What are the top paid nurses?!

[FutureRN05]

I'm just wondering....

[grimmy, RN]

difference in pay between specialties (or, er, icu, med/surg) is negligible if there is one at all. the biggest difference lies in location. nurses are paid very poorly in some cities (even relative to a lower cost of living) and much better in others.

i think there are few differences in base pay for staff rn's, but i think or nurses make a bit more only due to on-call pay. from the last rn salary report done by nursing magazine, you could probably find out for sure.

[TrisPA86]

Difference in pay between specialties (OR, ER, ICU, Med/surg) is negligible if there is one at all. The biggest difference lies in location. Nurses are paid very poorly in some cities (even relative to a lower cost of living) and much better in others.

Thanks for your help. I think I figured out what nursing I want to do.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Our Vice President of Nursing I'm sure makes six figures, but don't really know.

Cheerful "top floor nurses" probably means those near the max of their salary range. For instance I'm pretty closed to being "maxed out" salarywise, but fortunately it's been rising lately. But it took me 13 years of hard work at this hospital to get it. You're right though, floor nursing beginning salaries in some areas are poor.

[OnmywaytoCna]

My sister in law works at the University Hospital in Ohio. She is a nurse in the trauma unit and she makes $40 an hour. Of course she had to work her way there...

[babynurselsa, RN]

Top paid nurse.....

the one who works 60-80 hours a week. :rotfl:

[Nat_gagui]

I guess it all depend on the geographical area and experience. My SIL make $50/hr and a friend of mine make $75/hr with night differential including overtime, but we live in the most expensive state, California, they are not even CRNA.

Nat

[lee1]

the chief AVP of nursing makes more than $250,000 where I work

[SeekUrBliss]

CougRN.......what is a "top floor nurse"??? Thanks. :)

As a staff nurse.........the pay sucks!

I am a staff nurse again after a break from full-time agency work. I make more money in my new job than i did agency... and LOTS better benefits too.

[NurseCard, ADN]

I'm a staff nurse and I make crap, compared to other nurses. My base is like, 17.85/hr, and I get one like, 3% pay raise per year. I work in a mid-sized community hospital in KY. I have considered for a long time trying to get a job in Louisville at a bigger hospital, but with the price of gas lately, it probably isn't even worth it.

It's funny, I was talking to this girl on another internet forum about my job and my career goals, and she was like, "Hey, if you can make 80,000 a year as a registered nurse, why go back to college?" I was floored. I was like, uhhh, I make about HALF of that.

This girl was from Cali, though. =)

[ECMOismygame]

id say working 40 hrs a week m-f 7a-3p, then you wont make THAT MUCH, but alot of nurses i know are workaholics. they work night shift $4 more, weekends $3 more and work lots of overtime, and my hospital pays $5 premium pay on top of the overtime. so many nurses i know make $75K to near $100K, but again they work LOTS OF HOURS.

best paid nurse, by far is a CRNA.

[RN4NICU, LPN, LVN]

i think there are few differences in base pay for staff rn's, but i think or nurses make a bit more only due to on-call pay. from the last rn salary report done by nursing magazine, you could probably find out for sure.

it isn't really fair to count on-call pay, since any unit (even med-surg) can institute an on-call system (all units have them, including the floors, where i work). on-call pay is negligible there, though. two whopping dollars per hour. hardly a fair exchange for being on a leash, so to speak. main thing is that facilities all handle things differently - some pay critical care differentials, some pay everyone the same, some have clinical ladders. one cannot say that, for example, or nurses or er nurses or nicu nurses are the highest paid nursing specialty. it will vary, depending on where you are and what facility you work for.

[lmtmcc]

It's all relative. Depends on where you live, how much experience you have and what you do.

Where I live, NPs make between $60 and $70,000 a year. Any nurse here with more than 10 years experience is making more than the NPs. It is not uncommon for staff nurses to make more than their own nurse managers. I also work with several nurses with diploma's in nursing who make well above $100,000 per year (they have 25 - 30 years experience)

CRNAs are by far the highest paid nurses, but they also have the highest insurance premiums.

Do all nurses need to carry insurance?