Utah RN pay, Salt Lake City area

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Specializes in Emergency Room.

Why are the RN salaries lower than other similar sized Western cities? Denver pays more why? Please do not say cost of living, because Intermountain does not take cost of living into consideration when considering salary. Just curious of nurse in Utah ever questioned their salaries here. Thanks for any input.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU.

Just curious, but does Mountainstar or any other organizations pay any better? You mention Intermountain, but since they don't have much of a problem filling their RN positions, I don't think there is much motivation for them to increase salaries. What route do nurses have to change this besides grouping together and demanding it? I'm still in NS but am sincerely interested in this issue. I can only guess that salaries are determined by supply and demand. Plenty of nurses to fill their demand, so no need to provide incentive to increase supply. Nurses must put up with it because the salaries are enough to meet their needs and do not look else where to find better pay. Who knows what the future might hold whenever the economy is in good standing again.

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Specializes in Emergency Room.

The lack of any opinion from any current Utah RN's since I posted this is interesting. Either no Utah nurses visit this site, or Nurses are fearful of expressing their opinion. The Glut of new nurse graduates into the market does makes it more difficult for nurses to obtain better raises. They will take any job at any pay just to gain their experience which is dangerous for the entire nursing profession.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU.

I competely agree, seems like I am hearing about a new nursing program opening up in Utah every semester and all I can do is laugh because our area certainly isn't lacking in new grads. I can only gather that this is a problem in many states as evidenced by posts on this site by desperate grads looking for work. As for the response from Utah nurses, I think this region is pretty quiet in general, very few posts seem to get a lot of action. I was pretty dissappointed by that when I signed up, really hoped I could get more specific info for this state and it seems hard to come by :(

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I am an RN in Salt Lake City at the University of Utah Hospital and when I moved here last year from Portland, Oregon my hourly wage went from about $34/hr to a little over $22/hr. To say I was shocked is an understatement. My opinion on why nurses get paid so little here is that most of the new graduates in this area have no desire to leave Utah and therefore hospitals know they don't need to entice them with a big salary, they know they can pretty much pay them a little as they want and the nurses will still stay here because they grew up here, have families here, etc. My other opinion on why the hourly wages are so low is that is has to do with the culture here and that vocations such as nursing or teaching are primarily viewed as "women's work" therefore they pay less. I'm not stating that I agree with these opinions, I'm just stating opinions I have formed from working here over the past years and talking with co-workers. The wage here has nothing to do with cost of living, living here isn't that cheap.

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Specializes in Emergency Room.

I am also from Vancouver Washington in the Portland Oregon area. I was going to start at 30/hr if I was able to land a job. I am quite in shock at the RN salaries here. I anticipate salaries stalling here and everywhere with the huge amount of unemployed new graduates. Until healthcare reform kicks in, I do not see the need for more nurses until 2014-2015. It is still curious that none of the local nurses have voiced any opinion.

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Haha, don't know if I count as "local" just yet. I"m actually looking to MOVE to Salt Lake soon, I've been job hunting, I have an apartment lined up (it's on my sister's property) but I finally found a job opening I meet the requirements of (I'm a new grad) but it's asking for desired salary! I have no idea what to put... I've been looking for information on typical salary for an inexperienced nurse in the area so I don't look silly. Will be following this thread as I find it interesting that the salary is so low as well.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU.

It is still curious that none of the local nurses have voiced any opinion.

Can't voice what they don't see. There just isn't much activity from Utah nurses on this forum period.

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Specializes in OR.

Here's my take on the whole thing...First, there is no action on the Utah board. Second, just like others have said, it's a supply demand issue. There are nursing schools churning out students like crazy, most of which will work for $15 an hour if that's what was offered. They have family, friends, etc. and refuse to leave the state. Third, there isn't very much competition among the hospitals. IHC has a stronghold on the state and can pay people whatever they want because there aren't many other choices. People accept the low wages because they don't want to leave Utah. When I finished nursing school, 130 people had applied for 5 openings in a new grad residency program. With that high of a demand, they could pay the new grads peanuts and they would take it. So in my opinion, Utah is a great place to live but you cannot support a family there alone on a nurses wage. I had to move my family out of state where we could afford to live.

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I am a new grad and I have worked for MountainStar for 6 months. They pay less than IHC. I started st 21.40/hr, IHC starts at 21.80/hr. I also get night/weekend differential. I am also very disappointed with the wages here. I would love to move out of state but my husband would need some convincing. I am tempted to leave the hospital scene and work for a nursing home in hopes for better wages.

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Specializes in Emergency Room.
I am a new grad and I have worked for MountainStar for 6 months. They pay less than IHC. I started st 21.40/hr, IHC starts at 21.80/hr. I also get night/weekend differential. I am also very disappointed with the wages here. I would love to move out of state but my husband would need some convincing. I am tempted to leave the hospital scene and work for a nursing home in hopes for better wages.

It is a no win situation here, there is no competition, Mountain Star is benefiting from IHC taking a narrow lead on starting nursing salaries it is very close to salaries being manipulated by both hospital systems. This starting salary has been the same since 2008 and I do not see it changing for a while. With the glut of new nursing grads in this area they can keep the salaries the same. From what I have heard nursing benefits and salary increases having been getting slashed for the past 5 years at IHC.

I was hired and during the nursing orientation I did not hear one thing about a nursing career at intermountain, how to level up pay, how they mentor nurse supervisors or management. Not a packet was giving ,nothing, it was a very cheap one day orientation because the budget has been slashed. This did not impress me at all, how would I consider staying for the long term.

The attitude of you should be happy you have a job is no excuse. I want to work for an organization that really thinks about the careers of its nurses and retaining them.

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I will be graduating nursing school on Friday from Salt Lake Community College in Utah. I have been putting feelers out to see who is hiring and what they are paying. The market is currently fairly bleak. I know people who graduated a year ago and still do not have nursing jobs. My hope is that persistence and determination will be enough to get a decent job.

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