Average Salary for a Registered Nurse in New York

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has recently released a report outlining the average salary of a Registered Nurse in different locations throughout New York. If you guessed that the highest mean salary per year came from New York – Jersey City – White Plains area ($86,410), then you’d be correct. Coming in at #2 was the New York – Newark – Jersey City area ($85,260 per year) and at #3 was Nassau County – Suffolk County area ($83,820 per year). I’m not sure that numbers one through three come as any surprise, but all 3 salaries are higher than the average mean Registered Nurse salary in the United States ($71,000 per year). 9 of the 12 areas in New York came in lower than the $71,000 average mean salary for the US. The lowest salary came from Ithaca ($58,060), just a bit lower than the Elmira area ($58,090). See the table below for a complete list of areas and salaries.

Number of Employed Registered Nurses

According to the report, in May 2015 there were 169,470 Registered Nurses working in the New York – Newark – Jersey City area. In comparison, there are 2,745,910 RNs working in the entire United States. The Nassau County – Suffolk County area employed 25,340 RNs and New York – Jersey City – White Plains area employed 119,070. The lowest total of Registered Nurses came from Ithaca, which employed only 680. The second lowest number of employed nurses came from Watertown – Fort Drum area with 840. See the complete list below.

Recruitment

Martin Kohli, chief regional economist for the BLS said that “the surprising thing to me is we hear a lot about nurses being in demand. We don’t tell hospitals what they should do, but we would want them to make decisions based on data if they’re having issues with retention.”

Martin brings up that hospitals and healthcare facilities that are having trouble keeping their nurses, or recruiting new nurses should rely on data as a recruitment tool. For example, there is a nursing shortage in Buffalo, New York, but is one of the highest paid locations for RNs outside of the metropolitan area ($69,770 average salary per year). Companies should point to this data to try to engage travel nurses or nurses in surrounding areas to come to Buffalo to work. The pay is great, and just below the national average. Knowledge is power, and companies need to use this knowledge to recruit more nurses.

Methodology

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual mail survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OES program produces employment and wage estimates for over 800 occupations for all industries combined in the nation; the 50 states and the District of Columbia; 432 metropolitan areas and divisions; 167 nonmetropolitan areas; and Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Forms are mailed to approximately 200,000 sampled establishments in May and November each year. May 2015 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, November 2013, May 2013, and November 2012.