**POLL** New 1st Year RN Salary

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Hello all, I am curious to see what the current pay rate is across the country so we can better prepare ourselves and negotiate better salaries! Please try to keep this poll to any graduates after 2010. Thanks!

1) State

2) Hourly Salary

3) Experience, if any

4) Specialty, if any

Here's mine:

NJ

$26/hr new grad, no exp., recently changed jobs $33/hr 1 yr exp.

Only 1 year old RN :saint:

Nephrology/dialysis

I would also be "OneHappyRN" at 42$/hr starting pay!

You didn't say where but i'm going to guess CA?

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Illinois-Chicago

New(ish) grad with about a year exp. in occupational health but now work at a freestanding rehab

$28 base, $32 after 7pm, $34 and some change for weekends (somewhere around there, would have to look at my check for exact amount.)

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South Florida (broward county)

22.50 bade+$3 3p-7:30p weekdays, weekends= 25.50 +$3.00 3p -7:30p

New grad/No exp

step down icu

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Specializes in ER.

Wow I wanna cry now.

Virginia

LPN 15.00 hour- 4 yrs

new grad RN + LPN experience 18.40 nights $3.45 more

Total now with all nurse experience 9 yrs 19.22 plus 3.45 hour nights

And they are mad that we complain about our pay. We don't even get critical pay in the ER like our sister hospitals.

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I would also be "OneHappyRN" at 42$/hr starting pay!

You didn't say where but i'm going to guess CA?

You have to consider that a decent home in California can run $700k+. The pay is higher in California but so is the cost of living. Also taxes are pretty high here too.

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You have to consider that a decent home in California can run $700k+. The pay is higher in California but so is the cost of living. Also taxes are pretty high here too.

Yes of course cost of living (COL) in CA is much higher than in Kansas where I'm at. COL is greater in CA by 46% (according to online COL calculators). However, most other jobs in CA do not have a 46%+ increase in salary. I now live in KS but used to live in CA and can tell you that most salaries for other occupations do not cover the 46% difference in COL.

Now... just because I have the day off and have some time on my hands this morning I decided to dig into this to show proof. I looked at salaries in both states for various jobs on BLS.gov and compared to calculate average % difference. I looked at 13 different occupations in different fields (HR managers, credit counselors, computer syst.analysts, Mechanical engineers, chemists, social workers, preschool teachers, pharmacists, PAs, NPs, RNs, PTs, and Pharm Techs). The average % difference in salaries for these occupations between the two states, excluding RNs, is 25% increase in California. RNs however see a 69% pay increase in California. Of all the occupations I listed, the one that sees the second highest % increase in CA is Mechanical Engineer at 34% increase. Of course, looking at every single job listed on the bls.gov website would give a more accurate picture but for the sake of time saving I chose random occupations that seemed more popular.

Of all the occupations I selected, RN is the only one that covered the COL increase... actually not only covered but exceeded it. Therefore, your standard of living should be higher if CA if you are an RN.

Now... you may be wondering why I went through all the trouble of fact checking this stuff. This week a coworker was telling me that RN salaries were not high enough to cover COL difference in CA compared to KS. I have heard this too many times but I have lived in both places, have friends who are nurses in both states and can tell you in CA they seem to have more $ on their hands. I always had the hunch but now I just wanted to fact-check.

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I would also be "OneHappyRN" at 42$/hr starting pay!

You didn't say where but i'm going to guess CA?

New York....

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This week a coworker was telling me that RN salaries were not high enough to cover COL difference in CA compared to KS.

I don't know about CA - and I don't know about other hospitals in my area...but my salary does cover my COL...although, I've always lived way below my means out of choice. So it's possible that some people spend more on housing, cars, etc. which can cause them to have to have to live paycheck to paycheck...it's all a matter of choice, I guess.

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No wonder almost everyone want to come to CA:)

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I don't know about CA - and I don't know about other hospitals in my area...but my salary does cover my COL...although, I've always lived way below my means out of choice. So it's possible that some people spend more on housing, cars, etc. which can cause them to have to have to live paycheck to paycheck...it's all a matter of choice, I guess.

I'm not a nurse yet (I graduate in 53 days!) but I've worked in the hospital for over 6 years. We haven't received a COL raise in over 3 years:(

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South Florida,

3 years experience WITH BSN and high acuity training

25/hr (includes benefits ect), night 6/hr, weekend 3/hr, 1/hr if floated

Stepdown

Was not enough money, so I went per diem and now I get

38/hr with the same diffs.

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From what I am seeing the pay goes up in higher COL areas and with increased population.

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