The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the median annual salary for a registered nurse was $65,950 in 2011.  The top 10 percent of registered nurses made over $96,630 and the bottom 10 percent earned below $44,970. If you’re wondering how to stay near the top 10 percent, you may want to consider a few factors that may affect salary.

Location
The cost of living in Kalamazoo, Michigan greatly differs from New York City. In turn, salaries for almost any job are bound to be higher in cities where the cost of living has skyrocketed. If you live in a small town, you are more likely to be paid a smaller healthcare salary than someone who lives in a booming metropolitan area. The highest salaries in 2011 were in northern California, in cities such as San Jose and San Francisco.

Education
Healthcare education plays a huge role in what your healthcare salary may look like. An individual who has a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing may be poised to make less than someone who has completed a Nursing Master’s Program. If you’re not interested in going back to school for a few more years, it may be helpful to complete other supplemental courses that will provide great experience and knowledge in your healthcare career. For example, an ECG Course for Nurses is a terrific way for nurses to learn the fundamental of reading and interpreting ECGs. It looks great on a resume and gives you a deeper breadth of experience and knowledge.

Experience
As many new college graduates learn, experience in your career field is very important. If you are in your first year of nursing, and you compare your healthcare salary to someone who has been working for 35 years, there’s probably an extensive difference in pay.

As you can see, there are several important factors that lead to a high (or low) healthcare salary. To see a bigger paycheck in your bank account, you can move to a new city, complete more education, or stick it out for a few years until you have more experience under your belt.