Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) Salary Questions

A hospital needs a veritable army of people to keep it running. In addition to the doctors working within its walls, the average hospital also employs full administrative, legal, accounting, and custodial staff. From a patient care perspective, the wide and varied population of nurses working hard to keep a hospital going are some of the most important members of this vast team of people. Licensed Practical Nurses, or LPNs, are employed by the hundreds of thousands in the United States, with more entering the workforce each year. It's little wonder, then, that questions about LPN salary range from "In what cities are LPN salaries the highest?" to "What kind of skills can boost LPN salary?" Salary questions abound in any career, especially one that attracts so many dedicated people. PayScale's LPN salary data can help answer nurses' questions about Licensed Practical Nurses and LPN salaries.

Researching LPN Salaries

The LPN Salary by City chart shows a median LPN salary range from about $33,000 in Oklahoma City to $43,560 in New York. That's a significant difference, but keep in mind that the cost of living in New York is also very high. You can use PayScale's cost of living calculator to compare Cost of Living Data and LPN Salaries in New York and other cities. Location plays a bigger part in LPN salaries than some other factors. For instance, looking at LPN salaries by Years of Experience reveals that experience doesn't have a huge impact on LPN salaries, although salaries do increase steadily over time. Nurses can find other ways to boost their LPN salary range; take a look at the LPN Salary by Skill report to learn which areas of expertise result in higher LPN salaries. These days, of course, an LPN is not limited to a hospital when he or she chooses a job. Researching LPN Salaries by Hospital Setting, we can see that the highest LPN salaries come from health insurance providers, not hospitals. However, many LPNs choose to stay in a hospital setting to have more contact with their patients. When choosing a career in nursing, it can be difficult to know what specialty to choose. Comparing LPN salary range to other nursing salaries, such as neonatal nurse salary and nurse anesthetist salaries, can help.

Dr. Salary isn't licensed to administer medicine, but he can help give your salary a shot in the arm! Read his post on Why Median is better than Mean for a Typical Salary to find out why asking "what is the median LPN salary" is a more productive question than "what are average LPN salaries."