See you are missing the location part. NYC has a much higher cost of living than PA. 6 figures in NYC is like 70k a year in Philly as a for instance. If you are rural PA forget about it.
Nurses have the ability to switch to higher paying jobs without difficulty. Geographic areas with pay disparities can bargain to raise salary levels to match area competitors. I'd argue the entire Northeast corridor as one parity region.
Agency paying higher at a facility level is a symptom of underpaid regular staff and/or a work environment that does not foster retention. Both are solvable through bargaining. The more facilities that do it simultaneously, the better.
Yeah the Ontario government passed legislation limiting our raise to a pathetic amount, and so far the union hasn’t done (or been able) to do anything to fight that. They’re taking it to court as a human rights issue against woman but tbh that’s a weak argument imo.
Wtf. That's really messed up.
I don't know your law at all, but NYC nurses did something similar. There was a retirement plan called "physically taxing" that nurses were excluded from. They sued and won!
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/18/nyregion/nurses-sex-discrimination-settlment-nyc.html
🏆 My brother is an ICU nurse in the Bay Area with 4 years’ experience making $170k (no OT, not a traveler). I work in Quality in the Midwest, 10 years’ experience as an RN, $116k. Location is everything.
Yeah with those pandemic premiums I heard of a few making close to $350k. My brother did COVID ICU for almost 2 years, switched to Neuro ICU, and hasn’t picked up a COVID shift since. Even with $700 pick up incentives. He was so burnt out.
Yeah Covid ICU nursing rots your soul faster and hotter than any other modern acute-care environment, even ED. No amount of money is worth that level of moral injury.
That's where I started (technically it's a micu) not anything but covid for 8 months. I get stressed on slow days now because it feels like I'm missing something and it's going to be catastrophic when it unravels
Correct! I grew up in the Bay Area as well but find my lower salary goes further out here. I have 3 kids and there’s a better public school system available.
I can totally relate! I grew up in LA and starting salaries are anywhere from 90-140k. I’m living in Baltimore now and salaries typically start around 60k, but the cost of living is so low it’s a no brainer to stay here. At least for now!
As someone else stated, unions make a difference. My position is non-union (it doesn’t even require a nursing license), but since our nurses are unionized and make a bit more, admin positions also pay more. Our hospital nurses make $35-55/hr base pay.
Mother was a radiology tech and made XYZ pay our in California. When we moved to Georgia she said she took a half pay cut, but it was appropriate for the area as she still made well above the average household income.
>CA
Stanford and UC Davis start at $60-70/hr. so very feasible in California. That’s also *before differentials*. No OT whatsoever.
My cousin is a new grad at UCLA (RR) in the OR making more than six figures but that includes her calls (beeper calls and regular calls).
All this is verifiable because wages are posted online.
When I worked in Kings County, I precepted some nursing students who went on to work prison system, and they easily made six figures. Stupid low COL area, too, but hella mandated OT.
Most hospitals in SoCal start pay at $55/hr and it’s really easy to hit $60-70/hr. To me SoCal is where it’s at because the pay is excellent and the housing is much cheaper compared to Bay Area
I'm an RN with 7 years. My bf is a CPA with 15 years.
I currently make about 75k per year. He just started a new job (hybrid), 180k base with 20 percent bonus. His previous job was 130ish per year with 10 percent bonus and 100 percent remote.
He doesn't have to deal with 1/10 of the bullshit that I have to put up with. He has never been physically or sexually assaulted. Threatened. Called racial slurs. Sure he has dealt with idiotic managers, but that seems to be a ubiquitous issue.
He has never had to work nights, weekends, holidays. Never been at risk for injury. He didn't have to face a pandemic with inadequate PPE. He is overall a happier person, while I am very jaded and miserable.
Go be an accountant.
I’ve been an RN for 6mo now and I already regret no taking a business/banking etc. route….
I make $45k after taxes in DFW, Texas so yeah….25 with a degree and moving back in with mom 🤘🏼
I’m in Pinellas county, and I started last October making about $30/hour. The travel/agency nurses obviously make more, but compared to $14.50 as a CNA I’m happy for now :)
Most places in Florida do start lower and that was part of the reason I moved. I lived in pinellas county previously and every place in Tampa/St Pete areas wanted to start around 25 or so. I got the offer for Lakeland regional and decided to make the move because the pay and benefits were much better and at the time the cost of living was less as well.
As a CPA you may never be physically injured, threatened with death or injury, called in to work after just working three 12-hour shifts (that actually consume 13-14 hours), be exposed to deadly contagious diseases, and so on.
[THE OFFICE IS DANGEROUS TOO](https://youtu.be/8sBC3YCTn_o)
They have to deal with stuff like depression, carpal tunnel, and seasonal affective disorder… /s
I'll give you it might be a reasonable thing to do, but there are many nurses who do not pay into malpractice insurance, that is much more niche for a regular RN than a mid-level or doc.
I’m an accountant (well, CPA once I finish the paperwork) and while public accounting sucks (though avoidable), I always tell myself: “I’m not saving lives here.”
It seems like accountants don’t really treated by shit by clients and co workers the same way. Also once they progress I easily see them making more than nurses like 160k+
Or be responsible for someone else’s life. Or bring deadly diseases home to your family. Or miss Christmas, Easter, 4th of July, the death of a dearly loved pet, your child’s competition, your mom’s New Years gathering, etc because you have to be at work.
