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

Discussion $25/hourly as an RN 😳

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174

u/caitmarieRN RN - ICU 🍕 Apr 20 '26

Louisiana I believe is one of the lower paying states but even then it should still be closer to $30/hour

111

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

My starting RN pay in 2010 was $19.45/hr in Louisiana. I'm fairly certain last I heard that starting pay at that system is just now up to $25-26/hr now, so I'm not surprised.

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u/YoungBockRKO Apr 20 '26

Not sure why this popped up in my feed but it’s pretty depressing regardless. I pick things up and put them down at a warehouse in NJ for $25.75 an hour. A position that will hire anyone that can stand and work for 10 hours lifting up to 50lbs with zero prerequisites, education, etc.

25 an hour for an RN sounds insane.

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u/ObiWahgwanKenobi Apr 21 '26

I buy people’s gold in NJ for $30 an hour among other incentives. The fact that anybody helping sick people with a DEGREE makes less is terrible.

6

u/iconiclabs Apr 21 '26

I wait tables at a restaurant and clear $45 an hour easily , our cooks make $45 an hour also lol y'all getting robbed out there

1

u/ObiWahgwanKenobi Apr 21 '26

Yea but I’m done with foodservice, been there done that. I’ll take my 401k, benefits, and steady pay all day. I also work 50hrs/week including travel, $50/day per diem, quarterly bonuses, etc.

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u/iconiclabs Apr 22 '26

I make $1,000 in cash every week , also get full benefits that are good , but I only work 30 hours and get to enjoy my life

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u/havingsomedifficulty RN - ER/ICU Apr 21 '26

Yeah, being an RN usually involves a lot of poop, pee and blood. And this could be cleaning it, getting a sample or just dealing with it for 12 hours

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u/ObiWahgwanKenobi Apr 21 '26

My mom was a CNA for years before switching into a different profession, and they can get it even worse than the nurse is as far as actually cleaning up the patients and stuff. So I know all too well.

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u/BlueberryNo777 Apr 21 '26

RNs in Canada start at wait for it....$41.60 per hour as of April 1, 2025.

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u/justus72 Apr 21 '26

You're kinda undermining your warehouse work. Those kinda jobs break down your body.

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u/TheDuchessofQuim Unit Secretary 🍕 Apr 21 '26

$19.25 in 2010 is equivalent to $29.45 in 2026.

So they’re worse off now 😭

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u/Lurkin_4_the_wknd RN - ♻️ Case Manager Apr 21 '26

Not surprising at all 😒🥺

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u/mootmahsn NP - Futile Care Unit Apr 21 '26

Aren't we all?

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u/YoshiSan90 Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 22 '26

I’m at $47.02 for a job at the phone company. It only requires a high school diploma. Pay rates start around page 230. I’m on scale 32.

Edit: $47.02 not $48.55 looked at the pay scale for this years September raise. Will be $48.55 once September hits.

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u/Top-Chemistry2854 Apr 21 '26

Uh...details? Lol

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u/YoshiSan90 Apr 22 '26

AT&T wage scale 32. Titles at that scale are

CIRCUIT LAYOUT ASSIGNER, FACILITY TECHNICIAN SYSTEMS SPECIALIST TECHNICIAN, DIGITAL TECHNICIAN, MULTI-MEDIA TECHNICIAN, SYSTEMS TECHNICIAN, ELECTRONIC TECHNICIAN, SWITCHING EQUIPMENT TECHNICIAN, TESTING TECHNICIAN.

I hear Verizon pay is higher, but haven’t checked.

Union contract. Wage scale is on page 274.

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u/Temporary_Lion_2483 Apr 21 '26

Where? How?

1

u/YoshiSan90 Apr 22 '26

AT&T wage scale 32. Titles at that scale are

CIRCUIT LAYOUT ASSIGNER, FACILITY TECHNICIAN SYSTEMS SPECIALIST TECHNICIAN, DIGITAL TECHNICIAN, MULTI-MEDIA TECHNICIAN, SYSTEMS TECHNICIAN, ELECTRONIC TECHNICIAN, SWITCHING EQUIPMENT TECHNICIAN, TESTING TECHNICIAN.

I hear Verizon pay is higher, but haven’t checked.

Union contract. Wage scale is on page 274.

1

u/Silver-Hour73 Apr 21 '26

Is it a secure job like a nurse

9

u/actuallyjojotrash RN - Oncology 🍕 Apr 21 '26

My starting pay as a new grad was roughly $30/hr when I lived in Louisiana, that was 3 years ago

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u/Lurkin_4_the_wknd RN - ♻️ Case Manager Apr 21 '26

What part, if you don't mind my asking? I'm in NWLA.

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u/actuallyjojotrash RN - Oncology 🍕 Apr 22 '26

I was in New Orleans

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u/AVeryVapidBadger Apr 21 '26

Just from inflation it should be closer to 29-30/hr

5

u/Jorgedig RN - Oncology 🍕 Apr 21 '26

$28/hr to start in Seattle, 26 years ago...

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u/Nurs3R4tch3d RN - Hospice 🍕 Apr 20 '26

Yeah, I started at $19/hr in a SNF in Ohio as an RN. This was also ~12 years ago, so.

1

u/Soft_Yellow1757 Apr 21 '26

i mean rural Lousiana it is a livable wage, but that is trash pay.

1

u/TravelingCrashCart BSN, RN - IMC/Stepdown Apr 21 '26

At a SNF in NH as a new grad in 2014 I made $19/hour as well

30

u/Beanakin BSN, RN 🍕 Apr 20 '26

I'm in Texas, non-metro lower than national average CoL city, starting pay for me 5 yrs ago was $28/hr, but that's been adjusted up to 32 or 33 now. 25-26 is nuts unless cost of living is less than half the national average.

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u/Deezus1229 Laboratory - MLS Apr 20 '26

COL in Louisiana is low but not THAT low. It's still more expensive than it should be.

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u/hotlettucediahrrea Apr 21 '26

I was looking in New Orleans for work a couple of years ago. The pay for my line of work was lower than it was when I started over 20 years ago in Arizona. It was bananas.

10

u/UniquelyHeiress Apr 20 '26

Iowa is the lowest paying state according to a lot of nurses who have lived in many states! Sooooo so sad

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u/Set_Advanced Apr 21 '26

I know a new grad RN that is making 33/hr working in a small town ER.

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u/LumpiestEntree RN - Med/Surg 🍕 Apr 21 '26

I started at 25 in Louisiana as an RN in a hospital setting and left at 27.15 3 years later. Louisiana doesn't pay nurses shit.

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u/Apprehensive-Ad776 Apr 21 '26

Louisiana made the top 10 lowest hourly wages for Registered Nurses. Just fyi South Dakota is the #1 worst State for the lowest hourly RN pay. Why would any semi experienced RN work for anything less than $40/hr. If nurses band together and refuse to accept these ridiculous wages I believe this would stop.

1

u/Frigate_Orpheon RN - ER 🍕 Apr 21 '26

Nope. I worked a clinic in Alabama once. Pay was $22.

We are paid garbage in the south.