Nurses with advanced degrees, such as an MSN, are increasingly in demand, as they are needed to provide enhanced levels of patient care and to act as educators for nurses in training. Such nurses receive considerably higher salaries than those with bachelor’s or associate’s degrees.
The highest paid nurse practitioners in South Dakota earned 58.3% more than the highest paid RNs in 2014, while the comparable salaries for nurse anesthetists was 261% greater than what staff RNs earned, according to the state’s Department of Labor and Regulation.
While the number of RNs in South Dakota has been increasing in recent years, the numbers of MSN-educated nurses licensed as APRNs has been increasing at a much higher rate.
The South Dakota Center for Nursing Workforce provides detailed data on growth in various classes of nurses between 2010 and 2012 along with the percentage that hold MSN degrees:
MSN-Educated Nurse Salaries in South Dakota
The higher salaries that MSN-educated nurses earn in South Dakota are evident when comparing the earnings of nurses licensed in various APRN specialties to the earnings of staff RNs with BSN degrees. The South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation provides these salaries for comparison (2014):
Annual Salaries
Hourly Wages
Nurse Practitioner Salaries Throughout South Dakota
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics provides salary data from 2013 for nurse practitioners throughout South Dakota. Those in the Rapid City area were more highly paid than those in the Sioux Falls or Sioux City areas:
Salaries for Nurse Anesthetists in Sioux Falls and the Eastern South Dakota Nonmetropolitan Area
Salary data for 2013 from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that the salaries of nurse anesthetists were similar in the Sioux Falls area and the Eastern nonmetropolitan area of South Dakota: