What is your take home pay as Nurse Practitioner?

[BostonFNP, APRN]

I know RNs that make more than 150k/year, but none of them do it without significant differentials and a significant amount of overtime.

That being said, I will go back to the advice I always give: go to NP school because you want the role not because you want the money. There are much easier ways to make more money.

I've seen $85,000 - $140,000.

[BlueDevil,DNP, DNP, RN]

• What type NP are you? FNP
  
• Where (state)(rural/urban) do you practice? Urban
  
• Are you independent or in a group? Independent inside a consortium
  
• How many years experience? 5
  
• What is your before tax paycheck amount? varies with revenue production the previous month
  
• Monthly or bi-weekly? monthly
  
• Salary/hourly/other(explain)? salary
  
• Avg hours on check? n/a
  
• What are the perks of your contract? (ie. PTO/vacation/bonuses) RVU bonus, pt satisfaction bonus, HCC bonus, meaningful use bonus. $2,500 annual education allowance. 1 week education time. 3 weeks vacation. 10 sick days that cash out at years end if unused. All licensing fees paid.
  

[psychRN2013]

Pmhnp

Where (state)(rural/urban) do you practice? TX/ DFW area

Are you independent or in a group? Group/ outpatient clinic with telemedicine

How many years experience? 5 months

What is your before tax paycheck amount? $4038 biweekly/ $105,000 annually (2900 after taxes...ouch!...single with no dependents)

Monthly or bi-weekly? Bi-weekly

Salary/hourly/other(explain)? Salary

Avg hours on check? 80

What are the perks of your contract? (ie. PTO/vacation/bonuses) small newer company less than 5 years old, and I was the first NP hired here, so we're still kind of evolving, but I have basic health insurance, PTO, 24 hrs/yr paid days for continuing ed

[MrSensitivity]

Great posting. It helped me a lot.

I'm a new grad, and this is the contract I just signed:

What type NP are you? FNP

Where (state)(rural/urban) do you practice? Suburban Texas

Are you independent or in a group? group

How many years experience? 0

What is your before tax paycheck amount? 7917

Monthly or bi-weekly? monthly

Salary/hourly/other(explain)? salary

Avg hours on check? 40 per week

What are the perks of your contract? (ie. PTO/vacation/bonuses) Paid health, life, disability, & malpractice ins, 5 1/2 weeks PTO, Bonus up to $10k, $1500 for cme, matching 401k up to 6%, all licenses and DEA fees paid.

[Jules A, MSN]

I love anytime we share our salaries because I think the transparency protects us all and our good wages however the questions are so convoluted that its unclear and who has time to sort through it? Take home pay in itself is irrelevant. Base salary adjusted to a full time schedule if needed and specialty would be sufficient to have a decent idea of how much someone is earning. Unfortunately as much as I love this type of thread once again it is set up in an awkward manner from a business standpoint.

[ACNP-Ray]

• What type NP are you? AG-ACNP
  
• Where (state)(rural/urban) do you practice? TX Urban
  
• Are you independent or in a group? Independent practitioner in the office
  
• How many years experience? 3 as an NP; 10 yrs as an RN before I became an NP
  
• What is your before tax paycheck amount? 4616, take home is 3300
  
• Monthly or bi-weekly? Bi-weekly
  
• Salary/hourly/other(explain)? salary
  
• Avg hours on check? n/a
  
• What are the perks of your contract? $1500 for CEU's and 10 days for Conference attendance, 2 weeks paid vacation, Medical/dental insurance paid for by the practice for me alone, I have to pay for my 2 children. Malpractice is paid for by the practice.
  
  I also teach part time in an RN-BSN program (one class a month) on the weekends but I did not add that into the above information
  

[Ard123]

I agree, geography is very important. I work in california.

Although an np degree can help, I do not have one. In fact I only have an adn, and one hell of a union.

I work in the home health department of my org, have 4 years of experience, and work 40/week (typically). I make a base hourly wage of 67/hr plus a 2500 bonus, which translates to 140,000/year. This is roughly 11,600/month before taxes, and with my exemptions, my take home is roughly 8000 a month. I have full health insurance, dental, and vision and 2 weeks paid ce time. In addition, I've taken advantage of the awesome OT diffrentials available through our union contact. One example: work past 7 days, and I get a 1.5 differential on my base pay (about 104/hr) for every day after 7 days worked straight. I recently worked 31 days straight and made about 24,000 this month. Yes, It is a bit a stretch, however, my Shift is only 830-5pm, so the regular schedule wasn't too bad. I plan to get a total of 16weeks of similar premium pay (12 more weeks to go), which would put my yearly income at 200,000. (Over a year, that averages 45hrs of work a week) I could keep going for the rest of the year to take advantage of the union differential, and make up to 300,000, but I don't feel like working 56/hrs week. Although I live in an area with a high cost of living, i live frugally: rent is only 500/month, utilities 60/month, and I only spend about 500/month on food and some entertainment. The rest of what I make I mostly save and invest. I'm 29, I'm not making much on my investments yet, but I am getting better at investing and am hopeful that my investment income will one day surpass my work income. It is possible. My take away: income is based moderately on your degree, a lot on geography, a little luck and plenty of blessings, and a lot of discipline and drive.

[sweetether]

Hi,

This thread is awesome. However, I haven't seen a single response from a neonatal nurse practitioner. I am applying to start an NNP program this fall. Is there anyone who can provide an accurate salary range for an NNP in California or Texas? NP salaries seem to have such a wide range depending on the facility and location. I am needing to make at least $130k/yr in Southern California. Does anyone know if this is realistic as an NNP?

