As a registered nurse, neonatal nurses require specialized training in order to become qualified to care for newborns that require varying levels of care. This specialized training in addition to the already extensive level of education and schooling required to be a RN places you in a prime position to earn a substantial income.
There are multiple factors that can affect that amount of income you can expect to make as a Neonatal Nurse, including your education, experience, and training. Salary rates will vary from state-to-state and location-to-location, so keep this in mind during your job search.
Neonatal Nurse Salary
The BLS correlates a career as a neonatal nurse to that of a registered nurse for salary data, and as of 2012 the median annual salary is $65,470, which equates to $31.48 per hour. Indeed, a popular job search website lists the median annual salary for neonatal nurses at $63,000 as of March 2014. Additionally, a popular wage tracking website places the median salary at $61,000 annually, or $30.56 per hour as of March 2014.
As you can see, the stated salary across the board that you can expect to earn as a neonatal nurse is within the $60k range. With additional education and experience, you can advance to a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner position, where your can earn well over $100k annually.
Earning Potential Based on Location
The location that you focus your nursing job search can greatly affect the amount of income you can expect to make. The highest earning potential can be found in states such as California at $94,120, Hawaii at $84,750, and Massachusetts at $83,370.
Conversely, the states with the lowest earning income rate are Iowa at $52,540, and South Dakota & North Dakota at $52,800 & $53,520.
Keep in mind before making plans to relocate with dreams of immediately increasing your income is that most of these high earning states also comes with an increase in the cost of living.
Career Outlook for Neonatal Nurses
Jobs related to healthcare are always in demand. BLS has projected job growth for registered nurses at 19% from 2012-2022.
References:
(1) Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS]
(2) Indeed
