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)
3. Specialty/unit and work setting: Telemetry, hospital
4. Hourly Pay (base rate) or salary: 55.45 hourly
5. Differentials (if any): 10% nights, 5% weekends (I work nights)
6. Union?: Yes, and they take about $110 a month in dues
For cost of living comparison, the 3bd single family homes around here are going for 450-650k depending on neighborhood.
I would love to have a union at my hospital. No one gets breaks and we are forced to take lunch at the end of our shift if we cant go earlier. In California the work load is so much higher than in Michigan where I came from. We were not union there but didn't need it. Here is California its a different story.
2. 3 years of critical care and 5 1/2 years of psych; currently working in corrections now
3. Correctional Nursing Supervisor
4. $89k/year (a regular staff nurse makes just under $80k/year - I don't think the small difference in pay between staff nurse and supervisor is really worth it but it's a stepping stone for a DON position for me)
5. 5% for NOCS, time and a half for OT and double time for holidays.
6. Yes
My job is with the state and after 20 years, I can retire for 65% of my three highest years' income. I accrue 4.36 hours of annual and sick each pay period (every 2 weeks). I pay $18/month for a consumer driven high deductible PPO health insurance - deductible is $1500 and I am given a credit card of sorts loaded with $1100 each year to use for health purposes. After I meet deductible, I am responsible for 25% of visits.
Cost of living: We are paying $1200/month rent for an 1800sq ft home, 6 months ago, I was only making $60k/year so we have continued our current level of lifestyle in order to save up and buy a home. Most average 3 bedroom homes that are 1800sq ft in good neighborhood are going for around $175-200k. No state income tax.
Can I just say most nights I have a hard time believing they are paying me as much as they do for this job? :-)
4. $96k year. We do 84/hrs every two weeks, not including the extra military stuff we have to do which might be around ~10hrs a month. You do the math.
I'm one of *those* Californians so please forgive, but reading these varying wages, I guess I always thought that people lived in certain areas because their wages allowed them to live a better lifestyle, but coming from my part of California (not Bay Area) and paid approximately double the wages many are posting I'm not sure it works out quite like that.
freeasabird
23 Posts
I'm glad someone is doing this!
CA
8 years
tele/progressive care inpatient unit
$56/Hr days base rate
no union