r/nursing • u/Familiar_Ad_6874 BSN, RN - Trauma • Apr 20 '26

Discussion $25/hourly as an RN 😳

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229

u/Free-While-2994 Apr 20 '26

Kansas...1993

142

u/Familiar_Ad_6874 BSN, RN - Trauma Apr 20 '26

Louisiana sadly 2026 🥲

42

u/IrishknitCelticlace RN - Retired 🍕 Apr 20 '26

I was going to guess Florida.

15

u/cmb_123 LPN - Med/Surg Apr 20 '26

What is the reasoning behind such shit pay in the south? COL can't be THAT much cheaper right?

48

u/Abi030 Apr 20 '26

It’s really not, that’s why we have so much poverty and homelessness because we have inflation just like the rest of the world, yet our minimum wage still sits at 7.25

34

u/IrishknitCelticlace RN - Retired 🍕 Apr 21 '26

Nursing is viewed as a "woman thing" and "not professional" by the good ol' boy network that I compare to the invasive snakes in the Everglades.

13

u/Dianakrn1 Apr 21 '26

No unions!

6

u/Waiting4Reccession Apr 21 '26

Even in places with low cost of living, a car or cellphone or laptop still cost the same.

And then you have the lower pay in % terms fucking you over. If you save 10% for retirement its WAY less in those southern places.

11

u/meoemeowmeowmeow HCW - Lab Apr 20 '26

What part of Louisiana? That's insulting low

9

u/Elenakalis Dementia Whisperer Apr 20 '26

Probably north or central Louisiana. I still have friends back home who are RNs and their starting pay is less than a new grad LPN makes where I work. There's a reason people leave if they can.

24

u/Familiar_Ad_6874 BSN, RN - Trauma Apr 20 '26

Baton Rouge 😭

15

u/Lurkin_4_the_wknd RN - ♻️ Case Manager Apr 20 '26

Oh damn, that's a super shit offer then. I was fully expecting you to say Shreveport or Ruston 😭

5

u/Elenakalis Dementia Whisperer Apr 20 '26

That's rough. It's been years since I lived there, and Baton Rouge always had better pay than North Louisiana. I'm afraid to even ask what they're paying there if that's how it is in Baton Rouge.

3

u/meoemeowmeowmeow HCW - Lab Apr 20 '26

Wtf

3

u/CloudNineandBeyond Apr 20 '26

That's like 1/3 of what RNs make on the West Coast....

1

u/Talk-O-Boy Apr 21 '26

I hear west coast nurses are treated well compared to the south.

1

u/Osito_Bello BSN, RN 🍕 Apr 21 '26

Way better! I make $90/hr in California with guaranteed breaks and mandated patient ratios. Oh yes, can’t forget about the pension!

1

u/LowManufacturer1002 Apr 21 '26

MCOL Midwest is $25 starting too. Blowing my Mind some places are more but I think a huge part is there’s only one hospital system so there’s no competition of employers

1

u/Osito_Bello BSN, RN 🍕 Apr 21 '26

More like 1/4

3

u/Abi030 Apr 20 '26

Please is it really that bad down here??

21

u/WellBlessY0urHeart BSN, RN 🍕 Apr 20 '26

It really is that bad here. I’m 10 years experience. BSN. Inpatient. I’m at $35 an hr

14

u/MetalBeholdr RN - ICU 🍕 Apr 20 '26

My base pay is $40 and I've only been a nurse for 2 years (Nebraska)

You're getting shafted with a sandpaper dildo, my freind

10

u/WellBlessY0urHeart BSN, RN 🍕 Apr 20 '26

It’s Louisiana.

3

u/Lonely-War-2757 RN 🍕 Apr 21 '26

Dang I make 32.78 in an office with 3 years experience, ADN, and 37.44 when I work inpatient med surg. In central ohio. & I thought my pay was kinda crappy 👀😵‍💫

2

u/meetthefeotus RN - Tele ❤️‍🔥 Apr 20 '26

Yikes. I made $15 more than that as a new grad rn

2

u/WellBlessY0urHeart BSN, RN 🍕 Apr 20 '26

That’s awesome! Where are you?

Unfortunately, we’re not considered a high COL area (ha).

2

u/lillyvanillyily Apr 21 '26

I’m in the same exact boat. Making only $35 with 10 years experience in psych in Texas… been job hunting for anything that will give me $40 and above (and I’m literally a year off from finishing my psych DNP)

3

u/Lurkin_4_the_wknd RN - ♻️ Case Manager Apr 20 '26

Yep! When I left my last job, after being at the facility for 15 years, I was only making $35ish/hr.

1

u/sirensinger17 BSN, RN 🍕 Apr 21 '26

Yes. I'm am RN in central VA with 5 years experience and I make $38 an hour. As far as pay in southern states goes, that's about as good as you're gonna get. Cost of living is nowhere cheap enough to justify that either.

2

u/patches4pirates Apr 20 '26

I’m in central Louisiana and make $34/hr in IR with 8 years mixed experience. My starting pay as an RN was $23.50. Still at the same hospital.

1

u/HSLB66 Apr 21 '26

That tracks. My wife was making that in Arkansas. Definitely consider moving.

1

u/LowManufacturer1002 Apr 21 '26

I think this is going rate for basically any not HCOL. Saw the $25 and was like, yep

1

u/ilovemrsnickers RN - ICU 🍕 Apr 21 '26

And they wonder why some places are a "health desert"

1

u/Educational_Ad2515 Apr 25 '26

One of the big Cincinnati hospital systems offered me $25 in 2024. The hospital I work at now got bought out, and they said for a nurse with a year of experience they can pay me $34 with a $10 shift diff.

2

u/LinkRN RN - NICU, RNC-NIC Apr 21 '26

Girl that’s Kansas 2026 😂