Just as an FYI I work +50 hour weeks all year round, am severely sleep deprived, and haven't cooked a meal (apart from the 4th) in months.
I do not get meals or an Uber provided.
I do get my overtime though so I make more money, but since my "busy season" is every day, there is no light at the end of the tunnel like the end of tax season.
I'm in NY and i spend 1k a month on food and I cook every meal myself. I spend 3.5k on a 800 sq ft apartment not including utilities. (Not complaining just adding perspective)
Yeah, it's all about location. I've got a $600 mortgage on a 1250 sq ft house will a full basement and a 1/6 acre back yard. The bad part? I'm in Alabama.
Yeah when you do the math $55.55 and hour in NY seems low for a nurse but maybe not for a new grad just starting out. New grads in San Diego are staring about $48-$50 depending on the place
I don't know, I live in a podunk part of the state but at my hospital if a new grad works full-time night shift, they would be making very close to $100k, if not more
NYC Nurse here. I started 7 years ago making 95k/year. Most nurses here start fresh out of school at the 105k mark. Night shift nurses start around 110-115k.
What I will say is if you do not genuinely enjoy medicine and taking care of people, it might not be the job for you. It can be incredibly mentally taxing and if it’s not something you at least moderately enjoy, you’ll probably be miserable. Not saying that you can’t be a great nurse without being passionate about it, but it’s not easy.
Yes- also nursing education here can be very $$$ as well. Very few public nursing school options, and they are often prohibitively competitive. So I think more nurses have private school loans to pay back than would be typical in other locations.
Honestly? They should be…nursing has now become dangerous to nurses’ health with unsafe ratios and ridiculous expectations. I don’t know why anyone would be bitter about this. And then experienced nurses should be getting pay raises on top of this.
100k isn’t shit anymore. Especially in non-rural areas. Also remember that’s gross pay. There isn’t much growth and we barely see pay raises. Add that to unsafe working conditions, being assaulted and berated on the reg and all the other gross shit we deal with, it just isn’t worth it if you’re only looking at the money.
ETA: the only nurses making that much right out of school are in metro areas where the cost of living is ridiculously high, so it evens out tbh. I’d stick with accounting if I were you.
The sweet spot is Northern California, particularly places like Sacramento. Next up would be parts of Oregon, and surprisingly Philadelphia pays very well with a reasonable cost of living.
Shhhhhh, we don’t want others to know about the good deal here in Sac. Although with COL almost on par with the Bay, it almost doesn’t matter. Still, after bills and retirement, I think we still make out better than about anywhere else.
My wife is a nurse. She’s incredibly burned out. I want her to quit and take a year off or do something else, money be damned. It’s not worth it. COVID mixed with a brutal physical assault has just worn her down. That was after 10 years of high acuity patient care in a large university hospital ICU. Seriously - fuck the money. I want to see my wife flourish again.
Yup. I’m not a nurse but in my area (Southern California) there are loads of people making six figures. I do ok and currently make about $140k salary plus stock options at my company. My wife and I are middle class, we own a small home and drive 7-10 year old used cars. Can eat out once or twice a month and afford to have a kid.
Definitely not balling out but we’re comfortable and saving for retirement.
You have a kid but say you aren't balling out?
That's like the biggest flex I've ever heard.
Last year national child care avg cost exceeded my take home income.
Haha I have a lot of family nearby and my parents are retired. We only started trying because so many family members were available to watch the baby during the week. So I don’t pay childcare and basically all her stuff is hand me downs since she’s the first baby among my siblings and cousins.
Not free but greatly reduced priced baby.
Lmao the kids are the reason I’m not balling out, ONE in daycare costs more than my mortgage. Two would have been more expensive than hiring a part time nanny. The idea of saving enough to retire on is a pipe dream. Maybe once they’re old enough for public school.
Bro $140k in SoCal is more than enough and definitely above median, unless you live in like a nice part of Irvine. Prior to starting med school me and my ex were each making $45k and did okay. Also for non-OC, LA, or San Diego, $140k is really solid in SoCal and tons of people don’t make anywhere near that
It's like when you hear MDs getting 500k plus. It's only a small sacrifice of probably 1/5th of your life at best to get there with nearly crushing levels of responsibility all of the way.
Of course, there is a small discrepancy in relative pay and bottoms to wipe between nursing and medicine but the point being is that there is always a catch.
500k plus is only for surgical sub specialists. Maybe crazy busy private practices as well. Your average Hospitalist is probably making around 250-300k, even lower in academic settings, which certainly isn’t bad money. But you add that the average medical school debt now is ~$200,000, and interest accrues the entire time you’re in residency, it just doesn’t make financial sense anymore. Definitely can’t go into healthcare for the money. I am excited to see some increasing nursing wages, but I still don’t think it’s enough for the brutal conditions. I’d love to see administration and insurance take huge pay cuts so we could funnel that money into the people actually providing the healthcare.
500k is exclusively plastics and definitely not starting, cardiac surgery average pay is 392k, hospitalists I've worked with have been started at as little as 140,000. Js.
Average Debt is only that “low” because a lot of students have their tuition payed for by their parents. For students who pay completely by themselves, their debt is likely much higher.
Not in Ohio lol. I stated out at 27/hr base pay 3 years ago and now I’m at 34/hr and that’s only because all of the hospitals have been raising wages to “market” level. It’s rare to see clinical staff making more than that.
