Many might not even know that the average midwife salary is considered to be one of the highest in health care professions. Keep reading this CareerStint article to know the details.
Midwifery is a medical job which involves taking care of a pregnant woman during pregnancy, helping her in delivering the baby, and providing postnatal care in hospital as well as in the woman’s home.
Majoring in nursing will be helpful if you are looking to make a career in midwifery. Certified registered nurse-midwives (CRNMs) can manage an uncomplicated pregnancy and delivery, and are usually less expensive than obstetricians. To get into a nurse midwifery education program, you need to have the bachelor’s degree in nursing. For many programs, the applicant needs to be a registered nurse. However, there are some programs for non-nurses too. You may acquire a Master’s Degree and/or Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree (a relatively new degree). Like CRNMs, certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) and certified midwives (CMs) help women, children, and families to have better lives. They educate men and women on family planning options, pregnancy and childbirth concerns, and newborn care. CRNMs, CNMs, and CMs can set up their own practices.
Midwives are responsible for rendering prenatal and postnatal care for women. They perform appropriate tests, and ensure the proper physical condition of the mother as well as the to-be-born child. They assist the mother in delivering the baby. After the baby is born, they provide additional care for maintaining the health of both the mother and the baby. They consult with parents of the delivered child regarding proper child care and family planning. Their services are required in public and private hospitals, health care facilities, and baby care medical settings.
There are several factors that have an impact on the midwife salary range, such as the level of work experience, facility of employment, location where services are provided, expertise, other benefits offered by the employer, working hours, type of care provided, and most importantly the certification. Certified midwives have chances of drawing better salaries than those who are not certified. In some places, midwives who are not certified may not even be allowed to deliver babies or render their services, hugely impacting their salary. Obviously for those who are certified, the most money comes in big cities, where the earning potential and the opportunity is higher. Thus, midwives working in urban areas will earn higher salaries than those working in rural areas. Similarly, the place where these professionals work also impacts their salaries, with nurse-midwives affiliated to or working in a hospital or clinic drawing higher salaries than those working independently. Lastly, how long you have been working as a midwife can also boost your income; the longer you have worked, the more your salary will be.
➺ It can be seen that the salary for these professionals ranges from a healthy $68K to $96K, and it can even cross the $100K mark.
➺ A certified nurse midwife earns an average salary of $84,844 per year.
➺ The estimated hourly rate is $35.52 – $54.80. The median hourly rate is $45.00.
* Source: PayScale, May 2015
➺ The average annual salary of a certified nurse midwife is $95,969.
➺ Depending upon the location, expertise, type of employment, etc., the annual salary of a newly qualified midwife can be between $75,000 and $94,789.
➺ Those who have a work experience of 7-9 years may get anything between $95,969 and $101,417.
➺ The annual salary of an experienced (15-20 years experience) midwife will be above $114,319.
* Source: Salary dot Com, May 2015
➺ Coming to the places where this profession is in demand, Iowa pays the most ($128,120), but the salary range for midwives remains pretty much the same all throughout the urban areas. The other top-paying states were California ($127,940), North Dakota ($121,790), Oregon ($113,480), and New Hampshire ($111,700).
➺ Offices of physicians have the highest level of employment in this occupation. The annual mean wage of a midwife working in a physician’s office was $96,820. There exists a $10,000 to $20,000 difference depending where you choose to work, with hospitals offering the best pay for a certified nurse midwife.
➺ The annual mean wage of midwives working in general medical and surgical hospitals was $104,400.
➺ New York, California, Massachusetts, Florida, and Georgia were the states with the highest level of employment in this occupation. The annual mean wages paid in California and Massachusetts were $127,940 and $103,600 respectively.
➺ Metropolitan areas with the highest employment level in this occupation were New York-White Plains-Wayne, Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, and Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington.
➺ The top-paying metropolitan areas for this occupation were San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, (all in CA).
* Source: The Bureau of Labor Statistics
Note that the midwife salary ranges mentioned above are estimated figures. They may possibly change as they depend on several aspects.
Midwives have to undergo extensive training, as they are responsible for a smooth delivery process. If something is going wrong with the delivery, they can detect it immediately and can take the necessary steps. They are trained to handle certain complications during and after delivery, and as such, they earn a respectable salary. If you are looking to make a career in this field, you should not be faint-hearted, and must be able to make decisions in quick time. And of course, as the name suggests, the profession is hugely female-dominated, though there is not rule that stops males from becoming midwives.