LVNs are highly prized in the west coast, namely because there is great demand but little supply. The average expected LVN salary in California for instance would be around $42,000-$53,000, taking into account experience, location and mean wages. As an LVN, your earning power is based on the type of practice at which you work.
California for example employs 62,000 LVNs, with an average wage of $24 an hour and a $50,000 average salary. This compares to the national average of $40,900. Los Angeles, Long Beach and Glendale alone employ 19,000 LVNs, which earn just slightly under the $24 mark at $23.23. LVNs have many career options, which include: science, education, detainment, home care, resident long term care establishments, community care facilities and as assistants in physician offices and surgical rooms.
An LVN working for an office, home or hospital in California earns between $18-20 an hour; those in the nursing home care field earn $20 an hour; those in administration, employment services and computer design earn between $21-24 an hour, though employ fewer then 100 people. Employment services on the other hand employ a respectable 40,000 people a year.
LVNs are seen as leaders in the workplace and can act as consultants in the same demand as they just as often as a health care professional. An LVN instructor for Riverside County for example can earn $37,948 – $72,626 a year, working 185 days at full time. An LVN, working as an anatomy instructor in Fresno can work part time and earn between $24,000-30,000. LVNs can also help create new medical delivery systems, counteract fraud and act as first aid hot line consultants. Staff in these fields earn between $32,000-38,000.
Experience is very important in this field however. New LVNs should not be expecting $40,000 to start, it averages out to $29,000- 32,000, with one year of training and licensing standards. The lowest ends of the LVN profession earn $24,000 a year, dependant on place of employment. LVNs would do well to get trained in specialized aspects of the medical field which are in high demand. Special needs psychiatry resident and technology training are two great considerations, because they command an additional 1-3k of salary negotiation room, if not just bonuses. Business management trained LVNs may even find promotional room as a charge nurse. The most common salary boost for an LVN is completing their RN, which requires an additional two to four years of additional education.
LVN job growth is expected to considerably grow over the next ten to twenty years due to the rapidly aging health demographic. Most LVNs will find employment, by number, in nursing homes and hospitals, though it would be best not to limit your search. LVNs may be expected to travel and work varying hours depending on the industry and the establishments rotational need, as some LVNs can even act as a personal on station nurse for companies. Due to the variations, LVNs will have considerable leg room in the future to work with and be in many kinds of places.
Number of LVNs in California: 62,850
Average hourly wage: $24.27
Average annual LVN Salary in California: $50,490
Data gathered from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.