Seeing as how I work an academic medical center, it should be obvious, I obtain my salary as a W2. My annual salary as of 2016 is ~$168,000, which is standard for the market that I am in (note: a local competitor pays its CRNAs an annual salary of ~$174,000). In fact, I almost get the sense that $140,000-160,000 is the wage many CRNAs make across the country. If that’s the case, then I guess the biggest question you should be asking yourself is: what kind of lifestyle do I want? $160K in Alabama goes a hell of a lot further than $160K in California.
In addition, I work in multiple private practice settings, where my hourly wage ranges from $120-$175/hour. There are some gigs where I am paid a straight $1000 for 5-6 hours of work. I am paid as a 1099 for these shifts.
As a result of this, I ended up registering myself as a sole proprietor. I realize that there are other business structures such as LLC and S-Corp and many of my colleagues have gone through the hoops to incorporate themselves because it offers a distinct advantage (among several others): your business assets are separate from your personal assets. However, for my situation, I opted to become a sole proprietor and I’ll detail why in a different post.
Life as a CRNA 