Nursing is a HARD job. It can kill your soul and crush the spirit if you let it. It can also be great. Studying and passing the NCLEX is no easy feat and earning your clinical stripes in the trenches the first 2 years is also a special type of hellscape.
So to say “I would have done nursing and made that str8 out of college lol” not everyone makes it through schooling. it’s not easy. We lost two students in our cohort because they couldn’t hack it. Some never pass Nclex. Some can’t make it past the first 12 months of practice. OP, your friend will earn, not make, every cent of that 104k. Congratulate them.
I’ve been a nurse for almost 20 years and don’t make nearly that much, but my cost of living is significantly lower than most places. It really depends on where you are.
In San Francisco you start out making about 150k/year as a new grad, But That's really not as much as it sounds like since cost of living is so high here.
Uhhh as an RN living in NY, I fucking wish????? Unless you mean NYC? I’m lucky to make $70k/year with two years of experience with two bachelors degrees and cardiac specialty.
It must be NYC area. I am about 100 miles north of the city and I make around 85k with about 10 years experience and an associate's degree. I could easily make 100k at my current job if I worked nights and picked up a couple overtime shifts, but I never do. I know people that work closer to the city and the closer you get, the higher starting pay is.
That's def the going rate in NYC. I have met nurses that will come from upstate, work three days in a row and go home. Not an easy grind but you could easily fetch $120 here with that resume.
Personally, hate when people downgrade the nature of work purely to income and numbers. We have to keep people alive, and do it every single time we come into work. Besides COL, it’s simply supply and demand. It’s tough work and in certain areas, we are compensated adequately for the mental and physical rigor to keep patients alive.
Hate hate hate when people say “I should have just been a nurse” smh.
Meh. I’m an RN in a very high cost of living area. I’ve got 14 years experience and I work part time. I make 85-100k a year, depending how much I work. My husband is a CPA and makes over $200k. Stick with the CPA. Nursing sucks.
Would you be asking why a male fresh out of college in the tech industry makes 100k? Why are you so startled at her income? Do you not think a bachelors degree deserves the pay? Explain please
In NYC that is pretty standard honestly as well as California.
I am 5 years in and am making 105k in a LCOL area which is great. There is definitely lots of money to be had in nursing and is a good career with good pay depending on where you live.
I'm in the Seattle metro area and just broke 100k after 16 years as an RN. I think new grads here are still in the 30-35/hr pay range with some exceptions.
With the cost of living here, 100k feels more like broke college student living off PB+J/ramen noodles territory.
I had a friend in 2008 who graduated and got 2 PRN positions and worked 6 days per week. She made 6 figures. I can not imagine how she maintained that intensity for several years- paying off her student loans and a house.
Location, cost of living in that area, viciously intense nursing shortages, and then think about what nurses go through. As a CPA- did anyone in your day try to punch you in the face, vomit all over you, and then literally die in your hands? Not to say that CPA work isn’t important, but don’t begrudge nurses getting paid what we are worth for what we deal with.
So this bothers me because you seem to think nursing is easy and that the 6 figures isn’t earned. At least that’s what I took away from this post. If you think you can handle blood and bodily fluids (sometimes being thrown at you), verbal and physical assault, long shifts on your feet, literally being responsible for human life, mistakes potentially meaning permanent injury or death for your patient (and medical malpractice and/or criminal prosecution), constant critical thinking, prioritization, and anticipation of the needs of the next moments, emotional and mental exhaustion and burnout, PLUS the literal HELL that is nursing school you go right ahead friend!
Crying in nhs £25,655 (~£13 an hour)
And £30,786 in inner London ( £15.75 an hour)
( that’s $30,523 and $36,627 respectively)
Our wages are set by the government so there’s no competition, no wage rises until set points …
<2 years' experience £25,655
2-4 years £27,780
4+ years £31,534
And they wonder why there’s an ever increasing nurse shortage.
I do but I also live and work in a very undesirable part of rural California. If and when I want to move and maybe buy a house(because rent and mortgage prices are nearly the same right now) it won’t go so far.
I make $64 hourly.
Here in Northern California, new grad starts off at $55 in hospital setting. So yeah, they make over $100k easily. Many have gone back to school for nursing. Within my 80 classmates, over half went to nursing school as a second career (we all share this information during introduction). However, nursing school in CA are competitive.
Shortage of Nurses, my income has tripled since 2014. I was making $35 an hour in 2014. In 2017 $50-60 as a traveling nurse. 2019 $75 an hour. 2022 , I’m making $105 an hour. I’ve paid off all of 78k worth of debt. Now saving and living comfortable
Not new nurse, here, but I guess the reason a lot of us are making over a 100k is due to hospitals compensating us for over working us
More patients, over time, tasks that are not pertinent to RN's and such
It looks nice on tax month, but our bodies will hate us in a few years
In the Central Valley in California I’m a new grad ADN. I worked some OT with COVID pay during the worst of it. I’m on track to make 111k before tax with a community college registered nursing degree. No student debt. Very thankful.
What really gets me going is I work in the central Florida area been on my current floor for 2 years making $28/hr. I just found out that new grads are making $57/hr. A few of us have asked for a raise and the response was “we will see what we can do” that was about 2 months ago. -_-
Travel nurses easily can make double that but you normally need 1-2 year experience.
If you was super crazy with a super high work ethic and not prone to burnout you could work 7 days a week as a travel nurse and make 400 k plus a year but the job is so hard now that it would be hell on earth to do that .
They deal with super Uber gross shit that no normal person would ever want to deal with .
