Western states and cities in California offer the best compensation for nurses, while Eastern cities barely make the top ten
HAVERSTRAW, N.Y., July 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Who says you need to have a dual income? If you're a registered nurse in certain states, you may be able to do with one salary. The 2013 Nurse Salary Research was conducted by EasyNCLEX.com, an online provider of exam prep for nurses.
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The study was conducted on the salaries of two types of nurses: Registered Nurses (RN) and Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN). Data was collected on two levels: the state as a whole, and individual metro areas. The salary information was then compared to the cost of living in the respective state or city to find the top ten states as well as top ten cities.
According to the study, the best Registered Nurse salary is currently in the Vallejo-Fairfield metro area in California. If you're an RN there, you're earning on average $119,000, while the cost of living is only around $71,000. In fact, all top ten cities for RNs are located in the Golden State.
Interestingly enough, 7 out of the top 10 states for RNs were in the Western United States:
Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Colorado, California, Arizona, New Mexico
The other three were all in the Midwest: Texas, Minnesota, Illinois.
If you're an LPN, it might pay to go west as well, with 6 of the top 10 states located in the Western part of the U.S. Surprisingly, though, California is not among them.
However, for Licensed Practical Nurses, none of the top ten places will completely cover your expenses, but some definitely come close.
The best place to work for LPNs was the Reno-Sparks metro area, with the average salary at $54,000 while the cost of living is $62,000.
In the eastern U.S. there were virtually no cities or states that made the top ten. The sole exception was Delaware, which came in at #10 for best states for LPNs, where it'll take 155% of your income to get by.
The complete data for the top ten rankings in each category as well as the data sources can be found in this nurse salary infographic on the company website.
The cost of living used in the study was for a family of 3. With the average household size at 2.55, this would mean that in many places it's still possible to make ends meet with just one RN in the family.
About EasyNCLEX.com
EasyNCLEX.com is an expert provider of practice software for the U.S. nursing board exam (NCLEX). The site offers easy-to-use online software for nursing students, comprehensive resources about the NCLEX exam, as well as a blog and student forum.
Contact:
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www.easynclex.com
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