RN salary expectations

Published

How much can you realistically expect to make as a new RN? Is 22$ pushing it. It is not about the money, but i do need money to buy stuff. Or is 22$ to low?

I'm in the Midwest, medium sized city, LCOL. Hospitals start at $24/hr base pay.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

i thought your name was familiar so I checked your history and I answered a question of yours four months ago in which you were asking if NPs ever diagnose or write prescriptions. I remember it was kind of an unusual question for someone who was supposed to be nearly finished with prerequisites.

Are you in nursing school now? it's important to remember that you still have years before graduation, then you have to pass the NCLEX and get a job. Where you are going to school can affect how fast you can pass the NCLEX and where you live in the country can affect how fast you can find a job no matter what it pays.

Like the others said the cost of living varies a lot throughout the US. If it's about just needing to buy stuff as you said, then you will already know if $22 per hour is a decent living wage in your area. If it's about wanting to make sure you are being paid the same as other new grad RNs in your area then you will have to do some local research, ask working nurses what the starting pay is in their facility, like that.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Location x 3. I started out at about that where I live and was happy as heck. 90 minutes either way from me, that would be considered not enough or way too much.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I started out at 23.50 in Ocala, FL which is kind of country but not super rural. Small city status, but not considered a town/village.

22 is not pushing it at all but some of these places low ball nurses and/or try to lock them into contracts. Shop around. See what the going starting rate is.

I had 1 hospital out of 3 here that was offering RNs 18.50 or 18 for 1 year or less. The other two were offering 23-23.50. A home healthcare office here was offering 25.74+mileage. Shop around.

Getting 6mo of medsurge experience makes you more marketable as well.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Most likely in the next 2 or 3 years.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Location, location, location...

Up Vote Up Vote ×

ICU nurses at UCLA make $78 an hour. These are 12 hour shifts, of course, or about 140K a year. Private caregivers in LA are making about 18 to 22 an hour - not even nursing trained. Private duty LVNs can make 25 to 30 an hour and north of that if you are an RN. Recruiters tell me that some RNs say they won't work for less than 90K a year.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU.

This thread makes little sense to ask such a basic question without details of the city. How about you go visit glassdoor or search new grad salary on the forum.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU.
ICU nurses at UCLA make $78 an hour. These are 12 hour shifts, of course, or about 140K a year. Private caregivers in LA are making about 18 to 22 an hour - not even nursing trained. Private duty LVNs can make 25 to 30 an hour and north of that if you are an RN. Recruiters tell me that some RNs say they won't work for less than 90K a year.

You must be averaging the time and half and also this nurse at UCLA is working nights. The per diem nurses at UCLA get 78.61 and will get 81.28 Jan 1 2017. If you average the time and half after four hours with the other 8 hours, it comes out to like 94 an hour.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
Most likely in the next 2 or 3 years.

Ask at that time. But in the meantime, don't worry. You will no doubt have money to "buy stuff."

Up Vote Up Vote ×

When it comes to wages, what I have found is you aren't much better off, if not worse off, in the areas that pay those high wages because the cost of living is so much higher. That being said, $94 an hour listed in one of the posts up there, seems pretty decent money even in LA. Of note, California is a big place and plenty of the outskirts of big cities there are very expensive to live in too, but the nurses make a fraction of the crazy hourly rates we hear out of California constantly (anywhere in Santa Barbara county is a good example of a fairly high cost of living with generally pretty average wages for nurses). In 1995 I started out as a nurse making 13 dollars an hour, so wages have improved for me over time, but in general I feel like starting wages for newer nurses has been nearly stagnant for at least 10-15 years, and certainly hasn't kept up with the cost of living. Minus the secretaries and techs we used to have, add in the outrageous charting requirements that the government has added with electronic medical records, and I think we can safely say that a lot of nurses are working for less and doing a whole lot more. If you want to get rich, bedside nursing probably isn't the best career choice. If you want a career interacting with patients and trying to help people, then it's a decent living. I can't imagine doing anything but being a nurse, but I can imagine there are much better ways to make more money and have a little more fun doing it. You should be able to "buy stuff" if you work extra here and there or just save up. As far as $22 being too low, it probably is, but that doesn't mean it's not the going rate in the area. Location does make a big difference. Speaking of location, I do have to say, just because you live in Florida or the mid west doesn't mean you can live off the land or live high on the hog on $20-something an hour as a nurse. Housing is much cheaper than New England or out west, but taxes are still pretty high, and things like cars, groceries and insurance are about the same. The hospitals in those areas have been touting the low cost of living and low balling nurse pay in those areas for decades. I made decent money in Florida after I had some experience under my belt, but only because I worked per diem, travel, or contract, and night shift, otherwise my pay would have been pretty mediocre.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

If you have the most basic of internet skills you can go to the bureau of labor statistics site and see what the outlook is for any profession and range of pay, which is listed at $32/hr median.

Registered Nurses : Occupational Outlook Handbook: : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

And if you have the same internet skills you can use a job search engine and type in 'RN' in whatever city you live and hundreds of jobs will pop up with the common range of salary. Generally nurse pay is no secret because as hourly/shift workers, we often look for job based on pay. And most nursing jobs pay similarly in a given market. Please dig a little before making posts to the forum. Healthcare wages are generally the least secret of any profession in the world.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion