Although a larger percentage of respondents to this year’s survey earned $69,000 or less (29% vs 25% in 2023), the portion of nurses earning $130,000 or above increased from 13% to 15%. Those in the middle ranges fell from 62% to 55%. Some of the growth at the top of the salary scale may be driven by a larger proportion of respondents in the current survey with more than 25 years of experience.
That higher proportion of more senior nurses also could explain the jump in respondents who said they plan to retire within the next 2 years (17% vs 10%) or 5 years (19% vs 15%). These per- centages were accompanied by a drop in those planning to work beyond the next 5 years—from 55% to 38% in the most recent survey.