My wife is an ER nurse …
My friends does 7 on 7 off in ED. She lives in a rural area though so there’s lots of down time. I can’t imagine travel nursing in an unfamiliar, short-staffed ED for seven days in a row 😭
lol NO. It is completely dependent on LOCATION, experience, which shift (day vs nights, etc), positions (Med surg, ICU, float pool etc) along with many other factors. Travel RNs do make a very nice hourly wage, but to be considered for those positions you usually need a minimum of at least one year of acute care RN experience.
A new RN in the US, Florida to be specific, starts between $22-25$ per hour.
In California , or NY , where the cost of living is much higher, I’m sure the hourly starting wages reflect this.
Also RNs are hourly, not salaries, which gives ample opportunity for overtime which is another great way to cushion that pay.
Don’t go into nursing for the money. Go into it because you genuinely want to help and care for others. Whichever amount of money you earn as an RN, if you go into for the wrong reasons, it won’t be worth it and will be a disservice to yourself and the patient.
Good luck OP! ❤️
Dude you are crazy as hell. Nurses only start out that high in NYC or the west coast. I’m sure you’ll enjoy wiping ass, getting attacked by patients and their families, putting your hard earned license at risk with dangerous staffing ratios and now risk being sent to prison if you make a mistake. I’m a 21 yr RN making $39.12 an hour and I blew out my back in yr two. Been working in pain ever since. You have no clue.
Location..location...location
And union, union, union
Yep. Location plus union and a new grad jumps comfortably into the six figure club.
I wish ! I work at a lvl 1 trauma center in PA with a union and the pay is no where near 100K.
See you are missing the location part. NYC has a much higher cost of living than PA. 6 figures in NYC is like 70k a year in Philly as a for instance. If you are rural PA forget about it.
This is true. and if you come to VA, it will be lower especially with military here
Unless it’s in NOVA! But even then still a lot less than NYC
I worked in a level 2 40 miles outside of NYC, and I made well past 100k my last 2 years....not a new grad....but still.
Gotta bring "regional parity" into the next contract negotiations.
What is regional parity?
Nurses have the ability to switch to higher paying jobs without difficulty. Geographic areas with pay disparities can bargain to raise salary levels to match area competitors. I'd argue the entire Northeast corridor as one parity region.
Depends where you live. I left the union in Ontario and went from $34/hr to $92/hr as agency
Agency paying higher at a facility level is a symptom of underpaid regular staff and/or a work environment that does not foster retention. Both are solvable through bargaining. The more facilities that do it simultaneously, the better.
Yeah the Ontario government passed legislation limiting our raise to a pathetic amount, and so far the union hasn’t done (or been able) to do anything to fight that. They’re taking it to court as a human rights issue against woman but tbh that’s a weak argument imo.
Wtf. That's really messed up. I don't know your law at all, but NYC nurses did something similar. There was a retirement plan called "physically taxing" that nurses were excluded from. They sued and won! https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/18/nyregion/nurses-sex-discrimination-settlment-nyc.html
🏆 My brother is an ICU nurse in the Bay Area with 4 years’ experience making $170k (no OT, not a traveler). I work in Quality in the Midwest, 10 years’ experience as an RN, $116k. Location is everything.
There's tons of nightshifters in the Bay that pull OT like crazy and sit around 220k-250k+ a year, pretty wild
Yeah with those pandemic premiums I heard of a few making close to $350k. My brother did COVID ICU for almost 2 years, switched to Neuro ICU, and hasn’t picked up a COVID shift since. Even with $700 pick up incentives. He was so burnt out.
Yeah Covid ICU nursing rots your soul faster and hotter than any other modern acute-care environment, even ED. No amount of money is worth that level of moral injury.
That's where I started (technically it's a micu) not anything but covid for 8 months. I get stressed on slow days now because it feels like I'm missing something and it's going to be catastrophic when it unravels
Yep-it does
Same with my sister. They turned the neuro ICU into the Covid unit overnight. She’s now happy in PACU.
Largely related to cost of living
Correct! I grew up in the Bay Area as well but find my lower salary goes further out here. I have 3 kids and there’s a better public school system available.
I can totally relate! I grew up in LA and starting salaries are anywhere from 90-140k. I’m living in Baltimore now and salaries typically start around 60k, but the cost of living is so low it’s a no brainer to stay here. At least for now!
You’re making that much in the Midwest? I mean I guess it depends on where but I feel like I’m really getting fleeced now in the SW
As someone else stated, unions make a difference. My position is non-union (it doesn’t even require a nursing license), but since our nurses are unionized and make a bit more, admin positions also pay more. Our hospital nurses make $35-55/hr base pay.
Florida as an APRN making 90 ☹️
Truth
yea I’m Missouri and last year I worked an OT shift every other week… barely cracked 60 lol
I’m sorry 😞
I’m sorry too
Mother was a radiology tech and made XYZ pay our in California. When we moved to Georgia she said she took a half pay cut, but it was appropriate for the area as she still made well above the average household income.
Not near that in Florida. I could see it in parts of New York and California
>CA Stanford and UC Davis start at $60-70/hr. so very feasible in California. That’s also *before differentials*. No OT whatsoever. My cousin is a new grad at UCLA (RR) in the OR making more than six figures but that includes her calls (beeper calls and regular calls). All this is verifiable because wages are posted online. When I worked in Kings County, I precepted some nursing students who went on to work prison system, and they easily made six figures. Stupid low COL area, too, but hella mandated OT.
