RN Salary: How Much Does a Registered Nurse Make?

Your RN license opens the door to a wide range of jobs and pay. What you earn depends on your education, experience, specialty, and location. Pay has been rising: per a Medscape survey, RNs saw an annual increase of around $2,000, the first bump in five years.

Median Annual RN Salary

The median annual wage for registered nurses is $93,600, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Where you fall around that figure comes down to a handful of factors worth planning around.

What Affects Your Salary

Education

The degree you hold moves your earning potential. You can become an RN with a two-year associate degree (ADN) or a four-year bachelor of science in nursing (BSN), but most management roles require a BSN, and those roles pay more for the added responsibility. An advanced degree can put you on a healthcare facility's administrative team in a role like director of nursing. Some employers also pay an incentive for a four-year degree over an ADN.

Ask directly whether your employer pays a differential for advanced education, says Emma Geiser, an RN with 10 years of experience who also coaches nurses on finances. Find out, too, whether they offer tuition reimbursement or scholarships for continuing education, since that's part of the total benefit.

If you're already an LPN, an LPN-to-RN program builds on your existing training and points toward higher pay. Paramedics can fast-track a BSN the same way, carrying prior education and experience into a better-paying nursing role.

Experience

Beyond degrees, experience raises pay on its own. Some employers reward higher education; others go off years of service, Geiser notes. It's not unusual for an experienced ADN nurse to out-earn a new BSN, and in some facilities, RNs without a BSN but with several years in can move into higher-responsibility, higher-paying roles.

Where You Work

Setting makes a real difference. Average RN wages by industry, per BLS figures:

• Outpatient care facilities: $102,640. Clinics and physicians' offices, handling appointments and procedures that don't need an overnight stay. You take vitals, give vaccines, walk patients through care plans, and provide other outpatient care.
• General medical and surgical hospitals: $96,830. A wide range of roles, from oncology nursing to trauma care in the ER.
• Mental health facilities: $94,440. Psychiatric and substance-abuse hospitals, community mental health centers, and VA or correctional facilities. You assess mental health needs, administer and monitor treatment, and handle crisis intervention.
• Home health care: $87,430. Skilled nursing in patients' homes, including IV therapy and other care home health aides aren't licensed to provide.
• Physicians' offices: $83,110. A smaller clinical setting where you assist patients and physicians, update records, and may take on some administrative work.

A lower base salary doesn't mean a weak total package. There may be more room to negotiate than it seems, Geiser says: maybe not the hourly rate or tuition reimbursement, but signon bonuses, moving expenses, and initial housing costs are often on the table. Keep in mind, too, that RNs need continuing education throughout their careers to keep a license current. Those classes won't pad your paycheck, but they keep you in good standing with your state board.

Where You Live

Geography drives pay as much as setting. Large coastal metros like San Jose and Boston rank among the highest-earning areas, but some rural regions pay well too because demand for nurses runs high. Cities with a strong healthcare presence tend to offer both higher salaries and more generous overall packages.

Ways to Increase Your Earnings

Get certified

Specialty certification is one of the most reliable ways to raise your pay. You'll typically need a set number of years of experience plus an exam. The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) certifies in a range of specialties and grants the Registered Nurse-Board Certified (RN-BC) designation. Popular options include gerontological, informatics, medical-surgical, ambulatory care, cardiac vascular, case management, pain management, pediatric, and psychiatric-mental health nursing.

Earn an advanced degree

An MSN widens your scope, opens leadership roles, and can substantially raise your pay. Nurse practitioners, who must hold at least an MSN, earn a median of $129,210, per the BLS.

Work overtime

If you're paid hourly, you're non-exempt and eligible for overtime. Salaried RNs are generally exempt and can't earn it, though some states' labor laws override that. How much overtime you can pick up depends on your employer and state law.

Join a professional organization

Nurses in a union or other bargaining organization can push for higher salaries and better benefits, Geiser says. Many nurses work for unionized hospitals, and contract negotiations are the moment to voice needs. Depending on experience, you may also be able to negotiate an education component in your department that carries a higher hourly rate.