What Kind of Salary Does an RN Make Working in the Emergency Room?
- The first step in becoming an emergency room RN is to become a registered nurse. Becoming an RN can be accomplished through diploma programs, associate-degree programs and via bachelor’s-degree educations. Diploma programs, similar to associate-degree programs in duration and curriculum, have decreased from more than 800 in the 1970s to fewer than 100 in 2011, according to the website “All Nursing Schools.” Associate degrees typically are ADNs, or associate degree in nursing, and take two to three years to complete. Bachelor of science in nursing degrees, or BSNs, are four-year undergraduate degrees. The majority of RNs receive their initial education via associate-degree programs, although many go on to receive their BSNs through RN-to-BSN programs. Voluntary emergency-room certification is available through organizations such as the Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing and the Emergency Nurses Association.
- The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual U.S. salary of $64,690 for registered nurses, based on May 2010 data. The 10th percentile salary is $44,190 per year and the 90th percentile figure is $95,130 per year. The 25th to 75th percentile pay range is $52,980 to $79,020 per year. The median hourly wage is $31.10. As staff nurses, emergency-room RN salaries are subject to individual hospitals’ pay rates. An inner city hospital that has a busy ER, for example, may pay emergency-room RNs higher salaries than, say, pediatric nurses. Indeed.com places the average annual salary for emergency-room RNs at $79,000.
- Some RNs choose to obtain advanced degrees and specialize in emergency medicine. These master’s degrees result in designations such as clinical nurse specialist and nurse practitioner, or NP. The average 2010 salary for a nurse practitioner working in an emergency room was $104,549 per year, according to the website “Advance for NPs & PAs.” Emergency room NPs were the highest-paying NP specialty reported in the survey, while aesthetics and skin care NPs earned $102,547 per year, neonatal NPs earned $93,925 per year and surgical NPs earned $91,511 per year.
- Salary Expert reports an annual salary of $85,898 for emergency-room RNs in Manhattan, the top average salary reported in its RN emergency room survey based on September 2011 data. Houston paid an average annual salary of $78,000, Chicago was at $77,417 per year and Phoenix paid an annual average wage of $76,895. Orlando was the lowest-paying city in the survey at $61,208 per year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that California employs the highest number of registered nurses in the United States — 240,030 of the 2.6 million RNs working in the country — and pays the highest average salary of any state at $87,480 per year.
- The job-growth for all RNs through 2018 is projected to be 22 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor statistics. More than 580,000 new jobs are expected to be added. Although hospitals are by far the largest employers of RNs with more than 1.5 nurses, hospitals will experience one of the lowest job-growth rates of any employment sector — 17 percent, which still is well above the national average for all occupations. Nurses in physician offices will enjoy a 48 percent job-rate increase. RNs with bachelor’s degrees and those with advanced-practice degrees should experience the best job prospects.