Thousand Oaks, CA area????

What a small world. Thousand Oaks is located in Ventura County, and I was born and raised in Ventura County. However, I was born and raised in Oxnard, which is the working-class city in the area. Thousand Oaks is considered the upscale, affluent city of that area.

Los Robles Regional Medical Center is in Thousand Oaks. One of my nursing instructors was paid $45 per hour to work on one of their med-surg floors. If you're in the mood to commute to nearby hospitals, there's Kaiser Hospital in Woodland Hills, Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, St. Johns in Camarillo, St. Johns in Oxnard, and Encino-Tarzana Hospital in Tarzana and Encino. Encino Hospital is a wonderful place to work; however, they don't have an ICU. There's also West Hills Hospital in West Hills.

The cost of living in Thousand Oaks is sky-high, with an average small house costing about $600,000. Gas is about $2.35 per gallon. Rents range from $1,500 to $2,000 for a 1-bedroom apartment.

I live 10 min from Thousand Oaks, but my DH and I both work there. I think it's a great place to live, family-friendly, low crime, good schools (in case you have kids), lots of parks, entertainment and 20 min to the beaches. You can find more information on the city here:
http://www.ci.thousand-oaks.ca.us/living/default.asp

I was born & raised in Boston & now live in Woodland Hills CA, which is very close to Thousand Oaks. It is an adjustment.

thousand oaks is a great area for kids. they have award winning schools. I also think it has the lowest crime rate in the country? or at least for a couple years it did. in general, it is a so cal suburbia- but relatively close to beaches. a good area. houses are expensive- but all of socal semi-close to ocean is.

Sounds like Thousand Oaks is a nice place to live. But how much they will pay a RN with 2 year experience in the area? The place sounds so expensive.
Thanks!

Rebecca

A car is must, as public transportation is very limited in the area. If you find work in Thousand Oaks (eg, Los Robles hospital or Thousand Oaks Surgery hospital), then you'll probably spend 5-10 min on commute. 15-20 mins to Oxnard (St John's Regional Med Ctr), 25-30 min to Woodland Hills (West Hills hospital or Kaiser Permanente). Freeway traffic is usually light around here (compare to really bad traffic in LA area).

I can't give exact numbers, as it depends on experience, degree, field, etc., but every RN I know here makes more than $30/hour.

You can make around or more than 30/hr in Phoenix, and things much much cheaper here.