Pay in Bakersfield?

The start pay at the county hospital- Kern Medical Center - is about $26.50 with a 4% increase in July. I'm assuming the other hospitals in Bakersfield are comparable. There isn't much to do there. I just graduated from Cal. State Univ, Bakersfield- so I lived there for 3 years. Now I'm up in the Bay Area. After two months of searching I just landed a job in the ICU, today! Last week I actually went back to Bakersfield to get a job at Kern Medical Center, which they offered to me on the spot! But now that this job came through I will be staying in the Bay Area.

When I lived in Bakersfield I spent my free time at the gym, movies, bookstores, shopping...The weather is horrible, freezing in the winter, 110 degrees in the summer, as well as one of the worst air qualities in the state. It's not very pleasant but if you busy and have your own social network it's OK temporarily, in my opinion.

Good Luck!

Do you mind if I ask where you got a job in the bay area and the pay? I will be graduating in June and want to know where is still hiring up here and what kind of pay to expect. Thanks

You need to realize that the housing market is MUCH cheaper than the Bay area. Right now housing in Bakersfield are fairly inexpensive at around the $180,000 to $200,000 market due to all the foreclosures. And you are close to the Sierra Nevedas, Tehachapi (cute little town in the mtn-driving distance to Bakersfield) Frazier Park, Kern River, about 2 hrs from the beach, and close to LA if you want the big city events. So it depends on if you are an indoor type of gal or outdoor type of gal!

I lived in Bakersfield for 2 years, from 2003 to 2005. While I liked living there, it is not the most cosmopolitan or glamorous place in California. The culture, people, weather, politics, and landscape all remind me of Oklahoma City. The area hospitals pay new grads between $25 and $27 hourly.

The housing market has plummeted seriously. My parents still live in Bakersfield and their nice two-story house in the desirable Southwest part of town was worth $280,000 in early 2007, but houses in their neighborhood are now selling for $120,000. I sold my house for $260,000 in less desirable Southeast Bakersfield back in 2005, and the same property is now valued at $110,000 4 years later.

It is not the place for a young single person. It is more suited for a married person who is settled and family-oriented.