One 16-hour shift paid Monica $2,845 before taxes. After taxes, that is still close to $2,000 for one day of work. Here is how the pay on a 16-hour shift adds up in California.
These rates are from February 2024, when this was first written. Pay changes every year, so check current rates in Map My Pay.
Why nurses pick up 16-hour shifts
Some big hospital systems in California have long been known for offering a lot of overtime shifts. Lately, some of them have cut back. They saw how much money they spend on overtime, and nurses could earn over $200 an hour on those shifts.
Monica and I used to pick up a lot of overtime. It’s how we paid off $128,461 of debt. Read the full story of how we paid off our debt.
When we first started our YouTube channel, I made a video about a nurse who worked over 365 days of 16-hour shifts. You might be surprised to hear that this nurse has not been approved for much overtime in the past 2 to 3 months.
Many nurses would rather stay for a 16-hour shift than come in on their days off. The reason is how much money one 16-hour shift pays.
How Monica’s 16-hour shift pay breaks down
- Monica’s hourly rate: $132.70, with the night shift differential.
- Her regular shift: 11 pm to 7:30 am.
- Her extended shift: She adds an extra shift from 3 pm, so she works 3 pm to 7:30 am the next day.
Here is how she gets paid for the extended shift:
| Hours | Pay rate |
|---|---|
| First 4 hours | 1.5 times her rate, with the evening shift differential |
| Next 4 hours | 2 times her rate, with the evening shift differential |
| Last 8 hours | Her regular rate of $132.70 an hour |
That adds up to a total of $2,845 for the 16 hours she works. That is before federal, state, Medicare and Social Security taxes.
What she takes home after taxes
You often hear that you can’t live in California because the state takes so much in taxes. Give me a break. That one shift pays what a nurse in another state might make in a week or two of work.
Here are those numbers in an after-tax calculator:
As a single earner, your take-home pay will be around $1,986. Taxes take about 30% of your gross, and you still have close to $2,000 for one day of work.
What two shifts cover for us
Monica and I pay around $4,100 a month for our mortgage, property taxes, home insurance and HOA dues. Two of these shifts almost cover the whole thing.
We still bring home over $14,000 a month while working fewer than 20 hours a week. That’s how we can afford nice trips, pay all of our bills and invest a good amount each year without working long hours.
Two 16-hour shifts a week
Picture working just two 16-hour shifts a week. You could easily make close to $150,000 a year, and you’d have 10 days off every two weeks.
Some critics say working 16 hours straight can be risky for patients. I don’t think it’s that different from someone who wakes up at 7 am and goes to bed at 11 pm. That is pretty much what a 16-hour shift is like.
At some hospitals, an 8-hour shift nurse gets two 1-hour lunch breaks on these long shifts. And you don’t have to come in on your days off to pick up overtime.
Work smarter, not harder. For more on overtime, read why OT is keeping nurses broke and see the biggest paychecks we ever got as nurses.
Your next move
See what you’d take home, then make the move
Map My Pay shows what nurses take home after taxes and rent at 465+ hospitals and in 21,000+ cities. It’s the app I co-founded so you can compare cities before you pack a single box.
The Nurses to Riches Accelerator is the plan Monica and I used to go from $37 an hour in New York to $143 an hour in California: license, city, hospital, and what to do with the money after.
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Written by Jason, RN. I went from $37 an hour in New York to $143 an hour in California and paid off $128K of debt in under a year. I share our numbers in the Nurses to Riches newsletter and on YouTube.