Nurses are in high demand everywhere. Healthcare shortages have been a well-documented problem since before the pandemic, and the actual heart of the issue goes back even further. Analysts have been sounding the alarm for decades, noting that more people quit nursing than start it.
These shortages are bad for the already strained American healthcare system, but they do create opportunities for people with nursing degrees. How can you best capitalize on your degree in opportunity-rich cities and states?
Let’s get into it.
First: What Quality Makes a City or State Opportunity-rich?
By a pretty overwhelming margin, the biggest nursing salary indicator from a localized perspective is the cost of living. Expensive cities have to pay their nurses more than a small rural town in the Midwest might. Otherwise, no one would be able to afford a career in nursing.
It’s probably for this reason that California, which has some of the most expensive real estate in the country also pays its nurses the most.
The con, of course, is that while you are making more money on paper, you aren’t really benefiting from it. In fact, your budget might still be a little leaner than it would have been in a more affordable environment.
Let’s say you’re the kind of person who would like to have their cake and eat it too. In that case, you might look for communities with a particularly high need. Rural hospitals have experienced shortages most acutely for the simple reason that a small town might not produce many healthcare professionals. That means that the local hospital needs to find ways to bring doctors and nurses in.
They often do this by offering higher-than-average salaries.
For people who don’t mind relocating, it can be a great way to make more money without expanding your credentials.
There are also ways you can increase your salary even in more average-income states like Texas or New Hampshire.
Decide What Success Means to You
While it’s natural to assign a financial connotation to the word, true success can mean a lot of different things. You might want greater work-life balance. Days instead of nights. No weekends. The ability to choose your own hours? Opportunities like that are out there.
It’s much easier to find success once you’ve determined what you are looking for.
Look for High-Demand Areas
Even within states that have a relatively stable nursing population, there will undoubtedly be pockets of high need. These pockets might be highly localized and specific to certain hospitals. A healthcare system in a low-income or urban neighborhood might have a harder time keeping nurses on staff than one in a gleaming upper-middle-class suburb.
The most common way to attract nurses when you need them? Offer more money.
Consider Getting an Advanced Degree or Specialized Certification
Advanced degrees and additional certifications are big steps to take, but they are also the most dependable way to increase your professional potential. If you want more money or responsibilities, this is going to be a good way to get them.
Advanced Practice positions, like those nurse practitioners assume, can only be attained through graduate school. On the other hand, jobs like forensic nursing, or even school nurse positions, will require a specialized certification.
While continuing education is a barrier to entry, it also opens doors.
Consider Travel Nursing
If you want more money and enjoy adventure, travel nursing might be right for you. In this position, you’ll do short stints at high-need hospitals. You might only work for a few months in any one position before moving on to the next one.
Obviously, this can make managing your personal life difficult. You’ll probably never develop a substantial connection with any of your coworkers. You’ll also be separated from your friends and family for several months at a time.
If you can accept that, you’ll receive pretty sweet benefits. Travel nurses make great money, often in the six-figure range. They also sometimes have the opportunity to take a little time off in between placements, which can help make up for the lopsided work/life balance ratio they experience while they are on the road.
Give it Time
Even Drake started at the bottom before he got…here. While the driven person might want their success yesterday, or sooner, most people need to put some time in before they see big wins. A nice raise or leadership appointment may very well be in your future. Before you get there, however, you will probably need to start at the bottom rung of the ladder, just like everyone else.
Frustrating? Maybe, but try to treat it as a learning opportunity. It’s in your early days as a nurse that you will figure out what you like and dislike about the profession. Once you have that experience, you can start seeking opportunities that better align with your passions.
Conclusion
Should you relocate just to increase your nursing salary? That’s a question that everyone will answer differently. Some people don’t mind relocating. They might even like it. Others won’t do so well removed from their support system.
Think hard about that last point. Nursing is a very difficult job under the best of circumstances. It can be very hard for a new nurse to begin their careers and deal with being away from their social network at the same time.
One thing to keep in mind: Regardless of where you live, nursing isn’t a career that you go into because you want to get rich. The money is competitive, to be sure. You’ll live well, even if you don’t pull into work in a Benz.
But if money is your primary professional motivator, you’ll probably do better in a different field.
On the other hand, those born for nursing might do better to focus on setting themselves up for success. What conditions do you need to succeed? Find those and you’ll do alright.
