Nursing salaries continue to rise
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports employment among Registered Nurses (RNs) will grow faster than the average for all occupations through 2018. And in particular that means upward pressure on RN salaries despite economic downturns. Demand for quality nurses continues to rise due to the increase in the median age of the U.S. population. Many people in today’s workforce don’t realize this great opportunity.
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So what do the salaries look like? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the mean hourly wage for Registered Nurses was $31.99 in 2009, putting their annual salary at $66,530. States leading the nation for top earnings were New Jersey, Maryland, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and California, where annual mean salaries ranged from $75,000 to $85,000.
Where are the most nursing jobs?
Just as you might think, large cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago hold the top spots for the number of nursing jobs available. The larger cities also have higher salaries and better benefits for their nurses. The tradeoff is longer hours and more stress in large city nursing jobs versus the small community jobs where hours are usually better and the number of patients to serve is lower. For current nursing job openings (or other medical jobs) please go to our nursing job search page to start your search.
RANK |
METRO AREA |
#EMPLOYED |
TOTAL NURSE POPULATION |
1 |
New York, NY |
69,600 nurses |
7,325,000 |
2 |
LA to Long Beach, CA |
53,500 nurses |
5,530,000 |
3 |
Chicago, IL |
51,300 nurses |
2,794,000 |
4 |
Philadelphia, PA-NJ |
49,100 nurses |
1,596,000 |
5 |
Boston, MA |
33,000 nurses |
574,000 |
6 |
Detroit, MI |
33,000 nurses |
1,016,000 |
7 |
Washington DC, MD-VA |
32,000 nurses |
610,000 |
8 |
Nassau-Suffolk, NY |
25,000 nurses |
1,322,000 |
9 |
Minneapolis, MN |
24,000 nurses |
369,000 |
10 |
Baltimore, MD |
23,000 nurses |
736,000 |
11 |
Pittsburgh, PA |
23,000 nurses |
370,000 |
12 |
Houston, TX |
22,000 nurses |
1,631,000 |
13 |
St. Louis, MO-KS |
22,000 nurses |
397,000 |
14 |
Atlanta, GA |
21,000 nurses |
394,000 |
15 |
Cleveland, OH |
17,500 nurses |
560,000 |
16 |
Anaheim-Santa Ana, CA |
17,000 nurses |
600,000 |
17 |
San Diego, CA |
17,000 nurses |
1,111,000 |
18 |
Phoenix, AZ |
17,000 nurses |
984,000 |
19 |
Tampa – St. Pete, FL |
17,000 nurses |
600,000 |
20 |
Seattle, WA |
17,000 nurses |
516,000 |
Source: Los Angeles Times, RN Magazine and Rand McNally
You can also find information about nursing assistant salaries at our companion site, PremedGuide.com.
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