A Registered Nurses Salary is calculated by the US Government Bureau of Labor Statistics from a variety of sources. Registered Nurses work in a number of settings including hospitals, clinics and schools. The salaries of Registered Nurses vary depending on the location and the setting. The assumption was made that the Registered Nurses reflected here were working an average of 40 hours per week with a total of 2080 hours per year.
Median Hourly & Annual Data
Hourly
The average Registered Nurses salary is $33.23 per hour. The lowest 10% earn $21.62 per hour and those in the upper 10% earn more than $46.00 per hour.
Annually
On an annual basis the median Registered Nurse salary is $65,950. The lowest 10% earn less than $45,000 per year while the upper 10% earn more than $96,500 per year. These salaries are calculated as a mean or average.
Lowest and Highest Registered Nurse Salary
The lowest paid Registered Nurses earn less than $45,000 annually while the highest paid Registered Nurses earn as much as $120,000 per year. new ESNI.Widget({}).render();
Top 5 States
The best paying states for Registered Nurses to earn a salary are California, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Alaska, Nevada.
Top 5 Metropolitan Areas
The best city or metropolitan areas to earn a Registered Nurse salary are Vallejo-Fairfield CA, San Jose CA, Oakland CA, San Francisco CA, and Salinas CA.
Other Industries that Employ Registered Nurses
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists the federal government, securities brokerages, and Electronic or mail order businesses as also employing registered nurses.
Employment Data
There are 2,724,570 Registered Nurses working in the U.S. according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Approximately 1,556,930 or 57.14% of them, are listed as working in hospitals.
Where They Work
Of all the Registered Nurses employed in the United States over 57% of them work in hospitals. Approximately 235,710 work in doctor's offices or clinics. There are 138,080 working in nursing homes and almost 30,000 working for employment agency or travel nurse positions. An additional 156,730 are listed as working in home health. Approximately 96,000 work in outpatient care centers.
Private Practice vs. Employment
A rapidly growing trend in the healthcare arena is the use of the travel nurse. Travel nurses agree to take short term employment contracts in return for additional incentives such as housing, travel allowances and bonuses. They usually work directly for a nursing employment agency but a few of them actually negotiate their own employment contracts and are truly self-employed.
Other self-employment opportunities exist for nurses as legal consultants, educators and a variety of health care related small businesses.
Benefits
Fringe benefits such as vacation, health insurance and retirement plans will vary depending on the work setting and size of the employer. A typical benefits package is worth over $20,000 per year.