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)
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.
In some states or areas, there is a mix...new grads can make from 25-40/hr in my metro area; one of the union hospitals is in a high risk area; a fee of the hospitals and facilities in the area that have union representation can have an effect on the wages, even if the nurses (because they are supervisors) don't participate; the VA has higher wages, and some have their clinical ladder tailored where they made add years into the increase especially if one was an LPN.
So, nurses can make 44,000-80,000+**depending on the facility.
I know nurses thy make six figures, and that's WITHOUT overtime, and not agency or a manager.
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.)
The cost of living in many parts of CA is very high. Particularly the Bay Area.
The cost of living in nyc is also sky high yet nursing wages are nowhere near what they are in ca. That was my point.
Yeah, it looks like even factoring in for cost of living, some areas pay better than others. Some of the lowest wage areas don't have col that are that low.
They have three nursing schools graduating out of here. The starting for new grads $19-21 per hour. They get a year experience and then they are gone for greener-better paying-pastures. My family and I live here and I branch out in a 300 mile radius travel nursing.
They are not focused on their residents at all. Most tax money in the whole area goes to entice tourists to come to the area. This is the worst place in the world to be a nurse. A few years ago they TOOK accrual vacation time away from their employees. The CEO has a published salary of over $200,000. Run from this area. Run fast and hard.
After talking with several travelers and staff, this was a thought of mine as well.
Yeah, it looks like even factoring in for cost of living, some areas pay better than others. Some of the lowest wage areas don't have col that are that low.
In a couple days, over 100+posts! This is wonderful! Thank you everyone for posting! Maybe we can get 200? I'll put everything in a map graph for a future post! In the mean time, keep posting! I know this is an interesting topic to most of us!
jennafezz
399 Posts
1. State you work in: California (SF Bay Area)
2. Years of experience: Six months (new grad)
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.