How much do nursing assistants usually make?

How Much Do Nursing Assistants Make Per Hour?

• Answer:

  Nursing assistants, also known as nursing aides or geriatric aides, help with routine nursing tasks like feeding and dressing a patient. An estimated 1.4 million such assistants work in the United States, and this number is expected to grow by 19 percent by 2018, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average hourly rate earned by a nursing assistant, as reported by the bureau, varies depending on where the nursing assistant lives or works. National Average Nationally, the average nursing assistant can expect to earn $12.01 an hour. This can vary much higher or much lower. For example, nursing assistants in the 25th percentile -- this means a quarter of all the nursing assistants in America earn less than this -- only earn $9.85 an hour, while those in the 75th percentile make $13.94 hourly. Employers by Employee Numbers Nursing homes employ more nursing assistants than any other type of employer in the nation, hosting just over 42 percent of the country's assistants. In a nursing home, nursing assistants average an hourly wage of $11.58. Hospitals rank as the second biggest type of employer of nursing assistants and pay $12.76 an hour on average. Elderly community care facilities come in third and pay $11.21 hourly. Employers by Hourly Wages Of all the employers in the country, scheduled air transportation service companies pay nursing assistants the highest hourly wage at $20.06 on average. Scientific research and development corporations rank second at $16,83, and an average hourly rate of $14.11 makes colleges and universities the third-highest paying employers. States by Employment Numbers North Dakota hosts the biggest concentration of nursing assistants in the United States. In the Peace Garden State, nursing assistants bring in $11.44 an hour. Maine has the second-highest concentration and pays its nursing assistants $11.53 on average, while Rhode Island places third and doles out $13.96 an hour on average. States by Hourly Wages If you're a nursing assistant and move to Alaska, you have the greatest shot at exceptional pay. In America's northernmost state, nursing assistants make an hourly average of $15.53 -- more than $3 greater than the national average. Nevada averages come second at $14.89, and New York places third with a $14.83 hourly average wage for its nursing assistants.