Discounting Experience
As we've seen in previous surveys, nurse practitioners with a doctorate degree are paid more on average than those with other degrees (up to $3,269 more than NPs with a master's degree). The 3% of our respondents who have doctorates make an average of $84,786 a year (Table 5).

As in 2005, associate-degree holders earned more than NPs with a bachelor's degree. We might chalk this up to experience: NPs practicing with an associate's degree have likely been practicing for a long time. Also, respondents with associate's degrees represent only 1.7% of our total respondents, versus 3.3% of bachelor's degree holders and 92% with a master's degree.

It's tough to put a price tag on experience, but veteran NPs may have to change their expectations if they think "putting in their time" means making a lot more money. As in the past, our survey shows salaries leveling off after several years of practice. The highest salaries went to those in practice for 6 to 15 years (Table 6). This makes a lot of NPs happy, though, since most of our respondents fell in this experience range (44%).

Respondents who have practiced as a nurse practitioner for 16 to 20 years made up to $2,170 less than NPs with fewer years' experience. But in the 26-years-or-more experience range, salaries seemed again to reach roughly the same level as the 6-to-15-years experience range (just a $700 difference between the two). The biggest wage gap was between the least experienced NPs and the NPs with 6 to 10 years experience - an almost $7,000 shortfall between the two salaries.

"Experience is not the most important thing I look at when offering someone a job," explained Glenda Clemens, NP, a practice owner in Norman, Okla., who pays each nurse practitioner the same flat rate and then gives bonuses based on the clinic's profit. "Some NPs with a lot of experience also have a lot of negativity. I hire based on how well they fit our team in terms of personalities, knowledge base, desire to be of service to those less fortunate, and willingness to be responsible."

The Gender Gap...Again
The gender breakdown of our survey showed that men still typically make more than women. This year's salary divide was $7,735 (Table 7). And this gap isn't explained by practice setting: Our survey results show that the percentages of men and women in high-paying settings are almost identical.

The salary divide could be seen as slightly encouraging, though, because it seems to be narrowing. Nurse practitioners who are women now make 8.7% less than NPs who are men, down from our 2005 survey's 11.7% shortfall.