Salary question??

marylyric · Feb 18, 2006

Just a comparison of salaries: my sister-in-law makes $120,000 (plus bonuses and paid vacations) selling office supplies..she has been with the same company for 15 years. She holds a 4 year degree in Business. I have about 15 years experience as a nurse.
Two years ago, I made about about $100,000 as an emergency room/IV nurse.(this was my part-time IV Team nurse position; 24 hours week, plus my work as an agency nurse, another one-two shifts per week) But I had to work weekends/Holidays/night shift in an inner city trauma center in order to be paid good $$$: about $55/hour straight time, and more for the night shift/weekends/Holiday pay. The difference is, (while I am not saying my sister-in-law does not work hard) I really and truly worked my a** off, with no bonuses/free vacations/fancy dinners...My sister-in-law has a very different type of work than me, but it just seems that some non-nursing careers pay a lot better than nursing, and don't seem to be as physically and mentally exhausting....

I totally agree.

Aaron-RN · Feb 18, 2006

Just thought that I would add the starting pay for RN's @ my hospital. They just gave a 6% cost of living increase to be $21.02 per hour (base, not including evening, night, weekend, or holiday differential). Not too bad in my book.

NURSESAREGUIDEDBYGOD · Feb 18, 2006

Hi all,

I will graduate with my ADN in August of 2007, and upon my graduation I would like to move my family to Columbia SC. I have a delimma, when we move my husband will be out of work temporarily and he will be completing his degree in engineering. Here is my question, what is the pay there, how's the cost of living, and will it be possible for me to support a family of 4 with the salary. I live in Miami, Fl and the cost of living here is ridiculous, so it has to be better there.

:nurse:

caroladybelle, BSN, RN · Feb 18, 2006

Ive been doing a lot of reading on this site and noticed that alot of people complain about pay. However, I read classifieds, sallary.com, and testimonials on here as well that are saying 50-60 grand a year. While your not getting rich, this seems like a pretty decent salary, espically when it only requires 2 years of school to become an RN.Anyone explain?

Two comments:

While salary.com may say possibly 50-60 grand a year, that may be the max w/OT or experience. The reality may be much lower.

And while an ASN nursing degree may sound like "two years", in reality with all the prereqs, most programs are really three years, not two.

nursemelani · Feb 19, 2006

Two comments:
While salary.com may say possibly 50-60 grand a year, that may be the max w/OT or experience. The reality may be much lower.
And while an ASN nursing degree may sound like "two years", in reality with all the prereqs, most programs are really three years, not two.

And two more comments:

ASN programs take 3 years if you are going Full-Time, including summers.

(maybe shorter if you already have your general ed and science courses)

The salary range for RNs varies dramatically for RNs. I have heard of hourly rates in small towns as low as $13 per hour, and in big expensive cities as high as $50 per hour.

SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN · Feb 19, 2006

well in my opinion 50-60k is good money, not amazing. it would allow me to live a good life. as far as advancement ive always thought that there was a lot of room for advancement. move up to a np or whatnot.im only 20 so ive got plenty of time, go back to school if need be. thanks for the reply.

thank you!!!! :yeah: although i am slightly older then 20, i too have a lot of time to further myself. and i agree, 50-60k/year is a heck of a lot of money to start!

i also could live comfortably rather then struggle as i have done working in other fields such as social work and health care w/o being a rn. 55-70k is what i am looking at in my area and even if the increase does not go up much after so many years it is still good money. within other fields the best i could hope/beg for is $40-50,000 as a director with a masters degree! :eek:

and yes i understand that there is stress related to losing a patient within a few seconds. but the body does not know the difference between that kind of stress and the stress of not finding a transient kid a home. or the stress of taking an abused baby from his/her home after spending all night in the hospital with him/her. or the stress of a psychotic woman needing a cat because without one she may kill herself over the weekend. not to mention caseloads that are ridiculously high and the fact that employees are not being valued as they should.

