Best Cities to Be a Nurse

By Erin Hasinger, Staff Writer, NursingSchools.com

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San Francisco for NursesWith all the talk of the nation's nursing shortage, surely more than a few people have stopped to consider what a career in nursing might be like. Opportunities, indeed, are great for nurses.

Nursing professionals are needed in pretty much every corner of the country, from large urban hospitals to small clinics in the most desolate areas. Nurses receive high wages and sizeable recruiting bonuses and a myriad of other benefits. A nurse can go anywhere and find a great job with a great salary.

So, with all the options, we decided to take a look at where it really pays off to be a nurse. Where are the salaries the highest and the jobs the most plentiful?

San Francisco Area

Topping nearly every list are a host of cities, large and small, in northern California.

In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Services, the top five cities with the highest mean hourly earnings for nurses are located in California. The metropolitan areas of San Jose, Visalia, San Francisco, Oakland, and Napa pay nurses, on average, over $42 per hour, well above the national average of just over $30 per hour, and above even the average wage throughout California, which hovers just over $39. Sacramento, Modesto, Fresno, and other California cities close to San Francisco also offer their nurses some of the highest salaries in the country.

These top five metro areas could collectively be grouped into the entire greater San Francisco metropolitan area, which is home to dozens of respected hospitals, including the University of California San Francisco Medical Center, named number seven on the list of the country's top 10 hospitals by US News and World Report in 2007. The University of California San Francisco Children's Hospital was ranked 10th of pediatric facilities on the list.

In addition to its top hospitals, the Bay area is also home to several fantastic nursing schools, including UCSF School of Nursing, whose graduate program was named number two in the nation by US News and World Report.

Staffing nursing positions is a high priority in California, as demonstrated by the legislature's Nursing Workforce Initiative, which aims to regulate nurse-to-patient ratios. California was the first state to put a mandate on staffing in hospitals. Millions of dollars in grant money has been awarded to help medical facilities add nurses and keep up with state regulations.

In addition to the highest salaries in the nation and millions of dollars waiting to help create nursing jobs, San Francisco also has its recreational and cultural benefits. A national, and global, melting pot, San Francisco is home to an incredibly diverse population, which in turn means a cultural array of dining, shopping, music, and arts entertainment. The area's steep hills, nearby mountains, and awe-inspiring redwood forests give outdoor enthusiasts plenty to keep busy with during downtime. Not to mention the Pacific Ocean in your backyard.

However, we would be remiss if we didn't mention a drawback to living in northern California's San Francisco area, and that's the cost of living. San Francisco has often been cited as having one of the highest, if not the highest, costs of living in the nation. The cost of real estate, especially, can be staggering. But go back to the beginning of this article for a reminder: the hourly wages paid to nurses is the highest in the country. In fact, the highest wage offered in Santa Rosa, Calif., is more than double the lowest wage paid in rural Blacksburg, Virginia. So yes, it's expensive to live there, but nurses are absolutely compensated for it, both in terms of money and in terms of the experience of living there.

Read more about other great California cities for nurses:

New York City

Another city with a high cost of living but an amazing wealth of job opportunities, high salaries, and tons of things to do is New York City. The New York City metropolitian area (including northeren New Jersey, Long Island, and White Plains) employs roughly 260,000 nurses, and those nurses are taking home an average of $39 per hour. That's over a quarter of a million nurses taking home more than $79,380 annually!

New York is home to several of the country's leading medical facilities, including Mt. Sinai Hospital and New York Presbyterian Hospital, as well as several top nursing schools, such as the Columbia School of Nursing, Pace University Leinhard School of Nursing, and NYU's School of Nursing.

The state of New York has implemented the Task Force for the Future of Nursing, which aims to tackle the nursing shortage, providing recruitment incentives, educational opportunities, and more nursing jobs.

People from around the world are drawn to New York, which is even more of a cultural melting pot than San Francisco. Diversity is reflected all over the city in its people, architecture, restaurants, activities, art, music, and theatre. There is always something to do in New York, whether it be taking in a Rangers game at Madison Square Garden, an ethnic festival in Central Park, or scoring tickets to a Broadway show. And if you're not one for the city, there's plenty to do outside of city limits. The Adirondack Mountains are just a short drive away, while Long Island is dotted with dozens of Atlantic beaches.

Find nursing schools in other large cities that are great for nurses:

Boston

Historic Boston, Mass., is home to dozens of premiere medical facilities, including Massachusetts General, which was named the fifth-best hospital in the country in 2007 by US News and World Report. Here, over 65,000 nurses receive another one of the nation's top salaries, averaging $40 hourly, or $85,000 annually.

In addition to Mass General, Boston is home to top hospitals such as Tufts-New England Medical Center, Children's Hospital of Boston, and Brigham and Women's Hospital, as well as many highly-rated nursing schools.

Boston, and the entire state of Massachusetts really, is a mecca of Colonial and Revolutionary War history. Visitors and residents enjoy the area's endless tributes to its many contributions made to modern America. Beyond the region's rich historical tradition, Bostonians enjoy miles and miles of pristine Atlantic beaches and neighboring islands, some of the country's top symphonies and museums, the beloved Boston Red Sox and the sprawling collegiate atmosphere brought on by the city's top universities, such as Harvard, Tufts, and Boston University.

Another great aspect of Boston is that many nursing jobs are available outside of the city in smaller suburban areas, terrific for those who might prefer a slower pace of life. The entire metro area boasts a number of benefits to nurses, including job opportunities, great salaries, and plenty of things to do.

For more on smaller cities for nurses, take a look at these city guides:

And, if you're the kind of person who can't pick just one city to commit to, consider travel nursing!