Most people assume a pharmacist, a software developer and a physician assistant all earn more than a brand-new nurse. On a yearly chart in California, they are right. Count the hours and the new Kaiser nurse vs other careers comparison turns around. Only a family doctor and a lawyer still earn more.
Staff RN · Map My Pay Co-Founder · November 13, 2026
A new Kaiser Northern California nurse starts at $85.48 an hour. Three 12s for a full year is 1,872 hours, so that first-day rate comes to $160,019 before a single differential.
I put that number next to the California medians from BLS for 12 jobs everyone knows. Six of them pay more a year, and I am going to show you all six. Then I looked at the hours behind each number, and two were left.
| The numbers | |
|---|---|
| New Kaiser Northern California rate | $85.48 an hour |
| Three 12s for a year | 1,872 hours |
| New Kaiser nurse, base pay | $160,019 a year |
| California median RN | $67.44 an hour, $140,270 a year |
| Careers on my list that pay more a year | 6 of 12 |
| Careers on my list that pay more an hour | 2 of the 10 with an hourly figure |
| BLS data | May 2025, released May 15, 2026 |
Base pay only. Kaiser figure is the January 2026 rate for nurses represented by CNA. All other figures are BLS California medians.
A new Kaiser nurse does not out-earn a pharmacist or a developer by the year in California. The chart below shows that plainly. By the hour, that nurse does. This is the top of nursing, though. The median California nurse trails all six, so compare your own rate before you quote this one.
New Kaiser nurse vs other careers, by the year
Here is the chart most people expect. The median family doctor in California earns $91,991 more than a new Kaiser nurse. The median lawyer earns $35,061 more. The pharmacist is closer than you might think, at $4,591 more a year.
| Career, California median | Per year | Against the new Kaiser nurse |
|---|---|---|
| Family doctor | $252,010 | $91,991 more |
| Lawyer | $195,080 | $35,061 more |
| Software developer | $174,410 | $14,391 more |
| Dentist | $165,950 | $5,931 more |
| Physician assistant | $165,650 | $5,631 more |
| Pharmacist | $164,610 | $4,591 more |
| New Kaiser nurse, three 12s | $160,019 | |
| California median RN | $140,270 | $19,749 less |
| Police officer | $118,880 | $41,139 less |
| High school teacher | $101,370 | $58,649 less |
| Elementary teacher | $99,650 | $60,369 less |
| Accountant | $97,050 | $62,969 less |
| Firefighter | $85,120 | $74,899 less |
| Electrician | $76,160 | $83,859 less |
Source: BLS OEWS, California, May 2025, released May 15, 2026, read October 31, 2026. BLS job titles: Family Medicine Physicians; Lawyers; Software Developers; Dentists, General; Physician Assistants; Pharmacists; Registered Nurses; Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers; Secondary and Elementary School Teachers, excluding special education; Accountants and Auditors; Firefighters; Electricians. The nurse row is $85.48 times 1,872 hours.
The other six careers on my list sit below the nurse. A new Kaiser nurse earns $41,139 more than the median California police officer. The gap with the median high school teacher is $58,649. I also ran who retires richer among those three careers.
If I stopped here, you would think six careers simply pay better. The hours say otherwise.
New Kaiser nurse vs other careers, by the hour
BLS builds most yearly figures by multiplying the hourly wage by 2,080 hours. That is 40 hours a week all year. Three 12s come to 1,872, which is 208 fewer hours. The yearly chart counts a little more than five extra 40-hour weeks for most other jobs and not for the nurse.
So I lined up the hourly medians from the same BLS table. The new Kaiser rate of $85.48 passes the software developer by $1.63 an hour and the dentist by $5.69. It passes the physician assistant by $5.84 and the pharmacist by $6.34. The lawyer stays ahead by $8.31 and the family doctor by $35.68.
| Career, California median | Per hour | At 1,872 hours |
|---|---|---|
| Family doctor | $121.16 | $226,812 |
| Lawyer | $93.79 | $175,575 |
| New Kaiser nurse | $85.48 | $160,019 |
| Software developer | $83.85 | $156,967 |
| Dentist | $79.79 | $149,367 |
| Physician assistant | $79.64 | $149,086 |
| Pharmacist | $79.14 | $148,150 |
| California median RN | $67.44 | $126,248 |
| Police officer | $57.15 | $106,985 |
| Accountant | $46.66 | $87,348 |
| Firefighter | $40.92 | $76,602 |
| Electrician | $36.62 | $68,553 |
Source: BLS OEWS, California, May 2025, hourly medians. The right column is each hourly median times 1,872, my math, to put every job on three 12s. BLS posts no hourly wage for teachers, because they are paid by the year and do not work 2,080 hours. That keeps them off this chart.
Put every job on the same 1,872 hours and the new Kaiser nurse is at $160,019. The software developer is at $156,967 and the pharmacist is at $148,150. The lawyer still leads at $175,575.
Run your own years, hours and shift at 465+ hospitals before you compare your pay with anyone's.
Open the salary calculator →Kaiser is the top of nursing, not the typical nurse
I do not want a tired nurse in a lower-paying unit reading this and thinking something is wrong with them. Kaiser Northern California sits near the very top of this profession. In the Map My Pay hospital table, 469 hospitals list a day-one rate. Only Stanford at $92.77 and UC San Francisco at $89.03 start higher than the 21 Kaiser Northern California hospitals.
The median California RN earns $67.44 an hour. That is $140,270 at the 2,080 hours BLS uses, and $126,248 on three 12s. On equal hours, a new Kaiser nurse is $33,771 ahead of the median nurse in the same state. That median nurse has all kinds of experience, too.
