How Much Does a Registered Nurse Make in a Year?

Registered nurses normally enter the workforce with a bachelors' degree. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook handbook 2007 to 2008, for their training and expertise, registered nurses can expect to earn an average of $57,280 a year. Other factors, such as place of employment, can influence the earning potential of a registered nurse. The typical salary range for registered nurses was between $47,710 and $69,850 a year.

All nurses, regardless of the place of their employment, can expect to interact with patients on a daily basis. Though they do not have the prescription-writing privileges of physicians, health management organizations (especially those dealing with residential care such as retirement homes and elder care facilities) have come to rely on nurses as the go-to medical personnel for day-to-day medical supervision and care. Nurses at such facilities often earn slightly less than the average, around $52,000 a year according to 2006 figures established by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but also do not have the stress and long hours associated with some other places of employment.

The most common place of employment for a registered nurse is as an assistant in a physician's office. Registered nurses can expect to perform preliminary screenings of patients, including health history, blood pressure and temperature readings. Nurses may also be expected to spend certain nighttime hours "on call" to screen patient calls to the physician regarding emergency ailments. Typically, such nurses can expect to earn more than $53,000 a year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' figures for 2006.

Nurses who work in hospitals, particularly surgical wards, are considered some of the most well-paid and highly trained registered nurses in the field. Nurses in these environments can expect to deal with trauma, major diseases, recovery and other high pressure and high stress situations. Nurses working in surgical centers may or may not be expected to assist in surgery as well. In 2006, nurses working in these kinds of hospitals could expect to earn an average of $58,550 a year.

The place of employment, education level, experience and other factors can affect the salary of a registered nurse. For instance, some nurses enter the workforce with an associate's degree, while others go on to graduate school and more specialized training. But even the lowest-paid nurses earned more than $40,000 a year, while the top 10 percent of nurses earned more than $83,000 in 2006.