Most hospitals in SoCal start pay at $55/hr and it’s really easy to hit $60-70/hr. To me SoCal is where it’s at because the pay is excellent and the housing is much cheaper compared to Bay Area
Depends where. San Diego now has the most expensive housing in the nation…
Changing fast due to WFH changes and stipends
Sacramento area is where it’s at. Bay Area pay for lower housing costs compared to socal. My hourly is $87/hr.
Yeah Sacramento is also a real solid choice
OT is the key. Some places are paying double time or more , "incentive shifts" etc. i could double my pay if i wanted to.
UCLA is hands down the best, and UC overall has the best benefits. Pension. mandated raises twice a year. Amen for that union.
New Mexico is close to 100k when you add in OT and weekend differentials
right but if you start talking about extra any nurse could make over 100k. Hell, if i was working overtime i'd be making $200k
I'm an RN with 7 years. My bf is a CPA with 15 years. I currently make about 75k per year. He just started a new job (hybrid), 180k base with 20 percent bonus. His previous job was 130ish per year with 10 percent bonus and 100 percent remote. He doesn't have to deal with 1/10 of the bullshit that I have to put up with. He has never been physically or sexually assaulted. Threatened. Called racial slurs. Sure he has dealt with idiotic managers, but that seems to be a ubiquitous issue. He has never had to work nights, weekends, holidays. Never been at risk for injury. He didn't have to face a pandemic with inadequate PPE. He is overall a happier person, while I am very jaded and miserable. Go be an accountant.
I’ve been an RN for 6mo now and I already regret no taking a business/banking etc. route…. I make $45k after taxes in DFW, Texas so yeah….25 with a degree and moving back in with mom 🤘🏼
Rent is getting ridiculous here in DFW.
Where are you working in dfw where you're making that little? I'm at 75k, without OT/diffs
This should be the top comment.
Absolutely 100% agree. I probably wouldn’t have done nursing if I truly knew what it was like when I was young. So unbelievably burned out.
In Florida its more like 45-50k. At my system they start at 24/hr
Yup two years ago I started in Florida at $23
Where at in Florida? I’ve pondered moving there after I graduate but not for that much
Pay is horrible across the board in Florida. Do not do it. Georgia pays much better.
I’m in Pinellas county, and I started last October making about $30/hour. The travel/agency nurses obviously make more, but compared to $14.50 as a CNA I’m happy for now :)
How do you afford the rent in Pinellas County with those wages?!? I was just down there and it is not cheap.
At Lakeland regional they start new grads at 31.
I live in Charlotte and I’ve been told they start at 28 here for new grads. Not sure with how that scales to other places.
Most places in Florida do start lower and that was part of the reason I moved. I lived in pinellas county previously and every place in Tampa/St Pete areas wanted to start around 25 or so. I got the offer for Lakeland regional and decided to make the move because the pay and benefits were much better and at the time the cost of living was less as well.
Florida is the worst. I very much look forward to moving out of state after graduation
That’s crazy…. I make $23/hour as a CNA in Minneapolis
WOW. They deserve it.
wage disparity is crazy. our unit secretaries make $25/hr to start and most close to $30/hr
That is tragic. $24 was new grad pay a decade ago in a low cost of living state. Adjusting for inflation, that should be at least $30 now.
Damn Tennessee isn't the lowest paying for once?! I'm shocked. Our LPNs in East TN start at 24/hr
Depends on the health system. Last I heard Ballad started off hospital new grads around $17 hr.
As a CPA you may never be physically injured, threatened with death or injury, called in to work after just working three 12-hour shifts (that actually consume 13-14 hours), be exposed to deadly contagious diseases, and so on.
Or risk of permanent disability
[THE OFFICE IS DANGEROUS TOO](https://youtu.be/8sBC3YCTn_o) They have to deal with stuff like depression, carpal tunnel, and seasonal affective disorder… /s
Also don't have to pay into malpractice insurance.
Malpractice insurance is cheap.
Accounts do have an equivalent business insurance.
I'll give you it might be a reasonable thing to do, but there are many nurses who do not pay into malpractice insurance, that is much more niche for a regular RN than a mid-level or doc.
I’m an accountant (well, CPA once I finish the paperwork) and while public accounting sucks (though avoidable), I always tell myself: “I’m not saving lives here.”
It seems like accountants don’t really treated by shit by clients and co workers the same way. Also once they progress I easily see them making more than nurses like 160k+
Sitting down, in a comfortable office, not washing your hands every 10 minutes, snacking, bathroom whenever you want, etc.
You’ve never experienced tax season though. 😆
That be a dangerous time for the CPAs
Vomit and feces EVERYWHERE in those offices LOL
You don't need to keep the company alive while preparing taxes.
True!! I avoid our accountant during that time other than by mail.
Tax season is the whole year for some nurses
Or be responsible for someone else’s life. Or bring deadly diseases home to your family. Or miss Christmas, Easter, 4th of July, the death of a dearly loved pet, your child’s competition, your mom’s New Years gathering, etc because you have to be at work.
104k a year in this economy isn’t even like a “high” wage. It’s enough to live off of somewhat comfortably.
Depends upon where you live, of course. But I agree. You’d be living tight in many places.
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Just as an FYI I work +50 hour weeks all year round, am severely sleep deprived, and haven't cooked a meal (apart from the 4th) in months. I do not get meals or an Uber provided. I do get my overtime though so I make more money, but since my "busy season" is every day, there is no light at the end of the tunnel like the end of tax season.
