Hey {{first_name|there}} 👋
It's the last day of CNA Week. If yours was a crockpot of hot dogs on night shift while the nurses got catered, you noticed, and you weren't alone.
So instead of another thank-you card, here's something you can use: a 2-year move out of CNA work that pays about $37,000 more a year. The path, the catches, and whether it's worth it, below.
First, the question that actually kept coming up this week, whether CNA pay is even worth it. We pulled the official numbers, plus two things landing on your shift that nobody's putting on a card, and a 30-year veteran's look back.
Let's get into it.
THE PAY CHECK
Money, wages, and what you’re worth.
Know your baseline
The median CNA wage was $39,530 a year in May 2024, about $19 an hour, according to the BLS. The bottom 10 percent earned under $31,390, roughly $15 an hour. The top 10 percent cleared $50,140, about $24 an hour.
Treat that as your national baseline, not the ceiling. Setting changes everything: a hospital or specialty unit usually pays more than a nursing home, agency and per diem rates run higher still, and a travel contract can clear all of it. Experience and your local market move it too.
So there's no single "good" rate. What matters is knowing where you land against that middle, and why. If you're near the bottom for your setting and experience, that's the number to bring to your next review, not a vague "I'd like a raise."
Your leverage: there are nearly 1.4 million of you, the third-largest healthcare job in the country, and demand isn't slowing.
SHIFT REPORT
What’s happening in CNA world this week.
If your unit is sweltering, know the rule
It's hot out, and on a lot of units the AC can't keep up, which gets dangerous fast for frail residents, especially anyone on medications that affect how the body handles heat. The rule: under CMS requirements, nursing homes must keep a safe, comfortable temperature, and facilities certified after October 1990 have to hold a 71-to-81-degree range. Older buildings aren't bound by that exact range, so "the residents are comfortable" isn't always backed by a number. If your unit's sweltering, trust your read, note the temperature, and flag it up the chain.On Medicaid? New work-reporting rules are coming
The government finalized Medicaid work requirements on June 1. If you're covered through Medicaid expansion, you'll need to document 80 hours a month of work or other approved activity. As a full-time CNA you clear that easily. The risk isn't whether you qualify, it's the paperwork: people lose coverage over a missed form, not because they're ineligible, and some find out at the pharmacy counter. Most states start by January 2027, a few sooner. If this is your coverage, watch your mail and make sure your hours get reported. (Mainly affects adults without dependent kids.)
KFF Health News
FROM THE FLOOR
Real talk from the job.
30 years on the floor
A CNA in Texas, 30 years in, shared some memories this week. They double as a history of the job.
When she started, about the only digital tools were watches and thermometers. Blood pressures came off a roll-around mercury cuff, and you counted breaths against the clock on the wall. The first time a new aide wheeled in a digital BP machine, her nurse told her to "get that thing outta my building." She laughs about it now.
The change she calls the most catastrophic? Briefs. Back then residents wore cloth ones, and everything came off in bed. In a facility of 101 people, three open bedsores was treated like an emergency.
She still remembers being embarrassed the first time she cared for a male resident, turning away while another aide helped. Thirty years later, she's seen all of it.
The tools changed. The tech changed. The work, the actual showing up for another human being, didn't. That's the part the week is supposed to be about.
YOUR MOVE
Career paths, certifications, and what comes next.
The 2-year pivot that pays $37,000 more
Real money, for CNA Week: X-ray tech, radiologic technology, pays a median of $77,660 a year. That's about $37,000 over the CNA median.
The path is an 18 to 24-month associate degree from an accredited program, then ARRT certification and, in most states, a license. What makes it pay off long-term: once you hold the base credential, you can stack CT, MRI, mammography, or interventional radiography through add-on exams, no new degree required. MRI alone runs around $87,000.
And your CNA experience isn't wasted. Positioning a frail or injured patient for a clean image is harder than it looks, so the bedside skills you already have give you a head start in clinical rotations.
The honest catches: admissions are competitive, about 40 states require a license, and the work is physical, closer to bedside CNA work than the calm-outpatient stereotype.
Whether it pencils out depends on the programs near you and what they cost.
BREAK ROOM
You’ve earned a laugh.
What your facility got you for CNA Week
The gifts rolled in this week. One CNA on night shift went to wash her hands in the break room and found, with no announcement, a crockpot full of hot water and hot dogs. "Yuck," she said, "but I guess it's the thought that counts."
Another's facility merged CNA Week with Juneteenth and gave them Monday through Friday. The nurses, meanwhile, got two full weeks, weekends included.
In fairness, the hot dog crew partly redeemed themselves. The nurses there each "adopted" a CNA and bought them a real gift.
Happy CNA Week. You deserved the catering. You got the crockpot. We see you.
Night shift’s hot meal, as promised.
What did yours do for the week? Hit reply.
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See you next week
The CNA Brief
A publication of thecnaguide.com.