Nurses have an undeniably difficult job, caring for the public while working long hours, often in unsafe conditions. While nurses are usually financially rewarded for their heroic careers, with a mean annual wage of more than $94,000 and one of the lowest unemployment rates in the U.S, the benefits of a nursing career can still differ significantly state by state.
WalletHub recently ranked all 50 states to find the best and worst locations for nurses based on 20 metrics, including opportunity and competition, as well as work environment. In addition to these main metrics, WalletHub examined monthly average starting salary for nurses, nursing job openings per capita, quality of nursing schools, mandatory overtime restrictions, industry job growth and quality of local public hospital systems to create a score out of 100.
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"Nurses are among the most essential workers in the country, as we've seen all too well over the past few years," Cassandra Happe, a WalletHub analyst, said in a release. "Since they work in such a demanding profession, nurses deserve to work in places that will compensate them appropriately and offer them reasonable working conditions. The best states for nurses have high salaries, mandatory overtime limits, high-quality health care facilities and plenty of job opportunities."
Washington is ranked the best state for nurses with high median earnings for registered nurses, nurses in care facilities and licensed practical and vocational healthcare professionals. Additionally, Washington state has some of the highest-ranked nursing schools in the country, as well as a high job growth rate for this profession.
Other top states include Maine and New Hampshire. Maine has one of the largest number of nursing and residential care facilities per capita, as well as a large need for nurses for the elderly population. New Hampshire has the most nursing-job openings per capita and a large number of hospitals per capita, in addition to some top nursing school programs.
Hawaii was ranked as the worst state for nurses, due to a lack of job opportunities, low nursing salaries and few health care facilities per capita. Other states ranking towards the bottom of the list include Arkansas and Alabama.
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Since nursing is a lucrative career with opportunities all over the country, new nurses should take the chance to look into different locations during their job search.
"Recent graduates need to remember they are interviewing places of work just as much as the places of work are interviewing them," Kate Gawlik, director of undergraduate health and wellness academic programming in the College of Nursing at Ohio State University, said in a release. "If they have the opportunity to shadow a nurse for a day or even talk to some of the nurses at the institution to which they are applying, it is important to find out what the culture is like and whether the nurses feel supported. It is also important to consider things like salary, cost of living, benefits and career advancement opportunities."
Read more about the 20 best states for nurses below.