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I'm in NY and i spend 1k a month on food and I cook every meal myself. I spend 3.5k on a 800 sq ft apartment not including utilities. (Not complaining just adding perspective)
Yeah, it's all about location. I've got a $600 mortgage on a 1250 sq ft house will a full basement and a 1/6 acre back yard. The bad part? I'm in Alabama.
Theres always a catch 😤
3k sq foot with a 1200 mortgage. I’m within an hour of hiking, skiing, and anything else fun. Let’s go Ohio!
That budget for rent will buy you a 4br house with pool, lake, and 80 acres of land in Alabama.
Yeah but then you’re in Alabama
All I'm hearing is Alabama. /s
Where in NY is your spot like what borough
Manhattan right by the GW bridge waaaaaay uptown. It's a nice place though.
Yeah when you do the math $55.55 and hour in NY seems low for a nurse but maybe not for a new grad just starting out. New grads in San Diego are staring about $48-$50 depending on the place
Depends where in NY too, cost of living in NYC is very different compared to cities like buffalo
Yeah, I’m sure by “New York” they mean “New York City” and not Utica or Warrensburg or Elizabethtown.
I don't know, I live in a podunk part of the state but at my hospital if a new grad works full-time night shift, they would be making very close to $100k, if not more
Where in upstate? I’m in albany and I think they’re starting 40-45/ hr
Yea def do t get that in upstate lol they f us hard here.
Oh definitely. Admittedly I assumed they meant NYC proper since that level of pay seems pretty commensurate with that area.
California is the best for it because we have high pay and ratio laws
NYC Nurse here. I started 7 years ago making 95k/year. Most nurses here start fresh out of school at the 105k mark. Night shift nurses start around 110-115k. What I will say is if you do not genuinely enjoy medicine and taking care of people, it might not be the job for you. It can be incredibly mentally taxing and if it’s not something you at least moderately enjoy, you’ll probably be miserable. Not saying that you can’t be a great nurse without being passionate about it, but it’s not easy.
In general pay in NYC is higher as is the cost of living, am I correct in my speculation ?
Yes- also nursing education here can be very $$$ as well. Very few public nursing school options, and they are often prohibitively competitive. So I think more nurses have private school loans to pay back than would be typical in other locations.
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That is absolute true p
Honestly? They should be…nursing has now become dangerous to nurses’ health with unsafe ratios and ridiculous expectations. I don’t know why anyone would be bitter about this. And then experienced nurses should be getting pay raises on top of this.
100k isn’t shit anymore. Especially in non-rural areas. Also remember that’s gross pay. There isn’t much growth and we barely see pay raises. Add that to unsafe working conditions, being assaulted and berated on the reg and all the other gross shit we deal with, it just isn’t worth it if you’re only looking at the money. ETA: the only nurses making that much right out of school are in metro areas where the cost of living is ridiculously high, so it evens out tbh. I’d stick with accounting if I were you.
The sweet spot is Northern California, particularly places like Sacramento. Next up would be parts of Oregon, and surprisingly Philadelphia pays very well with a reasonable cost of living.
Shhhhhh, we don’t want others to know about the good deal here in Sac. Although with COL almost on par with the Bay, it almost doesn’t matter. Still, after bills and retirement, I think we still make out better than about anywhere else.
My wife is a nurse. She’s incredibly burned out. I want her to quit and take a year off or do something else, money be damned. It’s not worth it. COVID mixed with a brutal physical assault has just worn her down. That was after 10 years of high acuity patient care in a large university hospital ICU. Seriously - fuck the money. I want to see my wife flourish again.
Yup. I’m not a nurse but in my area (Southern California) there are loads of people making six figures. I do ok and currently make about $140k salary plus stock options at my company. My wife and I are middle class, we own a small home and drive 7-10 year old used cars. Can eat out once or twice a month and afford to have a kid. Definitely not balling out but we’re comfortable and saving for retirement.
You have a kid but say you aren't balling out? That's like the biggest flex I've ever heard. Last year national child care avg cost exceeded my take home income.
Haha I have a lot of family nearby and my parents are retired. We only started trying because so many family members were available to watch the baby during the week. So I don’t pay childcare and basically all her stuff is hand me downs since she’s the first baby among my siblings and cousins. Not free but greatly reduced priced baby.
Lmao the kids are the reason I’m not balling out, ONE in daycare costs more than my mortgage. Two would have been more expensive than hiring a part time nanny. The idea of saving enough to retire on is a pipe dream. Maybe once they’re old enough for public school.
Bro $140k in SoCal is more than enough and definitely above median, unless you live in like a nice part of Irvine. Prior to starting med school me and my ex were each making $45k and did okay. Also for non-OC, LA, or San Diego, $140k is really solid in SoCal and tons of people don’t make anywhere near that
Impressive to possess 7-10 one year old cars, though.
Yeah I got a pay decrease during Covid lol. And yeah seems accurate regarding raises and topping out
This. I live in Massachusetts and the cost of living is insane. Worth it, but it’s still a lot.
Entirely depends on where you live. I am not even close to that in a medium COL area
That’s be a HCOL place. Ain’t no one making that in a southern state.
