Average Salary

• Registered nursing is the largest occupation within the health-care industry. In May 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics gathered wage data from over 2.6 million individual registered nurses working throughout the United States. It concluded that the average yearly salary for the occupation was $67,720, equivalent to $32.56 an hour or $5,643 a month. In May 2011, wage analysis website Indeed listed the average annual pay for a registered nurse as $71,000.
  
  

Salary by Industry

• The majority of registered nurses work within general medical and surgical hospitals. The Bureau reported the average salary within this sector of the health-care industry as $68,610. While this wage level was higher than that in both outpatient care centers -- $67,550 -- and nursing care facilities -- $59,990 -- it was not among the best-paying sectors. For instance, registered nurses employed by the federal executive branch earned an average of $79,530 per annum, while those working within colleges, universities and professional schools received average wages of $74,180.
  
  

Salary by Geography

• The location in which a registered nurse pursues his profession also impacts his pay packet. SalaryExpert analyzed wage levels in some large U.S. cities and reported that, as of June 2011, salaries were highest in Los Angeles, California and New York City, New York State -- $87,418 and $84,538, respectively. Rates were comparable between Chicago, Illinois and Phoenix, Arizona -- $75,767 and $75,182, respectively -- while Orlando, Florida was listed at just $60,239. The bureau determined that the most lucrative state for an RN to work in was California, with an average wage of $87,480, while South Dakota was at the other end of the scale, averaging just $54,730.
  
  

Prospects

• At a projected growth rate of 22 percent over the period from 2008 to 2018, employment opportunities for registered nurses will, according to the bureau, be excellent. This rate is much faster than that estimated for the country as a whole -- between 7 and 13 percent over the same period, and will be fueled primarily by an aging population requiring more health-care services, technological advances in patient care, and the need to replace the large number of nurses expected to leave the profession in the coming years. As such, salary levels for the role should remain attractive.