What's your ANNUAL SALARY?

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I am seventeen years old & I want to pursue nursing at a four year college to become an RN & earn my BSN. I want to specialize in pediatrics.

I am really excited to become a nurse & I'm not in it for the money.

But, I was just wondering what is your annual income from nursing?

I heard new grads are earning up to $60,000/year starting out!

Specializes in oncology, trauma, home health.

And since she can do that I will tell her:

My first job, base pay $29/hr, night dif/$5.30= $34.30 hour x 36 hrs=1234.80x52=$64,209.60 - 28% (tax, insurance etc)-17978.60=$46,231.0 net annually

$3,852.58 monthly

-$2000.0 mortgage

$1,852.58

-$500.00 student loans

1352.58

-1000.0 bills/food/gas/phones/cable

Grand total of $352 a month to buy clothes, vacation, movies, hair, kid's new glasses, kids new bikes..

I still shop at Goodwill and avidly search "free stuff" on C's list

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Ok, I am going to answer the question. I make about $60000/yr. That's a fair salary. I am fairly new (two years experience), so that's a pretty good salary. Nursing pays fairly well, in my opinion, and it gets better if you climb the educational ladder and get a CRNA or other advanced practice degree.

Ok, that being said, don't discount the opinions that others have telling you that money isn't everything. It certainly is important, don't get me wrong, but you are not going to be on your death bed when you are old and wish you'd worked more and made more money. If nursing makes you excited and you have some passion for it, then do it by all means. If there is no passion there, don't do ANY job just for the money. Do what makes you happy, even if it's digging ditches. Life is WAY too short to be unhappy with a career.

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Specializes in Emergency.
I disagree with all posters. You need to go into a profession that pays you good money. That is your first concern, because you may be the primary breadwinner, may lose your primary breadwinner, etc. and you may have children to support. Women these days absolutely have to look at what pays the most. From that list, decide what you want to do. You'll earn more as a physical therapist, occupational therapist, PA and Nurse Practitioner. As a staff nurse, you will work hard for a long time to get to those salaries, AND work weekends, nights, holidays, fight for your vacation time, etc. Why not law school or medical school, or masters degree in something else? Nursing is at the bottom of the list if you are a bright young woman looking for a real career.

What if you are a bright young man looking for a 2nd career?

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I have two jobs and I make about $80K a year. Very frustrating. Drug store pharmacists do nothing but dispensing medications and they earn $80K a year. With nurses working so hard to save lives of patients I think nurses deserve a better salary.

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Specializes in OB.
Exactly.

Some of you on here are really not consideringf the world today.

Hunny, my family is NOT rich. We are going through it.

So, I am going to college next year & I have wanted to be a nurse for years & years.

I have grown up now && I am also saying "Hmmm, I wonder how much I will be compensated?"

That is a question you MUST ask.

Get real.

Most of you seem like bitter nurses.

You're angry at a young student because she's inquiring the salary!

I love nursing, but you have to smell the ******* coffee & realize that your love for nursing isn't gonna pay your bills ect. if you aren't getting paid well.

India - I realize I got sidetracked by the other post and didn't really answer your question although I alluded to it.

I have consistently run in the $50's to $60,000/ year range for the last decade with only occasional overtime. I have always made enough as a staff nurse (and now as a traveler) to live on adequately even when I had a house full of teenage boys. I will never be rich, but am confident I will always have a paying position of some sort (though not always my ideal position or location) no matter what the economy does. This is not a bad thing in these uncertain times. That said, you should look at all career options that pay well enough for your needs because you will not be able to continue long term in a job that you hate.

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Specializes in Geriatric, Pediatric.
I disagree with all posters. You need to go into a profession that pays you good money. That is your first concern, because you may be the primary breadwinner, may lose your primary breadwinner, etc. and you may have children to support. Women these days absolutely have to look at what pays the most. From that list, decide what you want to do. You'll earn more as a physical therapist, occupational therapist, PA and Nurse Practitioner. As a staff nurse, you will work hard for a long time to get to those salaries, AND work weekends, nights, holidays, fight for your vacation time, etc. Why not law school or medical school, or masters degree in something else? Nursing is at the bottom of the list if you are a bright young woman looking for a real career.

You seem miserable as a nurse. Why don't you do something else? I would hate to do something that made me sound so bitter. Life is too short to be unhappy, you know?

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Do what makes you happy! If you decide that nursing will make you happy then go for it and if later on you find out it doesn't make enough money to your standards then go back and get your masters, go into management, become a traveling RN, become a CRNA. But all of those higher education spots all stem from nursing, so make sure nursing sounds like a gig that would make you happy! There is so much you can do in nursing! I love being a nurse! Somedays more so than others. I do sometimes (esp. cleaning poop) wish I just became a doctor or an engineer or something else. They do make more money as an added bonus. But I am going back will complete my masters soon and well I hope to have less of those days were I am dealing with a difficult patient or family, but in all reality every job isn't easy. Just work hard at what your doing now, like someone mentioned before focus on high school and prerequisites and such, everything will fall in place as long as your dedicated! Also most hospitals pay part of your tuition when you go back, so its a win-win situation. Also I don't think its a bad idea to be conscious of how much one profession makes over the other. You have an ideal way to live and if you work hard for it then you deserve it! Also you should take into consideration that with nursing your schedule is often times flexible. I work three in a row and have 4 days off I can either pick up or concentrate on school. Go on a 7 day vacation without taking time off...not many jobs have that to offer. I work nights and my pay is 12k more a year than the nurses on days at my hospital. So I make about 50ishk without working overtime. Also there is weekend option, were you could make more, but are required to work basically every weekend, but when you have a family and don't want to pay for daycare later on in life that is pretty appealing! Goodluck and follow your heart, and your dreams!

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If you are looking for a career for only the $$$ factor nursing is going to disappoint you. There are lots of other careers that pay more and is easier to get into. Also nursing burnout is big and if deep down $$$ is your main drive, it wont be driving you for too long.

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Specializes in ER,OR.

Oh my God, you are really lucky there in US of getting such amount of money. In finland RN make more or less 3000e/month

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Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.

My husband and I have both been nurses for 33 years. We live in the Seattle area and we work in a union shop. We both made about $80,000 each this year. Neither of us work full time. We are at the high end of our pay scale at both our facilities. When we worked in Idaho and Texas we did not make nearly this much money but the cost of living in Idaho and Texas was much less.

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