Salary for new nurse in St. Louis

U.S.A. Missouri

Published

Can anybody give me an idea of what a starting nurses salary might be coming out of school in the St Louis area? Any help is appreciated.

The highest hourly rate is at the VA, followed by probably St. John's and BJC (Barnes, Jewish, Christian). State of MO and County of St. Louis and City of St. Louis probably rank fairly well in pay rates. Also there's St. Charles city and county, Jefferson County, Warren and Lincoln counties close by. Tons of new houses are primarily located west of St. Louis. Study your map and you'll get an idea of where these various outlying counties and cities are. If you're interested in new homes, you can get really nice ones west of the city of St. Louis.

Benefits are best at the universities (free tuition for you, spouse, dependents if you work 7 years fulltime or something like that - check out http://www.wustl.edu and look at the jobs available at Washington University or http://www.slu.edu, which is St. Louis University.) and working for the state of MO.

I don't know if pensions matter to any of you or if you care how much the employer matching amount is on your contributions to your retirement plan, be it a 457 or a 401k or a 403b or whatever it's called at your particular employer but the employee matching contribution (match) can be significant for those who think they might retire soon.

What about helping you with loan forgiveness and/or moving/relocating expenses? Every hospital in town and all the nursing homes are screaming for nurses and you can NEGOTIATE with them.

You don't HAVE to accept their first offer. It's just an offer.

For safety, do not plan to live in North St. Louis city. Terrible crime rate, drugs, etc. There are really nice areas (expensive and safest) called Clayton, Ladue, Chesterfield, Maryland Heights, University City (the section south of Olive Blve.), Town and Country, Frontenac, some parts of Kirkwood and Webster Groves, there's Brentwood (lots of shopping), Maplewood, and Richmond Heights. The lower priced areas are integrated, the more expensive areas are less so, in case that matters to you. There are immigrants from many countries along Grand Blvd. in south St. Louis city. Bosnians, Hispanics from Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries, Vietnamese and other Asians all can be found there. There are lots of Asian businesses (Filipino, Vietnamese, etc.) along Olive Blvd. in U. City. The Orthodox Jewish population is centered along Delmar Blvd. in U. City, the Reform and Conservative Jewish population is generally farther west in St. Louis County (Ladue, Chesterfield).

The local Religious Friends (Quakers) has a meeting hall in the LaSalle Park area, which is south St. Louis city, not too far from the Soulard area, which is a super area of great rehabs, an open-air produce area, and wonderful old Catholic parish churches.

In case anyone is interested in Jews for Jesus, get associated with Clayton Community Church, which is affiliated with JFJ.

If you work at BJC, consider living where it is located - in the Central West End of the city of St. Louis. The area is the stomping grounds of Wash U med students, College of Pharmacy students, and probably various other students at the Wash U Med School campus, which is across the street from BJC. The CWE has lots of restaurants, night spots, condos, fantastic rehabbed houses, artists, homosexuals, and the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, just to give you an idea of what the neighborhood is like. It's very urban, exciting, a nice place for those who like the city life. You can see the Arch from there. Just a short trip away is SLU, both the North campus and the South, which is where the hospital and schools of nursing, medicine, physical therapy, etc. are located. The area around SLU are also conducive to socializing, I'm just more familiar with the CWE area.

Back to pay - Starting pay for a new grad should be in the $20's hourly but there are union dues to consider at St. John's. SSM (St. Mary's Hospital, DePaul, St. Joseph's in Kirkwood and St. Charles) and BJC are similar. All pay some differential for 3-11 and 11-7, plus there are weekend option and PRN to consider. Don't forget agencies. That is often a good way to start in an area that's new to you.

I know these things because I grew up in Des Peres, which is a very nice area in St. Louis County, and because I went to school and now teach at Jewish College of Nursing. Welcome to all of you. St. Louis has horrible humidity in summer, presently a very mild winter, and gorgeous Spring and Fall. There are lots of things for kids to do, generally safe neighborhoods. The people are friendly, the pace is slower than New York but you can get whatever you want here - Russian food, kosher deli food, good library services, plenty of health care, etc.

Welcome!!

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The highest hourly rate is at the VA, followed by probably St. John's and BJC (Barnes, Jewish, Christian). State of MO and County of St. Louis and City of St. Louis probably rank fairly well in pay rates. Also there's St. Charles city and county, Jefferson County, Warren and Lincoln counties close by. Tons of new houses are primarily located west of St. Louis. Study your map and you'll get an idea of where these various outlying counties and cities are. If you're interested in new homes, you can get really nice ones west of the city of St. Louis.

Benefits are best at the universities (free tuition for you, spouse, dependents if you work 7 years fulltime or something like that - check out www.wustl.edu and look at the jobs available at Washington University or www.slu.edu, which is St. Louis University.) and working for the state of MO.

