Nursing is not only rewarding because of the difference you can make in a patient’s health, but it is also financially rewarding. The average annual salary of a registered nurse in May of 2008 was $62,450, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, the top 10 percent of nurses earned more than $92,000, and some advanced practice nurses, such as nurse practitioners and nurse anesthetists, have been known to earn six figures. Even the lowest 10 percent of nurses earned about $43,000, which isn’t too shabby for the low end of a salary range. The highest paying states for nurses are: California, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Maryland and New York, according to Bureau data.

There is a reason why a registered nurse never stays unemployed for long, and why the registered nurse was listed among the 50 Best Careers for 2010 by U.S. News & World Report. Because of the nursing shortage that is gripping many parts of the nation, nurses continue to be very much in high demand, and often have job offers before they have even graduated. The Bureau projects job prospects for RNs to be excellent for many years to come. Jobs for nurses are expected to grow 22 percent between 2008 and 2018, much faster than the average job growth for all other occupations tracked by the government.

However, job growth will be slowest in hospital settings, the Bureau asserts. Even though hospitals employ the most nurses out of any industry, they are not expected to add a huge amount of nursing jobs partly because of a trend of inpatients staying for shorter amounts of time overall in hospitals, the Bureau says. The best job prospects will be found in doctor’s offices, home health care services and nursing care facilities. In fact, one of the factors spurring job growth is the fact that an increasing number of Americans are aging—and along with that comes increasing numbers of the elderly who need at-home care and nursing care.

Nurse educators and advanced practice nurses will also be in high demand over the next few years. This is because nurse practitioners are often more easily accessible to patients and provide medical services at an overall lower cost than physicians, the Bureau points out. Nurse educators will be needed to prepare the next generation of nurses to stave off the nursing shortage.