Here’s How Much A Nurse Is Getting Paid Per Hour By Province In Canada
Usually the quiet heroes, nurses in Canada are now the embodiment of the frontline worker, the people who are, more than anyone else, seen as getting us through this ever-lengthening crisis.
It's a growth industry, and if you're thinking of getting into it during this Year of the Nurse, here's everything you need to know.
Read on for what you can expect to get paid across the country, lowest to highest, when you start out and when you top out, according to new figures shared with Narcity on Tuesday by the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions.
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Quebec
The lowest pay, by far, for a nurse who's just graduated and is not yet a registered nurse. Rents may be low, and their reality shows may be hot, but at $21.91/hr, the entry-level pay is $9.61/hr less than the next lowest. That's just $8.81/hr more than minimum wage, or $42,724/yr.
In Quebec, they reward longevity, and there are 18 pay grades, compared to less than half that in most other provices. So you start low, but after getting 17 raises, you can make as much as $54.78/hr or $103,000 a year.
Saskatchewan
A nurse right out of school will get $31.07/hr, or $60,549.22 a year. And a nurse practitioner maxes out at $58.69/hr or just under $115,000, which would let you buy this 2-bdrm condo in Saskatoon outright.
New Brunswick
Nurse graduates start out at $31.23, or $61,132.73 a year. They have the most total sick days of anyone, too, at 240 (18 a year maximum). As a nurse practitioner, you can make $52.21/hr or just over $100,000 in New Brunswick.
Nova Scotia
Next door in Nova Scotia the entry level is pretty much the same, at $61,012, but nurse practitioners do way better here, starting out at $49.14, about $7 higher than NB, and hitting the jackpot at $112,038, or $5.46/hr at the top.
Ontario
There is no graduate nurse pay scale in Ontario, though St. Joseph's Hospital in Hamilton pays new grads $31.94/hr or $62,283.50. According to the Ontario Nurses Association, a first-year registered nurse made $33.23/hr in 2019, and after 25 years that went up to $47.57/hr, and a nurse practitioner at St. Joe's tops out at $62.30/hr or $121,485/yr.
Newfoundland & Labrador
The cost of living here is actually higher than Ontario, according to StatsCan's consumer price index, and though the starting wage for a graduate nurse is slightly higher too, at $32.46/hr or $63,297/yr, NL nurses at the top of the food chain make $105,339, $15,000 less than in Hamilton, ON.
Manitoba
Nurse graduates make between $32.82 and $33.24 an hour, and nurses at any level make an extra $120 a month if they have a master's degree. The top end of the scale is $112,249.61.
Alberta
The pay is good – starting at $33.72/hr or $65,000 for a new grad – but you also get a $5 an hour bonus for working at night, the best rate in the country. Though they don't release their nurse practitioner figures, a head nurse in Alberta can make as much as $103,931.78.
British Columbia
Top of the provincial heap at up to $46.65/hr or $90,000 for a graduate nurse, so if you're looking to pay off some student debt, B.C. may be the place to go first. Later on, things tail off a bit: $105,000 for a head nurse, and according to indeed.com, nurse practitioner salaries in Vancouver are 25% lower than the Canadian average.
Nunavut
If you really want to get paid, go north. They don't keep numbers for recent grads, but the low end of being a nurse in Nunavut is pretty sweet. It starts at $40.39/hr, which is about $80,000, and tops out at $67.77/hr or about $130,000. And many nurses also get a $9,000 Northern Allowance on top of that.
(Figures for Yukon and the Northwest Territories were unavailable.)