If you want to be an RN, an important consideration to keep in mind is what the RN salaries in metropolitan areas are like. These are the areas where you are most likely to end up as a nurse, so it is important that you are well prepared for what you encounter there in terms of your rate of pay. If you are interested in finding out more about what you could expect to earn, you’re in the right place, because that is exactly what this nursing article is all about.
General Salary Information
Before we look specifically at RN salaries in metropolitan areas it is important that we consider some of the general things that affect the salary that you will earn. Some of the main factors are:
- Experience
- Employers and Industries
- Qualifications
- Gender
Also note that salaries can vary significantly from state to state, which is something that you should research very carefully when looking into what your potential earnings as an RN are likely to be. On top of that the above mentioned factors can cause the salary that you are eligible to earn to vary hugely within states, which means that you really will have to do your research well before making a final decision about where you want to work for the best salary. We’ll now discuss these points in more detail.
Experience
The amount of experience you have can play a huge role in how much you earn as an RN nurse, just as it does in any other industry. If you have less than 1 year of experience you can expect a salary of $29,630 – $64,451. The more experience you have the higher your salary will be. For example, if you have 1 to 4 years of experience you will earn something like $34,165 – $68,745 and if you have 5 to 9 years of experience you can expect a salary in the region of $40,087 – $78,123. For those veterans in the filed the news is even better. With 10 to 19 years of experience the salary goes up to $40,112 – $84,465, and 20 experience years or more will get you something like $41,328 – $91,395.
Employers And Industries
Where you work can make a substantial difference to how much you earn once you are an RN nurse. There are a number popular industries and employers that you could easily find yourself working for so it is important to know how much these will pay you. Below is a list of just some of the options that you will have in this regard.
Popular Employers – Hourly Rate
- DaVita Inc.: $22.35 – $35.61
- Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc.: $20.66 – $32.97
- HCA, Inc.: $20.88 – $33.81
- Kaiser Permanente: $29.18 – $63.01
- Kindred Healthcare: $19.66 – $33.57
Popular Industries – Hourly Rate
- Healthcare: $19.32 – $35.41
- Hospital: $19.99 – $36.13
- Acute Care Hospital: $20.40 – $37.41
- Medical Services: $19.11 – $35.82
- Long-term Care / Rehabilitation: $20.09 – $34.57
Qualifications
The type of degree or qualification that you have plays a role in how much you can earn in any job. This is also true for a career as an RN. If you have a Bachelor’s Degree you could expect to earn something like $19.91 to $36.85 on an hourly basis, while an Associate’s Degree gets you around $19.42 to $35.22 on an hourly basis. Other popular qualifications are a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), which will get you about $19.92 to $36.73 on an hourly basis, an Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) which will earn you around $19.51 to $35.49 on an hourly basis, and an Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN), which will earn you about $19.13 to $35.15 on an hourly basis. The exact line of work you are in will also play a role here as your qualification should match up with the line of work you choose to pursue.
Gender
There are slight differences in terms of gender in what you can earn as an RN on an hourly basis. Women make up a huge percentage of the nursing profession, something that should not come as a surprise to you simply due to your own powers of observation. Women make up 89% of the nursing profession and on average earn about $22.14 to $30.78 an hour. Men on the other hand only make up 11% of the nursing population. This is also not surprising. However what is surprising is that a many will earn slightly more on an hourly basis ($22.28 to $31.13 an hour) than a woman. So if you are a man this may be the field to get into.
These are just some of the factors that will affect your RN salary. Now let’s look in more detail at RN salaries in metropolitan areas:
Top RN Salaries In Metropolitan Areas
According to http://nursinglicensemap.com/nurse-salary/ these are the top RN salaries in metropolitan areas:
- Visalia-Porterville, CA: $111,030
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA: $110,080
- San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA: $98,900
- Oakland-Fremont-Hayward, CA: $97,280
- Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville, CA: $89,770
As you can see, California appears to be one of the best places that you could choose to work as an RN. Because it is not always possible to choose a specific city to work in, here are the top five highest paying states:
- California: $85,080
- Massachusetts: $81,780
- Hawaii: $80,020
- Maryland: $76,330
- New Jersey: $74,990
It is important that you go through all of the information contained here carefully if you want to work in a metropolitan area or state that pays the most. However, if you do not care how much you earn as long as it is enough to survive on, then you will be happy with the RN salary that you are paid just about anywhere in the country. If the salary is an important factor for you, read on.
RN Salaries By City
There are a number of cities that offer good salaries for RNs. Here is a list of just some of the salary amounts you can expect to earn in certain regions. Remember that salaries can vary within each city so this is not a definitive list of RN salaries in metropolitan areas. For the full list that includes a whole lot more cities, please visit http://www.lpn.com/salaries/salaries-top-cities/.
- Albuquerque: $66,410
- Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale: $68,200
- Cape Coral-Fort Myers: $65,950
- El Paso: $60,850
- McAllen-Edinburg-Mission: $69,360
- Boise: $65,250
- Tucson: $65,370
- Bakersfield: $78,200
- Oxnard-Ventura: $77,060
- Fresno: $81,340
- San Antonio: $65,150
- Sacramento: $89,770
- Milwaukee-Waukesha: $62,730
- Little Rock: $63,170
- Pittsburgh: $60,700
- Tampa-St. Petersburg: $64,020
- Cincinnati-Middletown: $61,760
- Nashville-Davidson: $63,100
- Indianapolis-Carmel: $62,740
- Salt Lake City: $60,930
- Greensboro-High Point: $59,070
- Louisville-Jefferson County: $58,800
- Jacksonville: $61,410
- Denver-Aurora: $69,760
- Dayton: $60,060
- Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor: $62,430
- Philadelphia-Camden: $71,430
- Harrisburg-Carlisle: $62,080
- Allentown-Bethlehem: $62,940
- Sarasota-Bradenton: $61,210
- Oklahoma City: $55,180
- Atlanta-Marietta: $63,230
- Buffalo-Niagara Falls: $61,360
- Baton Rouge: $55,850
- Grand Rapids-Wyoming: $58,520
- Poughkeepsie-Newburgh: $70,780
- Bridgeport-Stamford: $71,040
- Youngstown-Warren: $53,030
- San Jose-Sunnyvale: $110,080
- Washington-DC – Arlington: $74,130
- Honolulu: $82,150
- New York-New Jersey: $79,330
As mentioned previously these are just the salaries for a few cities. It is important that you look at a complete list in order to get a better idea of what you can earn in your city. If your city is not on the list you will have to do some of your own research to get a good idea of how much you can earn. Remember that RN salaries can differ significantly from state to state as well as from city to city within the same state.
You should now have a much clearer idea of where the best places to work as an RN are. Remember that it is not always easy to choose a specific city. But it is sometimes possible to get the best deal possible in your area by choosing your employer or industry well. There are a lot of parameters involved in determining whether or not you will get a good salary in your particular area. It is equally important to know what RN salaries in metropolitan areas are like in order to make the best decision possible about where you want to work. However if you are a nurse you should not be in it for the money. Instead you should be in it to make a difference in the lives of others. You should be driven by a desire to help those in need. This is the kind of attitude required from an RN. If you have this attitude the salary will be secondary. That said it is only practical to earn enough money to support yourself and your family if you have one, so you need to be smart when it comes to searching for a job.