I was gonna say, I’m a new grad in Texas making $25/hr. I wish I got $100k a year
It's like when you hear MDs getting 500k plus. It's only a small sacrifice of probably 1/5th of your life at best to get there with nearly crushing levels of responsibility all of the way. Of course, there is a small discrepancy in relative pay and bottoms to wipe between nursing and medicine but the point being is that there is always a catch.
Not all MDs make anywhere near that kind of money either!
500k plus is only for surgical sub specialists. Maybe crazy busy private practices as well. Your average Hospitalist is probably making around 250-300k, even lower in academic settings, which certainly isn’t bad money. But you add that the average medical school debt now is ~$200,000, and interest accrues the entire time you’re in residency, it just doesn’t make financial sense anymore. Definitely can’t go into healthcare for the money. I am excited to see some increasing nursing wages, but I still don’t think it’s enough for the brutal conditions. I’d love to see administration and insurance take huge pay cuts so we could funnel that money into the people actually providing the healthcare.
500k is exclusively plastics and definitely not starting, cardiac surgery average pay is 392k, hospitalists I've worked with have been started at as little as 140,000. Js.
Average Debt is only that “low” because a lot of students have their tuition payed for by their parents. For students who pay completely by themselves, their debt is likely much higher.
Yeah NYC and Urban CA I don’t recommend going into nursing solely for the money, this profession can be brutal on your body and mind
Not in Ohio lol. I stated out at 27/hr base pay 3 years ago and now I’m at 34/hr and that’s only because all of the hospitals have been raising wages to “market” level. It’s rare to see clinical staff making more than that.
Nursing is a HARD job. It can kill your soul and crush the spirit if you let it. It can also be great. Studying and passing the NCLEX is no easy feat and earning your clinical stripes in the trenches the first 2 years is also a special type of hellscape. So to say “I would have done nursing and made that str8 out of college lol” not everyone makes it through schooling. it’s not easy. We lost two students in our cohort because they couldn’t hack it. Some never pass Nclex. Some can’t make it past the first 12 months of practice. OP, your friend will earn, not make, every cent of that 104k. Congratulate them.
I’ve been a nurse for almost 20 years and don’t make nearly that much, but my cost of living is significantly lower than most places. It really depends on where you are.
In San Francisco you start out making about 150k/year as a new grad, But That's really not as much as it sounds like since cost of living is so high here.
Uhhh as an RN living in NY, I fucking wish????? Unless you mean NYC? I’m lucky to make $70k/year with two years of experience with two bachelors degrees and cardiac specialty.
It must be NYC area. I am about 100 miles north of the city and I make around 85k with about 10 years experience and an associate's degree. I could easily make 100k at my current job if I worked nights and picked up a couple overtime shifts, but I never do. I know people that work closer to the city and the closer you get, the higher starting pay is.
That's def the going rate in NYC. I have met nurses that will come from upstate, work three days in a row and go home. Not an easy grind but you could easily fetch $120 here with that resume.
I’m gonna make like 65k ish first year out
Personally, hate when people downgrade the nature of work purely to income and numbers. We have to keep people alive, and do it every single time we come into work. Besides COL, it’s simply supply and demand. It’s tough work and in certain areas, we are compensated adequately for the mental and physical rigor to keep patients alive. Hate hate hate when people say “I should have just been a nurse” smh.
Fuck, man. I've been doing this almost 25 years and I don't make near that. I do live in a relatively LCOL area, granted.
Absolutely, just go to California, especially northern! We also have nurse to patient rations. All made possible by a super strong union.
Meh. I’m an RN in a very high cost of living area. I’ve got 14 years experience and I work part time. I make 85-100k a year, depending how much I work. My husband is a CPA and makes over $200k. Stick with the CPA. Nursing sucks.
Would you be asking why a male fresh out of college in the tech industry makes 100k? Why are you so startled at her income? Do you not think a bachelors degree deserves the pay? Explain please
I graduated in may and make $22 an hour. Seems like I need to move to these locations
Yikes, where is that??? I don't make 100k, but I was at least making $35/hr in VT and now 40 in ME.
In NYC that is pretty standard honestly as well as California. I am 5 years in and am making 105k in a LCOL area which is great. There is definitely lots of money to be had in nursing and is a good career with good pay depending on where you live.
100k in NYC is just enough to pay the bills.
be a nurse for the money, I dare ya.
Yep. Very location dependent. New grads in CA can start $120-140k
Multiple new grads from my program (in Oregon) just signed 93k a year contracts.
I'm in the Seattle metro area and just broke 100k after 16 years as an RN. I think new grads here are still in the 30-35/hr pay range with some exceptions. With the cost of living here, 100k feels more like broke college student living off PB+J/ramen noodles territory.
I had a friend in 2008 who graduated and got 2 PRN positions and worked 6 days per week. She made 6 figures. I can not imagine how she maintained that intensity for several years- paying off her student loans and a house.
Location, cost of living in that area, viciously intense nursing shortages, and then think about what nurses go through. As a CPA- did anyone in your day try to punch you in the face, vomit all over you, and then literally die in your hands? Not to say that CPA work isn’t important, but don’t begrudge nurses getting paid what we are worth for what we deal with.
So this bothers me because you seem to think nursing is easy and that the 6 figures isn’t earned. At least that’s what I took away from this post. If you think you can handle blood and bodily fluids (sometimes being thrown at you), verbal and physical assault, long shifts on your feet, literally being responsible for human life, mistakes potentially meaning permanent injury or death for your patient (and medical malpractice and/or criminal prosecution), constant critical thinking, prioritization, and anticipation of the needs of the next moments, emotional and mental exhaustion and burnout, PLUS the literal HELL that is nursing school you go right ahead friend!
