Pay Scale

Editorial Team / Admin · Nov 8, 2005

Dear friends!
I read many your posts and understood that I don't understand does nurse in
US have good(or bad) salary or not. Because I don't know, what you can
buy if you get 22$/hour if you work full time.
For example, I have 4.7$/hour, RN, full time, plus 65$ bonus. 90$
government taxes and med. insurance, rent( apartment 1 bed-room) 350$,
100-120$ electricity, water, municipal tax, 70-80$ telephone, mobile phone,
100$ my bank-loan and so on. My salary is very low, most RN have 1300 up
to 2000$ net, but their spendings also many more.
700 g bread - 1$, 1 kg hen-meat - 4-5$ ... and so on. If that is interesting for
you I can tell you more about our prices.
What do you can do with your salary? Does it big? Is it good for you?

Hello, dan,:balloons:

Sorry, but, your post is a little difficult to understand. Are you wanting to know if an RN makes enough to cover everyday/monthly/yearly expenese?

Balder_LPN, LPN · Nov 9, 2005

my cousins lives in canada and work in michigan as rns .with the higher exchange rate for us dollars and the universal health care , sounds like they got it made. wonder how good is this "universal" health care though.

Well, I live in a small town on the border with Canada, and there are clinics here that specifically cater to canadian clients b/c the wait is so long for procedures and tests up there, and not just elective items either!!! all kinds of things, those that have the money up there purchase thier medical care here.

I would be curious though how the pay differs from Vancouver BC to Seattle.

Balder_LPN, LPN · Nov 9, 2005

Dear friends!
I read many your posts and understood that I don't understand does nurse in
US have good(or bad) salary or not. Because I don't know, what you can
buy if you get 22$/hour if you work full time.
For example, I have 4.7$/hour, RN, full time, plus 65$ bonus. 90$
government taxes and med. insurance, rent( apartment 1 bed-room) 350$,
100-120$ electricity, water, municipal tax, 70-80$ telephone, mobile phone,
100$ my bank-loan and so on. My salary is very low, most RN have 1300 up
to 2000$ net, but their spendings also many more.
700 g bread - 1$, 1 kg hen-meat - 4-5$ ... and so on. If that is interesting for
you I can tell you more about our prices.
What do you can do with your salary? Does it big? Is it good for you?

Simply put, I think you would have a higher standard of living in most areas of the US at 21/hr than you currently have. Although your rent is low (about 1/2 - 1/3 of most rents in the US) 4.70/hr is about an 80% + paycut so even if cost of living is overall double or triple here, than you still are ahead.

Balder_LPN, LPN · Nov 9, 2005

I live outside of Toronto, Ontario - Canada and most hospitals have a union and our payscale for RN's starts at $22.00 and top of the pay scale after 9 years is $33.75/hour and it does not matter what department you work at in the hospital as a nurse. If you are the clinical resource nurse (fancy name for charge nurse) you receive an additional $1.20/hr.
ginger

USD or CDN ??? Big difference

infoseeker · Nov 16, 2005

Boy, pay here in NC is lousy!!! I have been an RN (BSN) for 14 years and only make $23.50/hr for night shift! New grads start out around $19/hr. My daughter wanted to be an RN - but I think I have convinced her there are MUCH better ways to make a living!!! (And better pay and hours!) :uhoh3:

SheriLynnRN · Nov 16, 2005

I just got hired here in Montana. I have just over a year of experience. My base pay will be $20.48/hr and I will be working full time (80 hrs every two weeks) and accruing paid time off. Evening diff is around $1 and nights is $2 or so. No weekend diff. When I was fresh out of school in summer 2004 in North Carolina I started at $17.75 and then we all got a 25 cent cost of living increase. I got a raise right before I moved, I think it was about 30 cents, which was the second highest level on the evaluation. But the diffs were better there, $1.50 evenings, $3.00 nights and $6.00 weekends. I also made an extra 20% in lieu of benefits when I worked there.

KBrown881 · Nov 23, 2005

Ikes, this is a depressing thread! I work agency in Northern VA/ DC area, and have for a few years, so I have a base rate of $34.00/hr. I looked into going PRN with one hospital in the area, and after much negotiation, they offered $25.00/hr. I declined.

I have fresh open-heart experience, CVVH, SvO2, etc and am surprised that some people with marketable skills work for so cheaply. I don't think I will ever be on hospital staff again.

chip193 · Nov 23, 2005

Ikes, this is a depressing thread! I work agency in Northern VA/ DC area, and have for a few years, so I have a base rate of $34.00/hr. I looked into going PRN with one hospital in the area, and after much negotiation, they offered $25.00/hr. I declined.
I have fresh open-heart experience, CVVH, SvO2, etc and am surprised that some people with marketable skills work for so cheaply. I don't think I will ever be on hospital staff again.

My wife found the same thing in the Albany, NY area. She doubled her hourly salary by doing ICU/CCU through an agency. Having a new son, she now gets to work half the hours to bring home the same money, which she loves.

Chip

namorce · Nov 26, 2005

I work in NW Illinois and starting wages for new grads run about 21-23 an hour plus evening and shift differentials. I am a new nurse ( boards Feb 05) and work at two facilities . One is an acute hospital and I make 23.87 an hours plus 2.50 evening diff w. 2.00 more on weekends. The other facilty

is a rehabilitation hospital and I make 25.37 an hour plus 2.50 evening and 2.00 weekend differentials.

My family had thought about moving to another area but the wages are not comp. to those that I make now.

It is a same that we are not recongnized for what we do and paid accordingly.

Good luck in your career.

ERoman RN

nightwalker · Nov 26, 2005

Working ER and trauma in Seattle Wa., my base pay, including premium for eve shift and weekends has been around $37.00/hr with 15 yrs experience.

anniesong · Nov 27, 2005

I work at a 330-bed community-based hospital in CT and last May's new grads received $24.50. This was an increase over previous years, however, requiring the hospital to give a raise to the previous year's new-hires (so as not ot have the new-grads earning more than those with a year's experience). Evening differential is $1.50, nights and weekends are $2.50 each. Overtime is (I believe) time-and-a-half and bonuses are offered to nurses who pick up at least 4 additional 4-hour shifts in a 4 week long schedule period. (I'm a nursing technician in this facility and I make $12.50/hr base working perdiem. I get the same evening, night, and weekend differential rates.)

I'm still in nursing school, and we recently had a "job fair" to allow us the chance to talk with recruiters in the area (CT, MA, NH, NY, and RI). The base salaries quoted to me for new grads (and yes, I did make sure it was a base quote - before differentials, bonuses, education stuff) ranged from $25.15 - $27.50. It is important to note, of course, that being CT, the cost of living makes these quotes seem less impressive...

watupdoc · Nov 27, 2005

I know that pay scales vary around the usa; but was wondering about the va nuses pay scale(title 38)...we have been under a locality pay act for 10years now & do not get cost of living like all other federal employees.In fact some years got a cut..this year they receive 4.8%....what about the rest of the USA what is your COLA????....maybe it is time that we organize for uniformity of pay throught the usa...

I have worked at a VA for 2 1/2 years now. I make $16.00 an hour. upon employment, you are hired at a rate depending on experience. I had only been an LVN for 8 years when I started working for the VA. the Government pays you on a step and grade scale. you can look on the internet under Government pay scale and find out what they pay according to the step and grade. I started out grade 6, step 1. We did recieve the cost of living. Of course RN's get increases when the LVN's do not. :rolleyes: I