Registered Nurse Salary – How Much Does Registered Nurses Make – The Average Wage for Registered Nurses. The certified nurses provide comfort and solace to the patients in so many health care centers which include the hospitals, clinics and the nursing centers. As per the Bureau of Labor Statistics the career prospects for the Registered Nurses are excellent till 2018 largely because of the number of people retiring and then because of the aging population. So many factors determine how much a registered nurse will earn.
Average Earnings
The data compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggested that the average yearly salary for the Registered Nurses remained around $81,000 as of Jun 2, 2012. The salary of a Registered Nurse can be less than $43,410 or it could be more than $92,240 per year. Moreover, according to the Bureau, the RN’s may earn up to an average of $27.29 an hour. A lot of factors play a role in the earning of the Registered Nurses which include the geographic location: the nurses working in the big cities have a tendency to earn more as compared to those working in the rural areas.
Work Settings
The work settings also play a crucial role in the average earning of a nurse. As per the BLS the Registered Nurses who have been employed are getting the highest salaries with an average yearly salary of $68,160. The Registered Nurses who are being employed in the hospitals can earn up to an average of $63,880 per year and those working in the doctor’s offices can earn up to a yearly average of $ 59,210. Moreover, as per the statistics of the BLS, the Registered Nurses working in the health care or nursing centers earn the lowest with an average yearly salary of $57,060.
Degree Level
The fresh entrants into the nursing field can have an associate degree in Nursing (ADN) or can get a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). The ADNs usually take up to three years for completion and, on the other hand, the BSN requires four years to finish. There is a disparity in the earning so far as the AND and BSN graduates are concerned. Drexel University states that the registered nurses who have a bachelor’s degree in nursing earn up to $6,000 more per year as opposed to the ADN graduate nurses.
Experience
The registered nurses who are more experienced can have higher salaries as compared to the fresh RNs. Drexel University states that those RNs who have less than one years of work experience earn an average of about $49,863. The University also states that the average salary for the nurses having 20 years of experience is somewhat around $70,087. The nurses having associated degrees can earn more than the registered nurses who are just bachelors degree holders but only when they have more years of experience.
Nursing Specialties
The Registered Nurses having specialties have higher earnings. The Advanced practice nurses (APNs), the nurses who have specialized in a certain field and also have a graduate degree, are the ones having the highest earnings. The Jacksonville University School of Nursing states that the most highly paid RNs are registered and:
Certified nurse anesthetists
Nurse researchers
Psychiatric nurse practitioners
Certified nurse midwives
Pediatric endocrinology nurses
Orthopedic nurses
Nurse practitioners
Clinical nurse specialists
Gerontological nurse practitioners
Neonatal nurses
