The best and worst states to be a CNA in 2012
Where the highest nursing salaries are
The BLS reports that the following states rank at the top of the CNA pay scale:
- Alaska $16.45 hourly mean wage
- Nevada $15.08 hourly mean wage
- New York $15.01 hourly mean wage
- Hawaii $14.91 hourly mean wage
- Connecticut $14.71 hourly mean wage
PayScale reports that CNAs earn the highest hourly rates (as high as $16 to $17 per hour) in these five cities: St. Paul, Minn.; Seattle; Washington, DC; San Francisco; and Boston. Several more California cities come close behind.
The BLS state rankings don’t include any of these cities, which seems to indicate that while working in a large metropolis will most certainly mean bigger bucks for you, you can head to a small state (like Connecticut) or a remote state (like Alaska or Hawaii) and still earn a good salary.
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Cynthia Dusseault is a professional freelance writer with both a health and an education background. A former medical radiation technologist and elementary school teacher, she realized that no matter what she did, she was drawn to any task that involved writing, so she decided, over a decade ago, to write full-time. Since then, she has written for a variety of magazines and websites including Nursing PRN, National Review of Medicine, University Affairs, Your Health, Education Leaders Today, Today's Parent, Children's Playmate, WeightWatchers.ca and many more.
She has written about topics such as asthma, genital herpes, circumcision, teleradiology, body art, learning disabilities and exercise trends, and she absolutely adores the fact that writing—particularly doing the research for the articles she writes—makes her a lifelong learner. More
RN
Registered Nurse
I don’t know where this writer is getting her information, but its wrong; at least as far as Ohio is concerned. She needs to do better research……..talk to actual working RNs or RNs seeking work………NOT just the state boards of nursing, media, or wherever else she’s getting her facts. Ohio (at least Northern) has a surplus of nurses. This is something no school of nursing will ever tell you because they need your money as a potential student. Its not that there isn’t a NEED for nurses because let me assure you…there is; the problem is that these hospitals (now owned and largely operated by larger corporations) will NOT HIRE the needed number of nurses. In other words, they will compromise patient safety by only employing one RN to do the job of at least 2 RNs—-all to pad their own pockets and the while praying they do not get hit with a lawsuit from an overworked RN making a huge mistake. Why don’t RNs revolt against this? Here’s why…they are too scared of losing their own jobs to care about those who cannot find work. Simple as that. Its only one example of the frightening direction our healthcare is taking in this country, but true. Just from some of the things I’ve witnessed as an RN, my poor group of friends and family is terrified to ever have to be an inpatient in a hospital in my area. Nurse to patient ratio is a huge quality and safety issue. Isn’t it sad that in the “caring” profession………..nobody cares.