Nurse practitioners provide cost-effective, high quality care that is particularly critical in the many areas of New York struggling with a shortage of primary care physicians. Holding an MSN at minimum, nurse practitioners are highly compensated for the skills they obtained from their advanced education. Their median salaries were 1.33 to 2.2 times higher than those of staff nurses according to the New York State Department of Labor.
Despite the critical importance of advanced practice nurse practitioners to New York’s healthcare system, area hospitals reported great difficulty recruiting nurse practitioners according to the 2013 Health Care Professionals Workforce Study. The situation was especially critical in Western New York, where 78% of hospitals that participated in the survey reported having difficulty recruiting an adequate number of nurse practitioners.
The vacancy rate for nurse practitioners in New York nearly doubled between 2011 and 2012, according to the workforce study. This report suggests that an increase in the vacancy rate could result in a significant shortage of these key healthcare professionals in the coming years.
Only 7% of New York’s nurses had MSNs in 2012. The percentage of MSN-educated nurses varied significantly throughout the state:
Percent of nurses with MSNs
- Nassau-Suffolk – 12%
- New York City – 10%
- NorMet – 6%
- CNY – 4%
- Northeastern – 2%
- Rochester – 2%
- WNY – 1%
Still – registered nurses in New York are more often availing themselves to RN-MSN bridge programs specific to the nurse practitioner role, as well as in other critical areas such as nurse anesthesia, education, leadership and even nurse midwifery. Specialized RN-MSN programs allow New York’s RNs to contribute to the quality of healthcare in the state while earning lucrative salaries. In 2013, there were 6,942 such students in New York according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
Salaries for Nurse Practitioners and Other Advanced Clinicians
An analysis of the salaries of advanced clinical specialists compared to staff nurses who typically have ADNs or BSNs reveals the significant economic benefits of earning an MSN. The New York State Department of Labor provides this information for 2014:
Salary data from the Advance Healthcare Network for Nurses provides additional evidence for the increase in earning power that an MSN brings. The results from its 2012 survey of salaries of nurses in New York and other parts of the Northeast showed that nurses with MSNs in this region earned $13,309 more per year than those with BSNs:
- MSN – $85,974
- BSN – $72,665
The results of this survey also show how salaries for advanced clinicians in New York were considerably higher than in the rest of the Northeastern U.S.
Extensive Analysis of Nurse Practitioner Salaries in New York
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics provides salary data on nurse practitioners in a number of New York’s major cities. This data revealed that nurse practitioners in the Nassau-Suffolk area had by far the highest annual salaries in 2013. They earned 14.1% more than their colleagues in the lowest paying city:
Nurse Anesthetist Salaries in New York’s Largest Cities
Salary data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics for nurse anesthetists in 2013 revealed a great deal of variation accross New York:
*These figures represent hourly wages that are at least $90.00 per hour or annual salaries that are at least $187,199. These sums represent the maximum salaries reported by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics for New York State.
Salaries for Nurse Midwifes in Major Metropolitan Areas of New York
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics provides a detailed analysis of the salaries of nurse midwifes in the major metropolitan areas of New York (2013):