thank God everyday when I wake up that I am retired.

According to salary.com the 25th percentile is $55K and the 75th is $66.2K for a "staff nurse" in Pittsburgh.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

To sum it up, they say that because quite frankly they're envious.

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Now that's not to say nursing isn't tough or that often job demands exceed the level of pay, but that's another story entirely. Compared to other careers with similar education, nursing is at the top of the pay scale.

We drop the ball a bit with our masters and doctorate prepared nurses, however. Many of them get paid less or equal to what a staff nurse makes-- clearly their income to level of education does not compare favorably when compared to other graduate level programs (excluding academia, which pays poorly all around).

Great post. Thank you.

Of course, the exact pay varies from job to job and region to region, but in places where the pay is lower than the nursing average it is usually true that pay for other jobs is lower in that area as well. I am often quite surprised when I am reminded of how little some people with college degrees make. And when you consider that those other people have 4 year degrees and our entry level salaries only reguire a 2-year degree (or only 15 months in some cases), it's even more significant.

As you said, it is in the progression of our compensation as we gain experience, further our education, and take on more responsibility that the salaries often don't keep pace with other fields.

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Specializes in Cardiac.

I don't think I have had people tell me how much money I am going to make, just that there is so many options in being a nurse. My Nail tech guy said that If I was going to go to school to be a NP or PA that I should just go be a doctor, Kind of made me angry because I don't want to be a doctor.

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

Pinkster, he probably didn't take into consideration that docs don't make that much right out of medical school and in residency. Plus, why would you want to paged all hours of the night. Not my cup of tea. I'd rather be a NP.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

As a previous poster mentioned, I think it all depends on which crowd is discussing the nurse's pay.

I come from a lower working-class family with only 2 college graduates (one cousin is an RN and the other cousin has a BA in early childhood education). The remainder of my family members are either high school dropouts or high school graduates who are very alienated from the realm of higher education and the professional workforce. Many of my relatives are unemployed due to lack of skills or educational attainment. The ones that do have employment tend to be working in low-paying service occupations or temp agency work.

Anyhow, they think I earn a whole lot of money. If I was standing in their shoes, I would probably think so, too. My mother is presently unemployed and my father earns $12 hourly at a major retail store, so I can understand and appreciate their limited perspectives.

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I'm excited for the pay increase that I hope to get once I finish my RN program. I have a BA in Political Science and History -which does not lead to a defined career path. This associate's degree that I'm working on (a decade after I first started college) is finally going to get me where I want to be. . . financially independent, job secure.

I also am excited about the myriad options available to nurses and the idea that I'm going to be doing something meaningful with my life.

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