Advice and pay question-California CNA

[Taylor1432]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could give me an idea of average CNA wages in Sacramento, CA. I currently live in Montana but will be moving back to my hometown of Sacramento in a little over a year. I already have 3 years of cna experience in a skilled nursing facility and 6 months of home health experience. I don't trust salary websites because they are all different and they don't match what I make in MT. I have heard that hospital CNA's make the most there. Averaging $15/hr? Is it very competitive to get in? Would my experience help me at all? I'm very confident I could get a nursing home job so what is the hourly rate for that looking like? I've heard $11/hr which seems crazy because that is less than what I make in MT where the cost of living is literally half of what it is in CA. Home health? Travel CNA? My husband will be making $1700/mo (gi bill pay while he's in school) and our baby will be a little over 1 when we move there so I'm a little worried about making enough to support ourselves.

Since we have a year left here, I have the opportunity to get through a quick certification program for free such as pharmacy tech, billing and coding, med transcription, phlebotomy, etc. would I be able to support my family better with one of those certifications? Or should I use my time working as a CNA? Trying to learn Spanish? Lol I will be going to nursing school once my husband graduates so this is all temporary.

Any advice and ideas of hourly rates near the Sacramento area would be very much appreciated!!!

Also, I've heard a little bit about challenging the nclex-pn in CA. With my experience and a little education would that be possible?

[nccna]

How to hit $15-20/hour...

1.Realize that you probably will not be offered benefits, most places that offer higher salaries do not offer benefits or PDO.

2. If you want to work in a hospital as a CNA, obtain higher CNA levels. Also pick up a common secondary CNA skill such as unit secretary, ekg, phlebotomy.

3. If you just to work in a hospital you should look into working in an entry level department such as admissions and work your way into finance/billing/dictation/administration.

4. Call the employers human resources department, they will be able to tell you what their starting salary typically is. Most facilities stay within 3 dollars/hour of each other.