Welcome!!

I would disagree about pay. Highest pay would be the Va but you will work your butt off. Then SLU and you have to work there 3 years full time to get the kid discount to go to many colleges for free throughout the USA. Then BJC. I worked at St Lukes the pay was pretty good and what a nice hospital to work at, staffing was much better than the VA, SLU , St. Johns or BJC. I wouldn't get near St Johns they do not support their nurses even with a union. A great floor to work on at St. Lukes is the Cardio-thoracic step down or the CVICU. This floor has a small amount of cardiothoracic docs who take care of their nurses, send pizzas when busy, have a fun Christmas party. No other floor at this hospital has this type of support. Also you get to do many procedures you can't do anywhere else in this hospital.

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Specializes in ICU.
I would disagree about pay. Highest pay would be the Va but you will work your butt off. Then SLU and you have to work there 3 years full time to get the kid discount to go to many colleges for free throughout the USA. Then BJC. I worked at St Lukes the pay was pretty good and what a nice hospital to work at, staffing was much better than the VA, SLU , St. Johns or BJC. I wouldn't get near St Johns they do not support their nurses even with a union. A great floor to work on at St. Lukes is the Cardio-thoracic step down or the CVICU. This floor has a small amount of cardiothoracic docs who take care of their nurses, send pizzas when busy, have a fun Christmas party. No other floor at this hospital has this type of support. Also you get to do many procedures you can't do anywhere else in this hospital.

I sent you a PM

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I am in the process of interviewing and the pay rayes are not 20/hr. St. Johns, BJC, SLU, Childrens, and Missouri Baptist are ALL at 18/hr. They do give more with experience, and St Johns give more with a BSN. But do NOT go in expecting 20/hr as a new grad or you will be greatly disappointed!

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How much more does St. John's pay for BSN? How much more did they offer for hospital experience? $18/hour just isn't enough!

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Specializes in inpatient rehab (general, sci, tbi, cva).
I am in the process of interviewing and the pay rayes are not 20/hr. St. Johns, BJC, SLU, Childrens, and Missouri Baptist are ALL at 18/hr. They do give more with experience, and St Johns give more with a BSN. But do NOT go in expecting 20/hr as a new grad or you will be greatly disappointed!

Most likely, the $20/hr rate is including differential. Most folks I've talked to lately figure this in to get to 20 (BJC, SSM, St. Lukes). Good luck getting straight days. BJC wanted me for D/N and so does SSM. Will do nights if the rest of the package warrants it.

Right now, St. Lukes is looking the best. Chesterfield is a little farther than I want to drive, but they have $4000/yr loan forgiveness (with no cap) coming in July and a lot of other goodies which makes the overall compensation package really good.

I was also impressed that most managers expect you to try out other specialities in the hospital. They have a lot of long-time staff on many floors, but no one has a problem with people moving around the hospital.

Some other hospitals say this, but I worked at one and the manager told all us students that, but her people said otherwise.

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I was a new grad at a St Louis U hospital in 2002 and started at $15, I know that they have increased that because after i had been there a couple years and gotten a couple raises the new grads had almost caught up to me so I luckily got a wage adjustment. Call some of the nurse recruiters I'm sure that they would be glad to tell you.

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Everything I have heard about St. Lukes has been really good. I think I am going to talk to their recruiters before I start my program.

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Specializes in inpatient rehab (general, sci, tbi, cva).

colorado:

Did SLU have the retention bonus while you were there? I heard one of the 9ICU nurses telling another student that they get these since STL RN pay is so low.

That is one thing I've noticed--some RNs with 5 years experience in a place make maybe $3-4 dollars more per hour than a new grad (I noticed this at an SSM hospital).

How can you keep people if you don't pay experienced ones more than the new grads?

It's no wonder people go to travel nursing!

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Specializes in inpatient rehab (general, sci, tbi, cva).

FYI if your new to STL:

South County is also not a bad place to live, either, although no one has yet mentioned it. It's got AAA schools (depends on the district) reasonable home prices (rents are comparable) and great highway access (55, 255, 270).

If you're not sure and need certain stuff, send me a private message. I've lived here forever in multiple places and would be happy to help!

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$28-$32 for grad nurses in NJ!! I can't imagine going to Nursing school and making less than $25 an hour.

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Specializes in ICU.
colorado:

Did SLU have the retention bonus while you were there? I heard one of the 9ICU nurses telling another student that they get these since STL RN pay is so low.

That is one thing I've noticed--some RNs with 5 years experience in a place make maybe $3-4 dollars more per hour than a new grad (I noticed this at an SSM hospital).

How can you keep people if you don't pay experienced ones more than the new grads?

It's no wonder people go to travel nursing!

Yes this is true; they do the retention bonus instead of a sign on.

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