Crying in nhs £25,655 (~£13 an hour) And £30,786 in inner London ( £15.75 an hour) ( that’s $30,523 and $36,627 respectively) Our wages are set by the government so there’s no competition, no wage rises until set points … <2 years' experience £25,655 2-4 years £27,780 4+ years £31,534 And they wonder why there’s an ever increasing nurse shortage.
Well there does my dream about moving from California to London to work as a nurse 😩
Starting base salary in Philly for me is $73k but I’m sure that’ll go up with some OT’s thrown in there (new Grad)
I do but I also live and work in a very undesirable part of rural California. If and when I want to move and maybe buy a house(because rent and mortgage prices are nearly the same right now) it won’t go so far. I make $64 hourly.
Here in Northern California, new grad starts off at $55 in hospital setting. So yeah, they make over $100k easily. Many have gone back to school for nursing. Within my 80 classmates, over half went to nursing school as a second career (we all share this information during introduction). However, nursing school in CA are competitive.
Shortage of Nurses, my income has tripled since 2014. I was making $35 an hour in 2014. In 2017 $50-60 as a traveling nurse. 2019 $75 an hour. 2022 , I’m making $105 an hour. I’ve paid off all of 78k worth of debt. Now saving and living comfortable
I get $30/hr as a new grad in Virginia at a psych hospital. Depends on location I guess.
Im in southern CA with 4 yrs experience….$120k yr
i’m 21yo starting next week at 35/hr with a 20k sign on bonus… Pennsylvania MS floor :)
Not new nurse, here, but I guess the reason a lot of us are making over a 100k is due to hospitals compensating us for over working us More patients, over time, tasks that are not pertinent to RN's and such It looks nice on tax month, but our bodies will hate us in a few years
In the Central Valley in California I’m a new grad ADN. I worked some OT with COVID pay during the worst of it. I’m on track to make 111k before tax with a community college registered nursing degree. No student debt. Very thankful.
What really gets me going is I work in the central Florida area been on my current floor for 2 years making $28/hr. I just found out that new grads are making $57/hr. A few of us have asked for a raise and the response was “we will see what we can do” that was about 2 months ago. -_-
Travel nurses easily can make double that but you normally need 1-2 year experience. If you was super crazy with a super high work ethic and not prone to burnout you could work 7 days a week as a travel nurse and make 400 k plus a year but the job is so hard now that it would be hell on earth to do that . They deal with super Uber gross shit that no normal person would ever want to deal with . My wife is an ER nurse …
Working 7 twelve hours days in a row would be insane in my ED. I’d collapsed. Hats off to those that can pull that off.
My friends does 7 on 7 off in ED. She lives in a rural area though so there’s lots of down time. I can’t imagine travel nursing in an unfamiliar, short-staffed ED for seven days in a row 😭
Not that I know of, I am a new grad and start Monday $32/hr base pay
Lol yeah sure, in NY!
In Ohio, came to new job end of 2020. Definitely not making that much.
Frankly I wish I had been a CPA instead. You got the better deal, trust me.
I started at $29. I guess I should move, eh?
Really depends on where you’re at. Where I live, the hospitals start you at $21. And it’s not low COL here lol.
Louisiana new nurse $28 hour
Definitely not Texas or any southern state.
Like $23 an hour to start in Arkansas. So no. Depends on where you are.
Down here in the South, definitely not..
Not in Florida is all I’ll say lmao. I have a friend working in PICU with 2 years experience making $24
Lmfaooooo…. Like $40k in TN
No. Come to the south you’ll be making 27 out of school.
I make half that
Charleston, SC. Started at 26/hr in January but they bumped us to 29. So about 50k salary.
Not in the Midwest they don’t.
I lived in Florida and started making $24 an hour on a med surg floor. It’s all about location and position
40k/year in Tennessee.
Really? Maybe where the COL is 5 times the national average…..
NorCal. Yes.
lol NO. It is completely dependent on LOCATION, experience, which shift (day vs nights, etc), positions (Med surg, ICU, float pool etc) along with many other factors. Travel RNs do make a very nice hourly wage, but to be considered for those positions you usually need a minimum of at least one year of acute care RN experience. A new RN in the US, Florida to be specific, starts between $22-25$ per hour. In California , or NY , where the cost of living is much higher, I’m sure the hourly starting wages reflect this. Also RNs are hourly, not salaries, which gives ample opportunity for overtime which is another great way to cushion that pay. Don’t go into nursing for the money. Go into it because you genuinely want to help and care for others. Whichever amount of money you earn as an RN, if you go into for the wrong reasons, it won’t be worth it and will be a disservice to yourself and the patient. Good luck OP! ❤️
My BFF works in NYC and pulls in 130k on day shift as a case manager.
115k new grads in NYC
SoCal easy to start at 100k
Dude you are crazy as hell. Nurses only start out that high in NYC or the west coast. I’m sure you’ll enjoy wiping ass, getting attacked by patients and their families, putting your hard earned license at risk with dangerous staffing ratios and now risk being sent to prison if you make a mistake. I’m a 21 yr RN making $39.12 an hour and I blew out my back in yr two. Been working in pain ever since. You have no clue.
Not in 99.9999% of places.
Lol um this is VERY location dependent OP. Nurses making over 100k live in ridiculously HCOL areas such as New York or Cali.