Most U.S. Nurses Are Satisfied with their Pay

A poll of nurses working in the U.S. finds that most are satisfied with pay.

The poll was conducted by Medscape, a subsidiary of online health information service WebMD Health.

U.S. nurses make a wide range of salaries, from $46,000 all the way to $170,000. Medscape said that the differences depend on specialty, education/degree, and setting.

Licensed practical or vocational nurses (LPNs/LVNs), have one to two years of training, while Registered nurses (RNs), have earned a two-year associate degree or four-year Bachelor of Science degree from a nursing program.

RNs comprise the largest percentage of nurses, and have an average salary of $79,000.

At the top of the salary range are Advanced practice nurses (APNs). This group includes nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, nurse midwives, and nurse anesthetists.

Among this group, nurse anesthetists are the highest-paid, with an average annual compensation of $170,000. Medscape found that other APNs earn salaries starting at $95,000.

It seems that there is a degree of gender bias in nurse pay: male nurses – who make up just 10% of the nursing professionals — are paid between 6% and 9% more than their female peers.

Medscape is clear that this disparity is seen across all types of nurses (it’s apples-to-apples in terms of qualification, in other words).

Still, the majority of nurses across categories are satisfied with what they earn. However, (as you might expect), the higher paid nurses are the most satisfied. As Medscape put it:

“For example, nearly three-quarters (73%) of nurse anesthetists say they are financially satisfied, while 53% of RNs and only 43% of LPNs are satisfied.”

This makes sense, since the bottom end of the pay range would put many people in a “living paycheck to paycheck” situation, while the higher salary range puts someone in the upper middle class – where they would certainly have enough extra income to build wealth.

Overall, though, nursing is a decently well-paid profession in the U.S.