Registered Nurse Hourly Wage vs. Other Health Professions
By Sarah Stasik, contributor
What's the average nurse hourly wage? You might wonder what the earnings potential of this career is if you're considering nursing school. But it's also natural to question whether you're getting a fair rate for your work as a nurse or if you could earn more if you took a career step to earn a new credential. Discover everything you need to know about nurse compensation and which nurses have the chance to make the most money per hour below.
And once you see what type of decisions can lead to the highest pay as a nurse, start making changes in your own career path if a bigger salary is something you're looking forward to. One change you might make is to become a travel nurse, and you can find plenty of opportunities at Travel Nursing.
What's the average pay rate for a nurse?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, RNs in the United States make an average of $71,730 per year (or around $34.48 per hour). But that number alone doesn't give an accurate picture of nurse hourly wage because so many factors — from education and experience to location and specialty — can impact how much you make as a nurse.
Consider this wide array of statistics from the BLS about the average pay for professionals at various levels of the nursing industry.
You can easily draw a few conclusions from these statistics. First, higher levels of nursing education tend to translate into more earnings potential. Second, specializing can also help you bump your rate of pay.
What factors go into nurse compensation?
But averages also don't tell the entire story. That's because a wide range of factors go into determining each nurse's pay rate. Here are just a few factors that can determine how much you make as a nurse.
Experience and tenure
As with any job, the longer you've been doing it, the more money you can likely command as a nurse. This is even truer if you stick with an employer through the years because you'll likely get pay bumps each year or have the chance at a promotion that could earn you more money.
Where you work
Location matters — both geographically and with regard to facility type. States with higher costs of living or greater demand for healthcare professionals may offer the opportunity for higher nurse hourly wages. Consider this list from the BLS of the five highest paying locations for RNs, which boast wages $9 or more higher than the national average.
- California: $51.42 an hour
- Hawaii: $47.16 an hour
- District of Columbia: $44.40 an hour
- Massachusetts: $44.30 an hour
- Oregon: $43.79 an hour
One way to inch your pay rate up is to be intentional about where and for which type of facility you choose to work. The BLS notes that the national average pay rate for RNs varies by as much as $16,500 a year for different facilities. Consider these average annual pay rates for registered nurses in various settings.
- Government: $78,390
- Hospitals: $73,650
- Outpatient (Offices and clinics): $68,320
- Nursing homes/residential care: $63,990
- Education: $61,850
Certifications and specializations
Earning specialized certifications lets employers know you have skills and experience the average nurse may not, and that's valuable. In fact, nurses with certifications for specialty roles can earn as much as $9,000 more per on average than others.
Do Travel Nurses Make More Than Perm RNs?
Obviously you want to be aware of travel nursing pay myths because there's no nursing career path that's a get-rich-quick scheme. But travel nurses do tend to make more money on average than perm RNs.
Just search the opportunities at Travel Nursing to see this for yourself.