i agree, nurses deserve to be treated better then they are being treated. but i have to say that within other fields people are treated like dirt and scum by management because the u.s. has outlawed slavery. the pay rate that is reflective of being poorly valued. :angryfire

working two jobs as a social worker (licensed or otherwise) is the norm for those who want to make ends meet. i even knew of some who did not have the time to take a second job so he/she was on welfare despite working 40 hours or more a week. :angryfire thus nurses have it bad, but not as bad as others. especially since there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

the light is the enormous opportunities to move into another role within the field of nursing. the opportunity to move into management without having to wait for someone to move or die (i’m not kidding)! the opportunity to improve your self through education and certifications that other fields do not offer or care about. and the opportunity to quit your current job and possibly find another one (depending on where you live) the next day.

as for me, nursing will give me the opportunity to make enough money to support my entire family. i will make more money as a new grad then my husband and i have ever made combined!

please understand that i am not saying nurses should not complain of his/her pay. i am just stating that 50-60k is not low pay for many of us living outside of ny or sf and other places that do not have a high cost of living. i also want you to know that i think nurses, despite where he/she lives, should continue to complain of pay! other fields inside and outside of helath care have done so and have managed to increase pay significantly! so keep up the good work!

smile123 · Feb 19, 2006

well in my opinion 50-60k is good money, not amazing. it would allow me to live a good life. As far as advancement ive always thought that there was a lot of room for advancement. Move up to a NP or whatnot.Im only 20 so ive got plenty of time, go back to school if need be. thanks for the reply.

Hi Joe,

What state do you live in? As some previous posters stated, $50K is not enough in many places due to the cost of living. California in particular, has a very high cost of living, so it would be difficult to work for $50K in a metropolitan city where houses can run from $500K to $1M. Many nurses are renters and a share with roommates to make ends meet.

There are other tradeoffs - most nurses work 3 - 12 hour shifts and then have the other 4 days free to do whatever they want. There are very few jobs that have that sort of flexibility.

So everything is relative.

Smile123

inspir8tion · Feb 19, 2006

At my hospital, directly out of school with an ADN, they start staff nurses at $4800 gross per month. I am in Los Angeles. :nurse:

morrissey · Feb 19, 2006

Look at me, living in Puerto rico. my salary actually is $5.76 per hour. and is really hard work with 18 patient in one turn. I'm planning to move to the states, one for the respect and the other for a better way to live. My wife is a nurse too, working in a dialisys center and her salary is $8.00 per hour.

dansdoll · Feb 19, 2006

Some place, maybe planet wonderland, nurses can actually graduate an ADN program in 2 years without summers, but in most places it takes 3-5 years including prereqs and clinical work (and most go in the summers as well). I teach nursing and have moved 11 times in my career so I hail from 11 places across the US. Also, the wage for New grads varies greatly it can be as low as $11/ hr in tenn to $30/hr in CA. It stands strictly to where the nurse wants to work.

ladybird1292 · Feb 19, 2006

I think part of what you're missing is many nurses aren't complaining that they're not well paid, they are complaining that they aren't well paid considering all the responsibilities they have. It can be a little frustrating to know a plumber makes more money than you when you consider that if he makes a mistake no one will die. He didn't go to university for a four year degree either, but his skills are valued.

I agree, I also think this is a major issue in nursing. My son is doing his apprenticeship and will earn more income at 21 than I do, being a newly graduated RN (I'm late to the industry). It is the responsibility that is not being compensated for... and this is a worldwide issue in nursing. I love being a registered nurse, it is the profession for me, but... the income will always be an issue when considering the cost and responsibility involved.

Nursenan0 · Feb 19, 2006

It takes 3 - 31/2 years at the colleges I went to for an ADN, thats if you can get in. After spreading courses out waiting, I transfered to a private college to get in. A decision I will never regret. Smaller classes, time for 1:1 with instructors. Instructors actually knew your name. A big difference compared to the college I started out with. The pay here seems to vary a great deal. If you to show up with an application, and an RN degree.... the chances of you getting what you want or close to it are pretty good....we dont see many RN applications around here.

Nursenan