5 remote areas where RNs can make surprisingly good money
Looking for a job outside the hustle and bustle of a city? These areas need your skills.
If the idea of wide-open spaces appeals to you, you’re in luck: Nurses in some nonmetropolitan areas can make much more than the median annual wage of $71,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The reasons some of these salaries are so high varies, says Peter McMenamin, an economist with the American Nurses Association. “Sometimes it’s supply and demand, sometimes it’s lifestyle,” he says.
If you’re looking to leave the hustle and bustle at the office, start your search in one of these five high-paying U.S. nonmetropolitan areas, as defined by BLS.
1. Mother Lode Region, California
Areas: Amadore, Calaveras, Mariposa and Tuolumne counties
Annual mean RN wage: $101,580
Why these areas: California has several factors that boost pay across the board, says Joanne Spetz, professor at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies and associate director of research at the Healthforce Center at the University of California, San Francisco. Cost of living, high demand and high rates of unionized nurses all contribute to higher pay in the state. The Mother Lode area may have to compete for nurses with major metropolitan areas nearby, such as Stockton and Sacramento, Spetz says, putting a premium on salaries there.
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2. North Valley Region, California
Areas: Colusa, Glenn and Tehama counties
Annual mean RN wage: $95,490
Why these areas: Like its southern neighbor which tops this list, the North Valley Region of California is also likely in competition with Sacramento, where unionized nurses bargain for high salaries, Spetz says. But Colusa County is designated a Registered Nurse Shortage Area by the California Healthcare Workforce Policy Commission; fewer than 60 nurses serve a population of about 21,000 people there. The county was given the designation in March 2015.
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3. Border Region, Texas
Areas: Dimmit, Edwards, Kinney, La Salle, Maverick, Real, Uvalde, Val Verde and Zavala counties
Annual mean RN wage: $89,810
Why these areas: They say everything’s bigger in Texas, and that includes your potential salary if you worked here. The Border Region of Texas may compete with San Antonio, which is about 100 miles east, and to a lesser extent Austin, but considering the massive population of Texas, it’s no surprise a sizeable portion of this state is on the list.
4. Western and Eastern Hawaii
Areas: The islands of Hawaii, Kaui and Maui
Average annual RN salary: $86,160
Why these areas: It doesn’t get much more nonmetropolitan than Hawaii. This area, officially known as the Hawaii/Kauai nonmetropolitan and includes the island of Kauai for the purposes of this report, makes up pretty much all of the state of Hawaii except Honolulu. A nursing shortage in the nonmetropolitan areas listed may be pushing up salaries. A 2013 report by the Healthcare Association of Hawaii said insufficient health resources were a concern in Kauai County, including a shortage of community health nurses, for example.
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5. Balance of Alaska
Areas: Most of the state, with the exception of major cities Juneau, Fairbanks and Anchorage. The official counties included are Aleutians East Borough, Aleutians West Census Area, Bethel Census Area, Bristol Bay Borough, Denali Borough, Dillingham Census Area, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Kodiak Island Borough, Kusilvak Census Area, Lake and Peninsula Borough, Nome Census Area, North Slope Borough, Northwest Arctic Borough, Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Valdez-Cordova Census Area and Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area.
Average annual RN salary: $84,330
Why these areas: “The major issue here is that we’re talking about frontier areas—they’re hard to access, and it’s difficult to [prevent turnover],” says Barbara Berner, director of the University of Alaska at Anchorage School of Nursing. “They’re very isolated places; employers have to offer some kind of salary that is going to make nurses want to go and then want to stay.” Many of these areas are served by public health nurses, who in some cases may be paid a differential of 60%. These areas also have a hard time recruiting nurses, who are often brought in at a higher state salary level than they might get in other areas. In some cases, private hospitals are paying even more, says Kate Sheehan, division director for the State of Alaska Division of Personnel and Labor Relations.
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