Thank you

[megb2104]

I know this is all very personal but I REALLY appreciate everybody helping those of us that are looking into salaries for ACNP/FNP. Great thread. Currently have my MSN but am working as an educator, as much as I love it, pay is horrible.

[Bluebolt]

Hi everyone - I am not an NNP yet but graduating in a few weeks so I thought I'd give my two cents. I have 2 offers currently - one for $98K, no PTO, good insurance, $1500 yr/CEUs. The larger metropolitan-area job was starting at around $110K-115k with 2 weeks PTO, same on everything else. To sweetether - I would assume that in So. Cal. you could hit that mark, especially considering that the strong nurses' union pushes salary up for nurses overall and you would be able to say you didn't want to make less than what you would make as a bedside nurse. I could possibly get info on Texas for you - I have a friend graduating in that area of the country.

I'm working in the LA area and have fellow nurses who are licensed CRNP's still working at bedside nurses in the ICU because they don't like the idea of the huge pay cut they'll take when they take their practitioner job. The medical groups you'll join up with don't care how well your nurses union got you paid as a bedside nurse, it's a whole different ballgame as a salaried CRNP.

Also I know there are a lot of California nurses talking about how they have got great pay in California but I should shed some perspective on that for you. I've lived in The San Fran and the LA area in the past year, you need to earn $130,000 to $150,000 to live somewhat comfortably there with the outrageous cost of living. In the SF area you need $1 million dollars (literally) to buy a crappy 1000 sq foot 3 bedroom home that needs updating. In SoCal you'll need around $500,000 to $600,000 in a cheaper/higher crime neighborhood but your pay is significantly less in SoCal as well.

I've lived and worked from New York/Connecticut down to Atlanta to Tennessee to Texas then all down the coast of California. I love California but don't let these high pay numbers fool you. A nurse making $90,000 a year in 85% of America is probably actually having a better and more luxurious lifestyle than a nurse making $130,000 in many places in California.

[Ard123]

Bluebolt said:

I'm working in the LA area and have fellow nurses who are licensed CRNP's still working at bedside nurses in the ICU because they don't like the idea of the huge pay cut they'll take when they take their practitioner job. The medical groups you'll join up with don't care how well your nurses union got you paid as a bedside nurse, it's a whole different ballgame as a salaried CRNP.

Also I know there are a lot of California nurses talking about how they have got great pay in California but I should shed some perspective on that for you. I've lived in The San Fran and the LA area in the past year, you need to earn $130,000 to $150,000 to live somewhat comfortably there with the outrageous cost of living. In the SF area you need $1 million dollars (literally) to buy a crappy 1000 sq foot 3 bedroom home that needs updating. In SoCal you'll need around $500,000 to $600,000 in a cheaper/higher crime neighborhood but your pay is significantly less in SoCal as well.

I've lived and worked from New York/Connecticut down to Atlanta to Tennessee to Texas then all down the coast of California. I love California but don't let these high pay numbers fool you. A nurse making $90,000 a year in 85% of America is probably actually having a better and more luxurious lifestyle than a nurse making $130,000 in many places in California.

I put a lot of thought about the lifestyle costs of working and living in California as an RN in comparison to other places in the country, and here is my quantitative analysis of the costs and benefits of working in Oakland, Califonrnia:

First off, I am working as an RN with 3.5 years experience, base pay 71.25/hr, full benefits; base salary $150,000 a year, but due to overtime, I've already increased my income ceiling to date to about USD180,000 (working an average of 42hrs/a week). Trying to get to $200K (if I can leverage OT and work an average of 45hrs/week)

This is a high cost of living area, but I found a COL calculator by CNN Cost of living: How far will my salary go in another city? - CNNMoney just to see if my pay justifies the COL (Includes an estimate for housing, food, transportation, taxes, etc)

Here's what I found plugging in my region, and base salary of 150,000 (just the base, no overtime included):

My base salary of 150,000 in Oakland, CA is equivalent to:

... Making 178,000/year in brooklyn (Approx $85/hr)

... Making 146,000/year in boston (approx 73/hr)

...Making 103,000/year in Atlanta (approx 51/hr)

... Making 119,000/year in Chicago (approx 60/hr)

... Making 122,000/year in Philidelphia (approx 61/hr)

... Making 111,000/year in Las Vegas (approx 56/hr)

...Making 190,000/year in Honolulu (approx 95/hr)

...Making 115,000/year in Miami (approx 56/hr)

...Making 87,000/year in Memphis (approx 43/hr)

...Making 103,000/year in Charleston (approx 51/hr)

Browsing through the forum in the respective areas above, most RNs don't seem to make the income above in their respective region, with the exception of a few RN's in Las Vegas (correct me if I am wrong please, I'm always curious about pay updates in other parts of the country)

The above may not always be true for all individuals, as COL may vary based on personal spending habits, but generally speaking, somebody living a middle class lifestyle should expect the COL estimates above.

In summary, living and working in my part of California is generally more profitable than most (if not all other) parts of the country.

In practice, I'm finding the above to be true, as I am able to substantially save up to 50% of my after tax take home pay. What does this all mean?

I might have to pay more up front to live in Oakland, CA area with a slightly higher COL than many parts of our country, but the pay here outpaces the cost of living in comparison to what other RNs are paid elsewhere.

As an added benefit, although owning a home costs more, the resale value of a home in this area is relatively stable. In the long run, even if I have to pay more for a house, the home will be worth even more when I sell it, leaving me more money for retirement and/or the option to roll it over to an even larger/grandious home elsewhere in the country.

Lastly, you can't beat the weather.

[DrZaphod, BSN, MSN, DNP, RN, NP]

I make about $300 per hour or $200k+ working 4 days, 8 hours per week, just billing insurance. If some physician is paying you less, you're getting ripped off. I'm a PMHNP.