What Are The Best States To Live In If You’re A Nurse?

 Now Take Into Account the Availability of Jobs

Earning a comfortable salary as a nurse in Texas sounds great, if you can find a job. When it comes to the number of health care facilities versus the population, the states with the lowest are:

1. Delaware
2. Nevada
3. Hawaii (another reason to rethink that bikini)
4. Illinois
5. Texas

Not surprisingly, many of the states with a high cost of living also offer the least competition if you are looking for a nursing job. Those states with the fewest nurses per population are:

1. Utah
2. Hawaii
3. California
4. Alaska
5. Nevada

The Best States for Nursing Jobs

Taking into account the salary and job opportunities, and then looking at work and quality of life issues such as overtime availability, average number of hours worked and commute times, it can be concluded that the five best states to be a nurse in 2016 are:

1. Washington
2. Colorado
3. Minnesota
4. Wisconsin
5. Texas

If your primary concern is the opportunity to find a job to get you started in the nursing field, then Oklahoma and New Mexico rank in the top three based on that criteria alone. For those nurses who are more interested in short commutes and a reasonable work week in terms of hours, then you should also be looking at Connecticut and Rhode Island.

The Worst States for Nurses?

While no one wants to be pointing fingers, these five states do not fare well at providing nursing opportunities with a livable salary, or in creating a positive work environment:

1. Louisiana
2. Hawaii
3. Kentucky
4. West Virginia
5. New Jersey

The data used to come to these conclusions was gathered from a variety of sources that include the US Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration and News & World Report.

Your own knowledge, experiences and preferences will help you in figuring out which state you should unpack your nursing bag in. As demand for nurses continues to grow, so will the opportunities. This could mean that not far in the future, all states will be offering their own incentives to lure in quality health care professionals.

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