Nurse Compensation: 5 Survey Takeaways

Job title is a key variable for base perioperative nurse compensation, according to results from AORN’s 2018 Salary Survey. 

Responses from 3,754 surveyed perioperative nurses across the country in a wide range of practice settings and roles showed that differences in job title were most directly linked to differences in base compensation.

The average staff nurse earned $72,100 ($1,800 more than in 2017), and the average VP/director of nursing earned $120,300 ($3,300 more than in 2017).

Here are five other important takeaways that may be handy as you plan your staff compensation in the year ahead:

1. Education Matters

   Compared with diploma nurses, those with an associate or bachelor’s degree in any field earned $3,400 more. Nurses with a master’s degree in any field earned $5,500 more; and nurses with a doctorate earned $12,900 more in base compensation. Survey respondents were asked specifically if they had an MBA, and among those who said yes, they earned an additional $7,200 more in base compensation, on top of higher compensation rates for the other degrees tracked.



2. State Impacts Pay

   Among survey respondents from states with a sufficient sample size, several states scored higher in nurse compensation when compared to other states in the same geographic region. For example, in the West Coast region, nurses in California made $43,000 more than the regional model estimate, as did Massachusetts nurses in the Northeast at $27,300 above. Although cost of living does play a role in these higher wages, nurses living in Texas, which has a cost of living below the national average, still made $7,700 above the base model for that region of the US. 

   Up from last year, more surveyed nurses shared concerns that base compensation did not match with cost of living increases.



3. Men Make More Than Women (Again)

   With a $4,700 gender-based wage gap in base compensation, surveyed male perioperative nurses are making more. Gender is an ongoing variable studied in AORN’s annual salary survey and men often, but not always, receive more compensation than women.



4. Unionized Nurses Earn More (But Not as Much as Last Year)

   Of the 13% of surveyed nurses who work in an environment with a union or collective bargaining unit (down 1% from 2016 and 2017), these nurses earned an average $5,000 more in annual base compensation than nurses employed in a nonunion workplace. However, this is down from the $8,200 more that unionized nurses surveyed in 2017 earned.




5. Culture Makes a Difference

   About 28% of respondents said they are seriously considering leaving their current job, up 2% from last year. Most of these nurses (67%) plan to change employers, also up 2% from last year. In open-ended responses from surveyed nurses, several said that work environment and a feeling of teamwork was important to them as an overall benefit.

   As part of this annual survey, AORN also addresses the state of the perioperative nursing shortage. A slight pattern of increase in vacant full-time nursing positions grew to 7.1%. Among the nurse managers surveyed, 63% reported having at least one position open. Among all nurses asked why they felt there was a nursing shortage, almost half said it’s because of dissatisfaction with job compensation/benefits, followed closely by nurses changing employer or industry.

Read the complete survey in this month’s issue of the AORN Journal.

FREE RESOURCES FOR MEMBERS

Want to see how your salary compares? Calculate your paycheck potential with the AORN Salary Calculator, now including survey data from the AORN 2018 Salary Survey.