Starting Salary for Nurses

The Registered Nurse Starting Salary chart, which measures nurse salary by experience, is a good place to start researching nurse salaries - it will give you an idea of what nurse salaries look like after 5, 10, even 20 years of patient care. However, just as there are many types of nurses, there are many variables that influence nurse salaries. Answering "what is the salary of a nurse" may require you to dig deeper and ask more specific nurse salary questions.

Nursing Salary Questions

Which is higher, a registered nurse salary or a nurse practitioner salary? In what cities is the median nurse anesthetist salary highest? What is the salary of a nurse practitioner working in California? These common questions can all be answered with PayScale's nursing salary data. Comparing Nurse Salaries by Job, you can see that median nurse salaries are higher for nurse practitioners than for registered nurses. However, the salary for nurses will also vary regionally. The Nurse Anesthetist Salary by City chart shows that New York and Philadelphia currently have some of the highest median nurse anesthetist salaries. View Nurse Practitioner Salaries by State and you'll find that California is in the lead for nurse practitioner salaries.

Average Nurse Salaries vs. Median Nurse Salaries

As more people pursue careers in nursing, salary research also increases. Most people ask general questions such as, "what is the salary of a nurse" or "what are average nurse salaries." We've seen, however, that many factors affect nurse salaries, including location, experience and employment setting. PayScale provides median data for nursing salaries because finding information on median nurse salaries produces better results than average nurse salaries. Find out why in the Ask Dr. Salary article, "Why is Median Better than Mean for a Typical Salary?"

Nurse Salary Links:

Registered Nurse Starting Salary
LPN Salaries by State
Salary of a Nurse Practitioner
What is the Salary of a Nurse in the UK?
What is the Salary of a Nurse in Canada?