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Top 10 Best and Worst States to be a CNA
NursingLink / CareerVoyages.gov
There is a projected need for 393,000 CNAs needed in the United States by 2016. CNAs are one of the most in demand professions in America, but with so many job openings, it begs the question: Where should you work? NursingLink is committed to providing its members with the most most pertinent career research available. Below is the 10 best and worst places to be a CNA based on starting salary and job openings.
Top 10 States With the Fewest New CNA Jobs
| State | Annual Number of Job Openings |
| 1. Montana | |
| 2. South Dakota | |
| 3. Maine | |
| 3. Maine | |
| 4. New Mexico | |
| 5. Delaware | |
| 6. Hawaii | |
| 7. North Dakota | |
| 8. Wyoming | |
| 9. Vermont | |
| 10. Alaksa |
workingclassunite1
11 days ago
2 comments
I can't believe how undervalued CNAs are. It is some of the hardest work I've ever done. I am a career changer and have been in administration before. I had no idea. Many people in administration treats you like you're an idiot. Unbelievable. I wish everyone in the medical field had to do the job for even 1 40 hour week. See what it's like.
Texasgirl4life
30 days ago
2 comments
I work in Tacoma WA making 21.00 dollars an hour, I started off in a nursing home and then to a hospital. Now I work in an out patient clinic making 21 dollars an hour still as a cna out pt horray try to get into an out pt setting if your hospitals have specialties clinics am in a infusion one.
Rachel12482
2 months ago
2 comments
I am a CNA in Southern Utah. I am making $9.60 an hour in a long term care facility . I feed dependent residents, bathe, toilet, etc. Utah has to be the most underpaid state. Even as a server I made $2.13 an hour plus tips. This is ridiculous.
crob85
5 months ago
2 comments
In MI I am making almost $17.00 and I have a cousin works at a prison hospital as a CNA making around $19.00 ...I wanted to move out of this place but the pay in other states just doesnt seem worth it!
bambam87
7 months ago
2 comments
I believe ga is the worst state for cna they pay only 8.00. I heated
TN pay atleast 12. I might need to move asap.
Necole4851
7 months ago
2 comments
I work as a CNA in sanford NC and I've been on my job 12yrs and I'm just making 9.25 and hour doing private duty... But currently I'm drawing unemployment because my job has no clients on fill in work...I refuse to work at a rest home because they pay you less and you do tripple the work... CNAS don't get the pay they deserve and I don't see it getting any better.
miacarter007
10 months ago
2 comments
I am residing in NY at present and planning to move to Alaska in a month. I was a bit worried about the payscale, but as suggested by this site and another site named http://www.cnaclasseshelp.com/, I feel the hourly wages are almost at par in both the states. So I probably need not worry.
jessb
about 1 year ago
2 comments
I currently live in pennsylvania and i work as a CNA in new jersey (not to far from where i live) i just got my certification in december 2011 and im making 13.50 during the week and 14.50 on the weekends.
kitia404
about 1 year ago
2 comments
I don't agree with the scale above.........I've been a CNA a lil over 14yrs and i'll be very honest i don't take a job paying me less than 12 hrly. My last job in AZ @ a hospitlal 13 In my opinion nursing homes pay a lil more i've made anywhere form 15-17 dollars an hr(but with more back breaking work)............BUT now i'm here in GA and OMG i'm sooooo ready to leave this god forsaken state, what they wanna pay cna's here is an insult!!!! .............I should've stayed where is was......Now i'm thinking about going for MA
411Patience
about 1 year ago
2 comments
I live in Kansas and I've been a CNA for 16 years. And I only make just over two dollars more than I made when I first started 16 years ago. Here in Kansas we are over worked and under paid, with nowhere to turn but to another job to make up the amount that we could of been making at our other job. The cost of living has went up, but our pay has stayed the same.
genman
over 1 year ago
62 comments
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creatingchloe
over 1 year ago
2 comments
There is a large amount of ignorance as to what a CNA's current job description is. Most people believe that the only duty of a certified nursing assistant is to assist with toileting which is one of the most important duties a cna has. It's also why so many people are in nursing homes. Their own family members are not equipped to deal with the issue. Imagine if we weren't there. A nurse would not do this. We are there to feed those that can't feed themselves. We are there to exercise those that can't move for themselves preventing pressure sores. CNA's are there to observe, record and report any changes in a person's behavior. We are there to promote independence and mobility. We are there to provide CPR when needed, emotional support, end of life care and after death care. We record nutritional intake, vitals and weights. CNA are direct caregivers. We are sometimes a patient's advocate. The position of a certified nursing assistant deserves a higher pay scale than what is proposed in any of these states.
hadassa
over 1 year ago
2 comments
The worse state to work as a CNA or in the nursing field all together is ARIZONA. They will falsely accuse any one very quickly. Nurses as nasty @ 95 % of the time with CNA S..and don t appreciate any thing but sitting on their lazy fat derriere telling the CNAS how to be a CNA when in the first place, they are not nurses at all, but just someone who gives medication and paper work. The true nurses are THE CNA S. Nurses use their power to defame , discriminate, falsely accuse, abuse, arrases, and make cnas loosing their job or licences with no mercy what so ever. Again, Arizona is a nightmare for CNAS and nurses. I am going to leave this place very soon, I want to vomit when it comes to think of the state law of AZ. Their is no freedom in AZ. For the few good nurses I have seen, they think the same way I do, and are over worked as well, while being fired as easy as CNA S, just because another nasty evil nurse did not like them, and it is not even job related. Reva is right, let see when those evil people end up in a nursing home, losing their mind and wiping their own face with their bowel movement in their face, lol
Reva1216
over 1 year ago
2 comments
I have been a CNA for going on 9 yrs and I make 10.50 an hour (which is an insult) because I'm the one cleaning the feces,talking with the lonely resident's and making sure all there needs are met.while the nurse who simply walks in and hands them a pill make double if not triple what I make!!! I think there is something wrong with this picture..as a CNA I get treated like I'm a nobody Daily at work by superior staff simply because my tag reads CNA but I'm the one doing the "real work"..I don't see my administrator wiping anyone's butt or getting a bedpan for any patient...I really think wages need to depend on how much u actually do for the patients...I just can't wait til the one's who think nothing of a CNA end up in a nursing home themselves!!
HEALTHWORKER
over 1 year ago
2 comments
HOW CAN A BUSSINESS EXCEPT THESE PEOPLE THAT GIVE SOOOOOOO MUCH OF THEM SELF, CANNOT HARDLY EAT, FEED AND CLOTH THEIR CHILDREN,BECAUSE OF A JOB TITLE{CNA} BUT TO THE PERSON AND IF THEY ARE BLESSED ENOUGH TO HAVE A LOVING FAMILY : YOUR VERY IMPORTANT MAYBE EACH STATE NEED A UNION FOR CNA'S. I DONT HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS, BUT I DO KNOW SOMETHING HAS GOT TO BE DONE BEFORE ONE DAY THERE IS NO ONE TO GET THE BED PAN OR WIPE THE FECES OFF MOTHER /FATHER /SICK CHILD/ARE MAYBE EVEN YOURSELF .....THEY DO SO MUCH .THE ONES THAT CARES.....AND THE ONES THAT DONT ....THEY JUST DONT..... BUT MANAGEMENT SEEMS TO LOVE THE ONES {CNA 'S} THAT DONT CARE.....I DONT KNOW PEOPLE.......HELP R.N./MONTGOMERY , AL