Are nurses paid well in Georgia? Here’s a breakdown

Nurses certainly had their work cut out for them in 2020.

The coronavirus pandemic overwhelmed hospitals around the nation and in Georgia, facilities were concerned that they didn’t have enough nurses to treat patients.

With that being said, you may be curious about how much nurses get paid around the country and what the breakdown is for income in Georgia. According to the research website Business.org, some states pay better than others.

In the U.S., more than 2.9 million nurses are working and on average, their salary is $77,460 per year. In a new analysis, the website discovered the best states for nursing salaries.

“Using this list, our health-care heroes can get a better idea of where they may want to move (or start) their nursing careers,” the site said before explaining its methodology.

“In each state, we compared the average nursing salary to the average income to find the percentage difference. We then calculated how many hours nurses must work to afford rent.”

Business.org used the latest BLS data from May 2019 and data from the U.S. Census Bureau to compile their ranking.

Key findings included that nurses make 45% more than the average salary for other professions in the nation. Nurses in Hawaii are the top earners — they make 89% more than other professions with a total salary of $104,060. Last on the list is Washington D.C., where nurses only make 5.6% more than the average salary for all other careers. California, meanwhile, has the highest hourly wage — there, nurses make $54.44. The lowest wage per hour comes in South Dakota where nurses make almost half of what California makes at $28.63.

Credit: Business.org

Credit: Business.org

Georgia came in at No. 27 on the list.

Nurses in the Peach State have an average salary of $69,590, which is nearly $20,000 higher than the average salary of other professions, or 40.2% more. To afford median rent, Georgia nurses must work 31.4 hours.

Across the nation, nurses work an average of 29.5 hours to be able to afford their rent for the month. To afford rent across the nation, professional workers must put in 42.7 hours of work. It requires 13.2 hours less of nursing work to afford monthly rent compared to the average profession.