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)
So, from what I see on this thread, CA nurses are really raking it in, and cost of living is not necessarily higher than other parts of the country with lower nursing wages. Maybe we should all move to CA (NOT!).
I am a new grad NP in NYC, private practice. Started out at $40/hr, will go up to $45 after six months. No nights or weekends, a few late evenings per week.
Cost of living === HIGH. Rent for a 1BR apartment starts at $1500. (We pay less than that for a larger apt, but we're in this apartment for years, plus it's falling apart.)
Specializes in ED, Telemetry,Hospice, ICU, Supervisor.
So, from what I see on this thread, CA nurses are really raking it in, and cost of living is not necessarily higher than other parts of the country with lower nursing wages. Maybe we should all move to CA (NOT!).
I am a new grad NP in NYC, private practice. Started out at $40/hr, will go up to $45 after six months. No nights or weekends, a few late evenings per week.
Cost of living === HIGH. Rent for a 1BR apartment starts at $1500. (We pay less than that for a larger apt, but we're in this apartment for years, plus it's falling apart.)
I have lived in Texas, New York and Missouri before.
The cost of living in the southern states is cheaper, but even with high cost of living in the west coast I am still able to make all my bills and have roughly $3,000 of cash left over.
So after taxes are taken out as well as random other things like rent and medical, I still have plenty to play with.
I honestly believe it has to do with union representation. I cant believe how little the pay is in non-union states. After factoring in cost of living, the numbers are just unbelievably low.
Please, don't take offense to my post. I know some people feel weird talking about money.
Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.
Wow! I can't imagine what it would be like to work in the Detroit area with all of the chaos going on right now. Are you stressed out of your mind?
There are no city funded hospitals in Detroit anymore. All the hospitals within the city are private non-profits that operate independently of city revenue. They are all part of large hospital systems or corporations that own facilities in the entire tri-county Metro Detroit area. Metro Detroit has affluent suburbs that are shielded from the economic impact of Detroit's bankruptcy.
KerryB80
1 Post
1. State you work in: Western NY
2. Years of experience: 1
3. Specialty/unit and work setting (clinic, hospital, prison, etc):PICU
4. Hourly Pay (base rate) or salary: 25.37
5. Differentials (if any): Complicated system, but smallest diff is week day evenings at $1, biggest is weekend night $4.40
Overtime is time and a half
6. Union? no
Cost of living is ok. A one bedroom is about $700-900 per month. Taxes here are VERY high.
Good luck with your paper!