Louisiana Town Ranked Among ‘Highest Paying’ for Nurses

One of the highest paying and most respected careers an individual can have in the state of Louisiana is within the field of healthcare. Our state offers many great opportunities for those who have the talent and have invested the time in their education to earn a degree in that field.

Salaries in healthcare, particularly nursing, are among some of the best available in almost every state. One would have to be a football coach or social media influencer on the highest level to compete with some of the money that qualified nurses can earn here in Louisiana. Perhaps that's why so many students in higher education today are focusing their post-graduate careers in fields where nursing plays a large part.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics agrees with the conceived idea that nursing is a great career. It certainly is if you want great compensation. Although, many of the nurses that we know will warn you the hours are long and sometimes the patients are not the most cooperative. But, based on my personal experience, people don't go into nursing for the money, they go into the field out of a sense of duty. I respect that.

According to the BLS nurses across the country earn a median salary of $81,220.00. That's about $35,000 more per year than the average median wage among all American workers. Nurses who are trained in specialties might earn quite a bit more than the median. We should note that nurses employed on the West Coast and mid-Atlantic regions tend to earn more than their counterparts in the Gulf South and the Midwest.

Which Cities in the Gulf South Offer Nurses the Highest Pay?

The people at Vivian Health, a healthcare clearing house for professionals in that industry, recently conducted a study to see which cities in each state offered nurses the highest compensation.

Here's what the Vivian Health study revealed. Nurses in Texas who want to earn the highest pay should consider finding employment in Wichita Falls. The median income for nurses in that city was $43,480 more per year than the town's median income. The median average pay for nurses in Wichita Falls was $79,800.

In Mississippi, another neighboring state that same study showed that Hattiesburg was the top choice for top pay for nurses. The median income in Hattiesburg was $27,510 less than what the median income for nurses in that city. On average a nurse in Hattiesburg earns about $59,910 annually.

What Louisiana City Offers Nurses the Highest Pay?

If more than adequate compensation is what you're looking for in the field of nursing you need to set your sights on Shreveport, Louisiana. The Vivian Health study suggested that nurses in Shreveport/Bossier City earn about $40,640 more per year than the median compensation for all workers in the area.

The median wage for a nurse's salary in Shreveport was projected to be $77,790 per year. As you can see healthcare pays a lot more in Shreveport/Bossier than most other jobs. The median salary for nurses is almost double the average income for other workers in that city.

The other silver lining about nursing and healthcare jobs is the future. Job openings in the field are expected to grow. The Vivian Health study suggested that the growth rate of nursing jobs was expected to be double that of almost all occupations. And with an aging population, the need for qualified healthcare will become even more paramount.