Do Rural Nurses Have a Higher or Lower Salary than Traditional RNs?

Rural nursing facilities constantly experience many issues related to hiring and retaining qualified registered nurses.

The reasons behind it can be a lower salary and less dynamic working experience of the rural nurses.

There is a shortage of nurses willing to work as a rural nurse, the employers are nowadays offering competitive salaries for rural nurses as well as other benefits to attract nurses and keep them.

In general, rural nurses usually earn less than nurses working in large cities.

However, healthcare operates on basic business principles.

The population in rural areas has lower incomes and cannot afford healthcare coverage.

Therefore, hospitals receive fewer reimbursements which lead to lower salaries for the healthcare workers.

Getting insights into the salary of rural nurses is challenging because there are so many determining factors.

In some states, such as California and Hawaii, the rural nurse has salaries that exceed the national average.

In other terms, a rural nurse in California may earn more money than a nurse in South Dakota working in the urban hospital.

Also, some organizations have external funding so nurses earn more.

Also, rural nurses can have their student loan reimbursement through different federal programs, which makes lower salary less of an issue.

Having a high-paying job in a rural hospital isn’t always possible, but rural hospitals are offering benefits packages and educational opportunities to improve the work conditions.

Also, hospitals are trying to maintain a dynamic environment for the nurses, so they don’t feel like their career is stagnating.