BLS counts 338,940 RNs in California. National Nurses United says CNA represents more than 25,000 nurses at 22 Kaiser facilities. Most California nurses are not on this scale. The median California nurse trails all six careers, by the year and by the hour. The U.S. RN median is lower again, at $46.90 an hour or $97,550 a year.
One more check on the $160,019. It needs three 12s. The last Kaiser Northern California residency posting I read listed 32 hours a week. I noted that in my Kaiser RN residency program breakdown, and the posting has since come down. At 32 hours, the same $85.48 comes to about $142,239, which is close to the median RN's yearly figure. Read the hours on your own offer before you quote the big number.
What these numbers leave out
A lot of people will push back on this chart, and some of them will be right. These are the limits I would want you to know before you send it to anyone.
The comparison is a first-day nurse against a median worker. A median covers every experience level in that job. I have no BLS figure for a first-year lawyer or developer, so I am not going to guess one.
Owners are missing. The BLS survey leaves out the self-employed and the owners and partners of unincorporated firms. A dentist who owns the practice or a law firm partner may not be in these rows at all. Those careers can go much higher than the median here.
Extras are missing for everyone. BLS leaves out overtime, shift differentials, nonproduction bonuses and benefits. That cuts both ways. The Kaiser night rate for a new nurse is $101.18, and it is not in this chart. A police officer's overtime and a lawyer's year-end bonus are not in it either. The BLS notes I read do not mention stock grants, so I would not assume a developer's stock is counted.
A salaried week can run long. BLS uses 2,080 hours to turn hourly pay into yearly pay, whether or not the person stays late. I cannot tell you from this table how many hours a lawyer or a developer works. A longer week would pull their true hourly pay lower.
The dates are eight months apart. The BLS figures are from May 2025. The Kaiser rate took effect in January 2026, so those other careers may have had raises too.
School is not equal. BLS lists a doctoral or professional degree as the typical entry for pharmacists, lawyers and dentists. For physician assistants, it lists a master's. For RNs and software developers, it lists a bachelor's. Kaiser's residency page lists a nursing bachelor's as preferred, not required. I did not price the loans here, and they would change the lifetime math.
Nursing has its own next steps, too. In California, the median nurse practitioner earns $168,520, or $81.02 an hour. The median nurse anesthetist earns $292,410, or $140.58 an hour.
How fast the Kaiser scale passes them
The first day is the lowest number a Kaiser nurse will ever see on this scale. After one year, base pay on three 12s is $168,012. That passes the median pharmacist, physician assistant and dentist on the yearly chart, with no adjustment for hours. Year 2 passes the software developer. Year 5 reaches $196,635, which passes the median lawyer by $1,555.
| Kaiser years | Per hour | Three 12s | What it just passed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | $85.48 | $160,019 | Six of the 12 careers still lead |
| Year 1 | $89.75 | $168,012 | Pharmacist, physician assistant, dentist |
| Year 2 | $94.24 | $176,417 | Software developer |
| Year 5 | $105.04 | $196,635 | Lawyer |
| Year 10 | $108.77 | $203,617 | |
| Year 20 | $113.70 | $212,846 | |
| Year 30 | $119.45 | $223,610 | Still under the family doctor |
Source: Kaiser and CNA agreement, Appendix A, wage table effective the first full pay period of January 2026, printed page 134, Staff Nurse I then Staff Nurse II. Rates match the Map My Pay hospital table. Yearly figures are the hourly rate times 1,872. The medians stay at May 2025 levels in this table.
The family doctor is the one the scale never reaches. At year 30, base pay on three 12s is $223,610, and the median family doctor is at $252,010. I would say that plainly to anyone who asks.
If you want this scale, I wrote up how to get hired at Kaiser in California.
How to get a job at Kaiser →The Kaiser contract expired, so these rates may move
Every Kaiser figure here comes from the 2022 to 2026 agreement. Kaiser says that agreement expired on August 31, 2026. By its October 12 update, Kaiser and CNA had met 17 times since July. Kaiser also said CNA had called a strike authorization vote.
I checked Kaiser's bargaining page on October 31. The newest item was dated October 21, and I found no new agreement posted. A raise would move every Kaiser number in this post. It could also change which careers the first-day rate passes, so look again before you quote it.
I am a staff RN. On October 31, 2026, I read every career figure from the BLS California table. I checked each one against the BLS data service. I read the Kaiser rate from the wage table in the contract. Where a career beat the nurse, I left it on the chart. Where BLS posts no hourly wage, I said so and did not make one up.
Both charts use the same BLS table and the same Kaiser rate. The only thing that changes is how many hours you count. That one change moves a new Kaiser nurse from behind six careers to behind two.
Run your own years, hours and shift at 465+ hospitals in the Map My Pay app.
See your own rate in Map My Pay →Sources: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, California, May 2025; BLS news release USDL-26-0725, May 15, 2026; BLS OEWS technical notes; BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook; Kaiser Permanente and CNA agreement, 2022 to 2026, Appendix A, printed page 134; Kaiser Permanente, July 31, 2026; Kaiser Permanente, October 12, 2026; National Nurses United, October 8, 2026; Map My Pay hospital table, read October 31, 2026.
All figures are gross pay before taxes. Medians describe a whole occupation, not any one person. Kaiser figures apply to Northern California nurses represented by CNA, at base pay, and can change with a new contract. This article is for general information and is not career, legal, or financial advice.