Starting RN Wages?

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I'm sure it varies with the hospital you work at and the state you live in, but what was your starting wage as an RN, right after graduating?

Nurses get paid by the hour, correct?

What kinds of raises do nurses get? What's the cap on wages currently?

What's a typical work week? I've heard three 12-hour shifts is the most common, and anything over that is overtime.

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Specializes in Infection Preventionist/ Occ Health.

In my area starting wages (base pay)for new grads is $22-26 per hour, depending on the hospital system and whether you are working in critical care. I work 3 12's (36 hours per week) but overtime does not start until after I work 40 hours in one week. This is not happened yet because my facility does not have mandatory overtime and I don't care to work more than I already do :)

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I am at a LTC facility in southern Ohio. The starting wage her for new grad is $21 per hour. The shift consists of 6a-6p or 6p-6a. Here anything over 40 hours is overtime, which they do not like to give.:lol2: You know how that goes!!

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I am at a LTC facility in southern Ohio. The starting wage her for new grad is $21 per hour. The shift consists of 6a-6p or 6p-6a. Here anything over 40 hours is overtime, which they do not like to give.:lol2: You know how that goes!!

As a former union worker at UPS, I definitely do. Overtime was severely frowned upon!

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In my area starting wages (base pay)for new grads is $22-26 per hour, depending on the hospital system and whether you are working in critical care. I work 3 12's (36 hours per week) but overtime does not start until after I work 40 hours in one week. This is not happened yet because my facility does not have mandatory overtime and I don't care to work more than I already do :)

What area is that? I live on Long Island, in NY, and due to the high cost of living, I'm guessing the wages here would be towards the higher end in the country.

Why does critical care get paid more? Do they work more hours? Or does it require extra training?

Do you find the three days a week, 12 hours a day to be better or worse than working less hours spread across 5 days? Like a typical 9-5 deal?

I feel like the four full days off every week would allow for a lot of easy vacationing, or little road trips. Four day weekends every week forever sounds nice.

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Specializes in Rural Health.

I work ER and have for 8 months.

Job #1 I make $16/hr plus $2.50/hr because I work 11-11 - so I make $18.50/hr there. If I work weekends, I make an extra $.50/hr - so I make $19/hr on the weekends.

My 2nd job I make $19.75/hr base. I also work 11-11 there and I make $2.95/hr more so I make a base there of $22.70/hr to work 11-11 plus my $3.00/hr PRN diff, so my actual pay there is $25.70/hr when I work 11-11. When I work weekends I make $29.70/hr. If I ever worked nights - I would make a bit more $$$ as well.

I work 36 hours a week at job #1 which is my full time job and is where I get all my benefits from - no OT there because we use PRN staff to cover vacations/sick.

I work 12-36 hours a week at job #2 which is strictly my PRN job and have the opportunity for "emergency" coverage where if I get called in, I make double my base for the hours I work.

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Specializes in Rural Health.
What area is that? I live on Long Island, in NY, and due to the high cost of living, I'm guessing the wages here would be towards the higher end in the country.

Why does critical care get paid more? Do they work more hours? Or does it require extra training?

Do you find the three days a week, 12 hours a day to be better or worse than working less hours spread across 5 days? Like a typical 9-5 deal?

I feel like the four full days off every week would allow for a lot of easy vacationing, or little road trips. Four day weekends every week forever sounds nice.

I get paid $2.00 more an hour to work ER at facility #2 - my main job though, I don't get paid anymore to work critical care.

I've worked 12 hours shifts for 10 years now - even before I went into healthcare. Can't imagine working a normal 9-5 job anymore. Working the 12 hour shifts allows me to be able to work my 2nd job and have massive time with my family. Plus, if I desire, with some good planning, I can take 1 day of PTO and have off 8 days in a row.

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I work ER and have for 8 months.

Job #1 I make $16/hr plus $2.50/hr because I work 11-11 - so I make $18.50/hr there. If I work weekends, I make an extra $.50/hr - so I make $19/hr on the weekends.

My 2nd job I make $19.75/hr base. I also work 11-11 there and I make $2.95/hr more so I make a base there of $22.70/hr to work 11-11 plus my $3.00/hr PRN diff, so my actual pay there is $25.70/hr when I work 11-11. When I work weekends I make $29.70/hr. If I ever worked nights - I would make a bit more $$$ as well.

I work 36 hours a week at job #1 which is my full time job and is where I get all my benefits from - no OT there because we use PRN staff to cover vacations/sick.

I work 12-36 hours a week at job #2 which is strictly my PRN job and have the opportunity for "emergency" coverage where if I get called in, I make double my base for the hours I work.

Well that's cool. And you need a 4 year nursing degree to start working for those wages? Pretty nice.

What kinds of raises are there as an RN? Is it all unionized, or does it depend where you work? I mean, what kinds of wages do you wind up with a few years down the road? Does it stay around the low 20's, or go up towards 30 and such?

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

My starting wage was $24.06/hr. Just hit the six month anniversary, so I am now up to approx $24.68/hr. (not counting the differential for evenings/weekends)

I work "Regular Part-time", which means that I can work anywhere between 40-72 hours every two weeks. Anything over the 72 hours is over-time. Also, anything over my 8 hour shift is over-time. Yup-if I have to stay late after a particularly crazy evening, I get paid over-time.

We have a union at our facility.

Also, you do not need a 4 year degree to become an RN...I have my ADN (two year degree).

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Specializes in Neuro ICU and Med Surg.

When I started 5 years ago with my ADN I was making 18.30/hr with shfit diff of 2.00/and 2.00 for weekends. Eventually I left my first job at about 22.00/hr after 2 years.

Second nursing job started at 22.50, then made up to 24.00/hr, left for ICU experiance at larger sister hospital and was making 25.50/hr, then ended up with huge raise due to step up on clinical ladder and now make 29.56 base with 7% shift diff and 1 dollar more on weekend.

I only have a 2 year degree also.

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My starting wage was $24.06/hr. Just hit the six month anniversary, so I am now up to approx $24.68/hr. (not counting the differential for evenings/weekends)

I work "Regular Part-time", which means that I can work anywhere between 40-72 hours every two weeks. Anything over the 72 hours is over-time. Also, anything over my 8 hour shift is over-time. Yup-if I have to stay late after a particularly crazy evening, I get paid over-time.

We have a union at our facility.

Also, you do not need a 4 year degree to become an RN...I have my ADN (two year degree).

Ah, so this is the type of money made after two years? That's really damn good, then. Do you earn more with a BS in nursing, then?

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Specializes in Float.
What area is that? I live on Long Island, in NY, and due to the high cost of living, I'm guessing the wages here would be towards the higher end in the country.

I happen to know a recruiter in LI and this is what he says:

New grad pay 28.73/hr. We pay 10% for evenings and night and 25% for Saturday and Sunday.

I think they pay extra for BSN and they cap out at around 105,000 before diffs for nurses with lots of experience.

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