LVN Salary and wages
Trends in LVN Salaries
LVN's (Licensed Vocational Nurses, also called LPN's or Licensed Practical Nurses) are nurses who are licensed by the state to provide routine patient care.
As is the case with all career fields, higher demand will lead to higher pay (and more job opportunities). There are certain areas in which LVN's are in high demand, and LVN salary in these areas is necessarily more lucrative. Right now the national average of LVN salaries is $49,000 (based on data from www.indeed.com, updated as of Sept. 28, 2009). This is low to average for other jobs with similar job titles such as RN, or LPN. To break that down more specifically, LVN salary for LVN's with less than a year of experience can expect to make between $25,560 and $42,630, while those with 10-19 years experience can make from $30,798 to 49,208 (www.payscale.com). The Travel Nurse (www.the-travel-nurse.com) indicates a lower national average for LVN salary, of about $33,210. Here it is demonstrated that there is fairly wide variances in LVN salary from state to state, with Alabama paying the lowest LVN salaries (at $26,660/year) and Massachusetts paying the highest LVN annual salary (at $41,180). As LVN's are also frequently paid hourly, instead of simply getting a yearly LVN salary, it is helpful to know that hourly those numbers are $12.82/hour in the state of Alabama, and $19.80 in the state of Massachusetts.
As with any career field, LVN salary will depend on a number of factors, including experience, demand, location, and employer needs and budgets. Currently, LVN's are most in demand in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, so LVN salaries will naturally be higher in these high demand positions. As LVN's have the opportunity to choose specialty career paths, an LVN interested in high LVN salaries might therefore choose to specialize in geriatrics, to make themselves even more competitive for these higher paying positions. Many doctor's offices also prefer LVN's over RN's, as LVN's can frequently perform many of the same tasks as an RN, but for a lower salary than an RN would expect to be paid.
While www.indeed.com shows LVN salary on a slightly downward trend, outlook for this career choice is actually quite good. It is expected that LVN's will become more in demand as health care advances lead to a higher level of living elderly population. An increasing number of jobs are expected to open for LVN's in the field of home health care as well, as health care advances increases the number of functional elderly who need in home assistance, particularly with complex medical equipment. This will be another area in which LVN salary is expected to increase in the future, as more demand is created for their services.
Clearly, the future of LVN's has a positive outlook. Providing similar services for lower LVN salaries than RN's are able to accept, while being experts in a growing field (that of geriatrics, home care, or long term nursing home care) will lead to lucrative opportunities in the medical field for LVN's. While LVN salary is not the highest compared to other nursing fields, that allows more flexibility for organizations, and actually creates more jobs for LVN's, while the increasing demand for people with their expertise indicates the future of the LVN salary is on the rise.
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