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Academic Nurses Make the Most

In terms of setting, title and level of education, the highest salaries were reported by nurses in academia ($110,487), administrators ($105,740) and MS/MSNs ($100,277), respectively. Home health, inpatient and outpatient nurses claimed salaries in the mid- to high-$80,000 range. School nurses, the lowest-paid group, said they are earning slightly more than $70,000. Academic/faculty and nurse managers are the other two banking six-digit salaries.

“I am a little surprised to see that nurses in academia are reporting higher salaries than those in hospitals/inpatient,” Yee said. “I recently transferred one of our charge nurses into a manager position. She will be earning more than the average salary listed for nurses in academia.”

Advanced practice nurses were the lone “title” group in the $90,000 range, followed by charge nurses ($89,671), case managers ($82,155) and staff nurses ($76,298).

Behind MS/MSN in the education category are nurses with a master’s degree in another field, earning $96,793, and BS/BSNs at $89,771. Nurses who have diplomas, ADNs or bachelor’s degrees in another field earned average salaries in the low- to mid-$70,000.

Experience, of course, is among the strongest salary drivers. This year’s survey says nurses in the field for 16-25 years are making the most ($96,467) – $2,000 more per year than those with more than 26 years on the job – against an average of $81,447 for 6-15 years of service and $66,225 for rookies.

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