Registered Nurse Salary Guide: Chicago, IL

As noted previously, certain specialties offer higher salaries than others. Obtaining specialty credentials may help you qualify for higher-paying jobs. For example, the American Nurses Credentialing Center offers the Cardiac Vascular Nursing Certification (CV-BC), letting nurses demonstrate that they have the knowledge and skills to provide high-quality cardiovascular care. With the CV-BC, you can advance your nursing career by moving from general OR nursing to CVOR nursing, one of the highest-paying RN jobs in Chicago.

In 2020, the Journal of Nursing Regulation released its National Nursing Workforce Survey results. Nearly 30,000 nursing professionals answered questions about their salaries, their highest level of education completed and related topics. The results indicate that advancing your education may help you increase your earnings and advance your nursing career. Respondents with bachelor’s degrees had a median annual salary that was $4,000 higher than nurses with associate degrees. Reported salaries don’t include sign-on bonuses, but they do include merit-based bonuses and overtime pay.

Per-diem nursing jobs are a great way to make more money without committing to loads of
overtime or taking on a second job outside the healthcare field. Instead of working a set schedule, a per-diem nurse picks up shifts as needed. This type of scheduling makes it easier for hospitals and other healthcare facilities to adjust staffing levels based on demand.

Because per-diem nurses often pick up shifts at the last minute, these jobs typically pay more than staff nursing jobs. You also have the freedom to set your own schedule. Some nurses accept multiple shifts per week, but it’s possible to work just a few times per month, increasing your annual earnings without forcing you to work a crazy number of hours.

One way to increase your RN salary in Chicago is to look for jobs in high-paying nursing specialties. Based on Vivian Health’s data for the week ending March 11, 2023, intensive care and operating room (OR) nursing offered some of the highest salaries for RNs interested in staff roles. Both specialties paid $30 to $50 per hour, depending on your experience and qualifications. Permanent positions in home health hospice paid between $38 and $49 per hour.

For travel roles, nurses with OR experience had the highest hourly wages during this period, particularly those with experience in cardiovascular OR (CVOR) nursing. Travel CVOR nurses earned up to $4,424 per week, while travel OR nurses earned up to $4,382 weekly. Contracts in the pediatric intensive care unit and pediatric postanesthesia care unit also had higher-than-average salaries. These travel roles paid between $4,010 and $4,054 per week.