After reading past informal survey posts on allnurses, I wanted to pose this question for 2013. The intent of this post to to give myself and others a good range of pay for nurses across the US right now based on experience and location. This will be an informal guide for me to start a masters paper on (Subject: area cost of living and nurses salary). Several years ago I believe Houston was voted for best place for a nurse with cost of living adjusted, but I think this might be changing.
Things to note while reading other's salaries:
-Generally, high paying locations relate to high cost of living (SF, NYC, etc). The reverse seems to be true as well (lower cost of living=lower pay). 65$/hr may be the norm in San Francisco, but the average 1br apartment is $2800 without parking and a house costs well over $1 million. Please take this into account. We live in a big country and cost of living varies widely (especially housing costs)
If you post, please state your:
1. State you work in
2. Years of experience
3. Specialty/unit and work setting (clinic, hospital, prison, etc)
4. $29.59 (one of lowest paying hospitals in CA) 5. Work days (differential only for night shift) no weekend differentials. Time and half to work Christmas and Thanksgiving.
1. California 2. 4yrs 3. L&D, OB-in patient and EFM certified 4. $29.59 (one of lowest paying hospitals in CA) 5. Work days (differential only for night shift) no weekend differentials. Time and half to work Christmas and Thanksgiving. 6. Non-union
6. yes, we're part of the teacher's union, however, the union is useless when it comes to the nurses. About $80 in union dues is taken out of our pay each month.
Cost of living is very high. $2400/mo for mortgage. Property tax is $11k/yr for 1/4ac. Electric is 450/mo, Cable $200+/mo, Phone $200+/mo, Gas $3.93/gal. Hubby and I live paycheck to paycheck.
$61K for 185 days, 7 hour days (Sept-June) = $47.10/hour, which looks pretty good! And then if you choose to work in the summer at the same rate of pay, you make more than $9,870 for a six-week summer program! That brings you to nearly $71K per year, which does look pretty decent. You'd have to work the summer for the extra $10K, but hey, most jobs don't have that option.
It's the COL that's killing you.....sorry about that.
Specializes in ED, Telemetry,Hospice, ICU, Supervisor.
1. California 2. 4yrs 3. L&D, OB-in patient and EFM certified 4. $29.59 (one of lowest paying hospitals in CA) 5. Work days (differential only for night shift) no weekend differentials. Time and half to work Christmas and Thanksgiving. 6. Non-union
Wow, I cant believe RNs in California get paid that low!! I have never seen that, what region in California is that.
I can' believe some of the low salaries posted here. I retired almost 12 years ago from a university medical center in Virginia. At the time of my retirement I had worked 34 years and was making a little more than $25.00/hour.
My step daughter works at USAA, the insurance company, as a call center rep. She barely graduated high school, yet earns $22/hour and gets $10K bonus each year. She gets full benefits, vacation, 401Ketc. No one threatens her license or lawsuits. She works regular hours. and no one says she has to get a 4 year degree to continue working. Makes me think I am the one who got it all wrong. I was working PRN at $20/hour doing home health, no benefits, no guaranteed hours and certainly no bonus.
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HeartsOpenWide, RN
1 Article; 2,889 Posts
1. California
2. 4yrs
3. L&D, OB-in patient and EFM certified
4. $29.59 (one of lowest paying hospitals in CA) 5. Work days (differential only for night shift) no weekend differentials. Time and half to work Christmas and Thanksgiving.
6. Non-union