2022 Annual Salary Survey: Nurses Report “Modest” Pay Increases from 2021

BY LOUIS PILLA

If you had a modest increase in your paycheck this year, your experience mirrors that of many of your colleagues.

In this year’s Minority Nurse salary survey, respondents said they earned a median salary of $73,000, a 4.3% increase from the median of $70,000 reported in last year’s salary survey, and an 11.5% increase from the $65,469 reported in the 2020 survey.

Median Salary by Ethnic Background

had earned an MSN or other master’s-level degree.

Half of those who responded to a question about the type of organization they work for said that they practiced in a hospital setting, either a public hospital (29%) or private hospital (23%). And the highest percentage of those who responded about their primary job function said they worked in patient care (43%), followed by leadership/management

Median Salary by Year Median Salary by Years of Experience

Median Nursing Salary by Year

For those who identify as African American nurses, the median is $75,000. That’s up from both the $73,000 reported in last year’s survey and the $74,000 reported in the 2020 survey.

For those who identify as Hispanic or Latino/Latina, the median is $73,000, a small decline from the $75,000 reported in last year’s survey, though far higher than the $56,100 reported in 2020.

Median Salaries by Ethnic Background

To collect this new data, Minority Nurse and Springer Publishing e-mailed a link to an online survey that asked nurses not about only their salaries, but also about how long they have been in the profession, their educational backgrounds, and the type of organization for which they work. More than 800 nurses from across the United States took the survey.

Experience and Education

Greater experience, as might be expected, leads to higher salaries. Nurses with less than a year on the job earn a median of $62,000, while those with 1-5 years of experience have a median of $69,000. Nurses with 21 or more years of experience report earning a much higher median salary of $80,000.

Median Salary by Years of Experience

When it comes to education, nurses with an ADN or other associate’s-level degree reported a median salary of $70,000, while those with a BSN or bachelor’s-level degree had a median salary of $72,000. Those with an MSN or master’s-level degree jumped to a median of $95,000.

Median Salary by Degree Level

Nurses in leadership/management positions report a median salary of $79,500 compared to a salary of $71,500 for those who work in patient care. That’s an increase from the $65,000 reported in last year’s survey for nurses working in patient care.

Of the nurses who responded to a question about their educational background, the highest percentage (45%) said they earned a BSN or other bachelor’s-level degree. Some 24% said they had an ADN or other associate’s-level degree, and the same percent (24%) said they (13%) and case management (10%).

Certification Matters

Finally, of those who reported a specialty certification, acute care was most often reported followed by critical care nursing. When comparing salaries by nursing certification, CRNAs reported the highest salaries followed by Neonatal Nurse Practitioners, Clinical Nurse Leaders, and Family Nurse Practitioners. Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) led the way with a median salary of $215,000 nationally. CRNA salaries were followed by Neonatal Nurse Practitioners and Clinical Nurse Leaders (CNL) salaries, each with median salaries of $108,000 and $107,500 per year, respectively.

Certified APRN Salaries

Certification

Psych-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner (AGNP) Certified Emergency Nurse (CEN) Critical Care Nurse Certification (CCRN) Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) Medical-Surgical Nurse (CMSRN) Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) Neonatal Nurse Practitioner (NNP) Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA)

Median Salary by Degree Level

Median Salary $75,000 $77,500 $80,000 $84,000 $87,500 $90,000 $104,000 $107,000 $107,500 $108,000 $215,000

Median Salary by Nursing Certification

Louis Pilla has a long record of serving nurses and other clinicians by reporting on developments and trends in healthcare with meaning, context, and insight.

As a Director at Elsevier, he was instrumental in the development of major online nursing reference and procedure products. Prior to that he served as Editorial Director at Nurses. com, one of the first nursing websites, and was Executive Editor at Nursing magazine, a premier large-circulation journal