Certified Nursing Assistant Salaries: Something To Look Forward To As A CAN

There are plenty of reasons to choose to become a Certified Nursing Assistant. First, there is a huge demand for the job. Second, there is the opportunity to choose your own working environment. Third, it is easy to become one after only several months of training and fourth (but definitely not the least), certified nursing assistant salaries are very competitive - and can be as much as $30,000 a month.

The training to become a certified nursing assistant can be completed within three to four months through nursing home or hospital programs or community college course. The average monthly salary for CNAs might seem a bit entry level when compared with other medical professions; but of course, it only takes several months to finish the course instead of taking four years (or more) to finish a certain medical degree.

How Much Salary Should I Expect?

A certified and licensed nursing assistant can earn as much as $9 to $14 an hour or around $22,000 to $30,000 a year. These certified nursing assistant salaries greatly vary because there are many factors that affect the payment rates for each individual.

Factors that Affect CNA Salaries

•    Several factors can affect certified nursing assistant salaries and the first of this is the geographic location of the employee. Some cities or states have higher working rates than others, and this is because wages and rates are based on each state or city's Cost of Living indexes. Thus, areas with higher cost of living (usually areas in the Northeastern part of the United States) have higher wages in comparison to areas with lower cost of living (such as states in the mid-West.)

•    Experience can also greatly affect your payment rate. Of course, salary rates increase along with experience. So the more years one works as a certified nursing assistant, the more he can earn on a yearly basis.

•    Another factor that affects salaries for CNA are the type of position that one has. There are different institutions that employ CNAs, and among them, hospitals usually offer the highest salaries. This is usually followed by nursing homes, assisted living facilities and personal homes of patients. The department where a CNA is assigned to within a hospital or a nursing home will also determine Certified Nursing Assistant salaries. Certified nursing assistants assigned in high - stress departments such as busy

•    ERs or ICUs often receive a slightly higher wage in comparison to a CNA who is assigned in a more relaxed environment.

The health care field is indeed a booming one, and is basically recession - proof. While all other fields have been greatly devastated by today's difficult economy, the health care field stands stable and continues to demand more workers - especially certified nursing assistant. So, on top of good Certified Nursing Assistant salaries, the job also offers you stability which is hard to find in today's time.