BSN Salaries in Arkansas

Nurses with BSNs are qualified to take on a higher level of clinical responsibility, and as a result, receive higher salaries than those with ADNs. This standard of care is so much greater that the Institute of Medicine called for 80% of the country’s nurses to have BSNs by 2020.

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Arkansas’s nursing community responded aggressively to this call to action and formed the Arkansas Action Coalition to transform the future of nursing in Arkansas by working to increase the number of BSN-educated nurses in the state. In 2013, there were 1,787 students enrolled in BSN programs in Arkansas according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

The Coalition also began offering a Young Leaders program in 2015 providing leadership mentorships to BSN students as a way to increase the number of BSN educated nurses in leadership positions.

RNs in Arkansas with BSNs Receive Higher Salaries Than Those with ADNs

The increase in salaries for RNs who have BSNs is apparent in the Advance Healthcare Network for Nurses 2013 survey of RN salaries in the Southern part of the United States. According to the survey, nurses with BSNs in this region earned $3,555 a year more on average than those with ADNs:

  • BSN $60,969
  • ADN $57,414

The US Department of Labor provides additional information on the salaries of nurses with BSNs in its analysis of top-earning RNs in Arkansas. This further demonstrates that BSN-educated RNs in Arkansas tend to earn more on average than their peers in the rest of the southern states:

Annual Salary
90th Percentile
$74540
75th Percentile
$65590

The Arkansas Department of Workforce Services has partnered with the US Department of Labor to provide funding for Arkansas workers to enroll in nursing programs. The Arkansas Partnership for Nursing is administering grant funding of over $4.9 million between 2012 and 2016 to increase the number of nurses in the state, with a special emphasis on BSN education.

Salaries for BSN Prepared RNs in the Major Regions of Arkansas

The average salary for nurses with BSNs varies throughout Arkansas. The US Department of Labor provides an analysis of their salaries in key regions of the state:

Area name
Employment
Hourly 90th percentile wage
Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers AR-MO
2770
35.72
Fort Smith AR-OK
2020
32.86
Hot Springs AR
1000
35.04
Jonesboro AR
1240
35.05
Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway AR
9550
38.67
Memphis TN-MS-AR
11650
36.16
Pine Bluff AR
640
36.36
Texarkana-Texarkana TX-AR
1370
33.81
Central Arkansas nonmetropolitan area
1240
32.72
East Arkansas nonmetropolitan area
1730
33.81
South Arkansas nonmetropolitan area
1810
33.33
West Arkansas nonmetropolitan area
1470
33.79

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