The average registered nurse makes a fairly decent salary compared to the average person on the street. As far as compared to other medical professions they aren’t quite as high on the totem pole as others. The low end salary of a registered nurse is approximately $56,000 a year. While the high end can be as much as $68,000 annually, the overall average comes to around $62,500 annually. While this may seem great for some, there is more money to be made by going back to school and getting a higher nursing degree.
If you are a registered nurse looking to increase your salary, you can move to a higher paying hospital or you can go back to college. Keep in mind that you will most likely have to work and go to school at the same time. Make sure this will fit into your life schedule at the moment. It may be a bit tight for a while but it will be worth it in the long term. Along with the salary increase is the overall ability to move up the chain of command in the nursing field going from a registered nurse position to accumulating a Masters of Science in Nursing or MSN.
If need be then a registered nurse can pursue the Masters of Science in Nursing program online. This eliminates the need for attending classes at a certain location and a need for childcare. Salaries vary greatly according to what position is held. The lower end of the spectrum is around $70,000, while it may go up to as much as $160,000. This is a wide range and the median/average falls somewhere around $85,000. The higher numbers are for those that have made their way up to head nurse, director, or even medical facility coordinator. These are an average of $100,000 for most places in the United States.
The level of salary between a registered nurse and someone with an MSN is one that is separated by somewhere between $20,000 and $90,000. The actual conditions that determine a person’s salary is as varied as the numbers themselves. This is a result of the location of the job, the number of years the nurse has been working, and their position. A registered nurse can only be a registered nurse. While someone with a Masters of Science in Nursing can be a head nurse, a director of a nursing home, medical facility vice-president, or a certified nurse anesthetist.
