How Much Do RNs Usually Get Paid?
There are more than 2.5 million Registered Nurses (RNs) in the United States who provide a wide range of patient care services and are paid based on many factors, including training, experience, geographical location and employer. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), as of May 2009, the median annual salary for RNs was $63,750, with 50 percent earning between $52,520 and $77,970. At the low end of the pay scale (10th percentile) RNs earned $43,970, and at the high end (90th percentile), RNs earned $93,700. The mean annual salary was $66,530.
Other People Are Reading
-
Salary by Industry
-
Almost 58 percent of RNs worked in general medical and surgical hospitals according to the BLS, where the annual mean salary was $67,740. Other major employers of nurses were the offices of physicians, at an annual mean salary of $67,290; home health care services, at $63,300; nursing care facilities, at $59,320; and outpatient care centers, at $65,690. The industries with the highest annual mean salary were medical equipment and supplies manufacturing, at $77,870; the federal executive branch, at $77,830; and civic and social organizations, at $77,830.
Salary by State
-
The states with the highest mean salaries were California, at $85,080; Massachusetts, at $81,780; Hawaii, at $80,020; Maryland, at $76,330; and New Jersey, at $74,990. In contrast, the mean salary in South Dakota was $53,520 and in Mississippi was $57,630. California also had the largest numbers of RNs employed, 233,050. South Dakota had the highest concentration of registered nurses, 26.80 for 1,000 workers.
-
Salary by Experience
-
According to the website PayScale.com, as of January 2011, the salary ranges for listed jobs for RNs by years of experience were: less than one year, $38,222 to $52,207 per year; one to four years, $40,597 to $59,168; five to nine years, $47,255 to $65,395; 10 to19 years, $49,844 to $71,201; and 20 years or more, $51,035 to $73,558.
Considerations
-
Some RNs have a master's degree and are advance practice nurses, such as nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified nurse midwives and certified registered nurse anesthetists. The BLS groups all RNs together in reporting salaries; however, specialized nurses typically earn more. For example, PayScale.com reports the salary range of a clinical nurse specialist as $66,972 to $87,430 per year, of a nurse practitioner as $70,371 to $91,363 and of a certified registered nurse anesthetist as $101,261 to $154,350.
-
References
Resources
- Photo Credit operation nurse image by Andrey Rakhmatullin from Fotolia.com
