Nursing Salaries in Ohio
Registered nurses in Ohio work in hospitals, health care clinics, doctors' offices, nursing homes, schools, in homes, and in other settings. There are over 2 million nurses in Ohio; most nurses work in the hospital setting all their lives, while some nurses work in the hospital setting long enough to gain a few years of experience and then leave for more challenging jobs. Nursing salaries in Ohio vary by the credentials the nurses hold.
Nursing salaries in Ohio vary from city to city. For instance, the basic salary in Springfield, Ohio will differ from the base salary in Portsmouth, Ohio. The basic salary in Springfield can range from about $50,000 to $68,000 depending on the level of education and experience. The basic salaries in Portsmouth, Ohio range from $47,000 to $68,000 depending on the level of education and experience. An RN with a BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree) or MSN (Master of Science in Nursing degree) will earn more than an RN with an ASN (Associate of Science in Nursing degree).
Nursing is a profession in which you can advance your career any time you wish. If you have an ASN degree you can go back to college and get your BSN degree. Obviously, nursing salaries in Ohio will increase as the nurse advances his or her degree to a graduate level degree. It makes good financial sense to advance your career when you have the opportunity because there are so many great jobs in Ohio. If you were to advance your degree to a master's degree you may be able to land a great position as a department head, such as head of infection control, or director of nursing. Directors of nursing salaries in Ohio can be over $170,000 a year providing the nurse has a Master of Science in Nursing degree.
Nursing students don't always have the top jobs in mind when they first get out of nursing school; however, it does happen occasionally in the county hospitals in the smaller cities. Nursing salaries in Ohio for new nurses on average range from $30,000 to $40,000 per year. The beginning nurse can make approximately $20 per hour and higher. A nurse with five years of experience can make about $33,000 to $38,000, and a nurse with 20 years of experience could make $54,000 to $60,000 and higher.
Sometimes brand new nurses go into agency nursing, which is also known as traveling nursing, because there are some hospitals that won't hire inexperienced nurses fresh out of nursing school. Oftentimes new nurses will work at smaller hospitals and gain their experience and then after five years or so, they will move on to higher paying jobs. There are other health care facilities that don't hire traveling nurses; the hospital administrators feel spending money on traveling nurses is not cost effective. The nursing salaries in Ohio – for traveling nurses – are about one and a half times that of a staff nurse. The traveling nurse is not hired by a hospital, but contracted by a temporary agency. Most traveling nurses don't get benefits that full-time permanent nurses get; therefore, traveling nurses get paid more, but they usually have to take out their own taxes.
Many hospitals that have a shortage of nurses will pay high nursing salaries in Ohio for traveling nurses because they need staffing. Many traveling nurses do feel like they are part of the staff when they have been stationed at one hospital, nursing home, or doctor's office for a long period of time. However, all traveling nurses know that their jobs at one facility are temporary.
Nursing students have time to think about what they want to do with their lives. Some nurses like to go into administrative work, rather than performing patient care. Many RNs started out as LPNs or LVNs. Many nursing schools for professional nurses will accept many of the college credits earned in LPN school. You must ask if the LPN school you graduated from transfers credits to professional nursing school. Nurses graduating from professional schools of nursing have a bright future ahead of them.
Published: 2009-09-17
