What Is the Income Midwives Make?
A midwife's income is tied to many factors, including education level, degree type, certification and licensing, experience, location and whether a midwife is employed or works as an independent contractor. There are many avenues to becoming a midwife, and most don't require becoming a registered nurse. However, certified nurse midwives, or CNMs, are the only type of midwives licensed to practice in all capacities in all states and territories in the United States, and they are generally the highest-paid midwives.
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Duties
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Midwives provide care for women during pregnancy, through labor and at birth. They also may provide prepregnancy advice and counseling. Prenatal counseling, both in professional settings and in-home visits, are the norm, including nutrition and emotional counseling. CNMs are licensed to use certain medical interventions and equipment, such as labor-inducing drugs, electronic fetal monitoring, some medication administration, and performing epidurals and episiotomies. Other midwives --- certified midwives and certified professional midwives, or CMs and CPMs, and other direct-entry midwives --- can't legally perform many CNM duties without a physician's supervision. Many birthing centers and, of course, homes where babies may be delivered often aren't equipped for many procedures.
Education & Training
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CNMs are advanced-practice nurses who have both nursing and midwifery educations and training. A minimum of a bachelor's degree must be obtained and, in the case of nurse practitioners who become midwives, a master's degree is required. Most CNMs practice in hospitals and clinical birthing centers; nonhospital clinical experience isn't required. CNMs are licensed in all states. Direct-entry midwives aren't required to be nurses and consist of certified midwives, certified professional midwives, licensed midwives and lay midwives. Credentialing and licensing vary by state, and various accreditation organizations --- including the American Midwifery Certification Board and the North American Registry of Midwives --- administer tests and provide credentialing. Most direct-entry midwives complete formal educational programs, training and/or apprenticeships.
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National Salary Averages
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CB Salary reports an average U.S. CNM salary of $105,777 based on August 2011 data. Indeed places the average salary of a CNM at $94,000 as of August 2011. The website Advance for NPs & PAs lists 2010 nurse-practitioner salaries of $83,687 for NPs working in women's health; $86,518 for family-practice professionals; $93,390 for house-call NPs; and $93,943 for hospital NPs. All of these advanced-practice positions may serve as midwives.
Salary by Location
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CB Salary reports an average CNM salary of $124,730 in New York City; $128,269 in Los Angeles; $108,627 in Dallas; and $92,343 in Monroe, Louisiana. You can search the midwife salary of many U.S. cities by entering the city and state in the boxes provided by CB Salary. In-home midwife deliveries can command much higher salaries, especially in high-cost-of-living areas, according to the website Becoming a Midwife. The UK newspaper "The Guardian" reported in a 2010 article that New York City no longer permits in-home deliveries by midwives without the supervision of a doctor.
Salary Comparisons
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According to Nursing Link, CNMs earned the fourth-highest average salary of all nurse specialists at $84,000, trailing only psychiatric NPs and nurse researchers at $95,000 each and certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) at $135,000. Using 2005 data, the Nurse Universe website reported a base average salary of $78,565 for CNMs and $105,923 including benefits. Those figures compared to $56,448 and $77,838 for base and base-plus-benefits salaries for charge nurses; $71,241 and $96,649, respectively, for NPs in all specialties; and $56,113 and $77,271, respectively, for staff registered nurses.
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References
Resources
- Becoming a Midwife: Why Midwife Salary Amounts May Vary
- "Guardian"; New York Midwives Lose Right to Deliver Babies at Home; Ed Pilkington; May 2010
- Nursing Link: Top 10 Highest Paying Nursing Specialties
- NursingUniverse.com: Nursing Salaries Outlook by Specialty
- Salary Expert: CNM Salaries
- American College of Nurse Midwives: Home
- American Pregnancy Association: Midwives
- Photo Credit Digital Vision./Digital Vision/Getty Images
