[edgwow]

I guesss it has to do with cost of living. Where I live in NJ,
I pay $7,000 taxes on a 1200 square foot home, that is assessed at $80,000. I pay almost $4.00 for a gallon of milk and $3.00 for a loaf of bread. I make $30+ an hour as a school nurse with a BSN. I know the east coast pays higher, but that much higher? Even when I worked in homecare I made 22 an hour, and that was caring for 1 patient for the whole shift.

[mom2michael]

See, I have to disagree that NW Arkansas has a low cost of living. I grew up on the west coast and moved to this area and I've seen no difference in the "prices" of things. My parents just recently bought a house in NW Arkansas and it was very comparable to what they live in on the west coast and they paid almost $50,000 more for this house here. The cost of milk, gas, bread and everything else is just as high here.

Their property taxes are lower, because Arkansas reduces taxes when you are over 65, otherwise they are the same as when they lived on the west coast.

The hospital where they used to live - starts new grads at $22/hr - here you'll be lucky to make $17/hr as a new grad.

It's never made sense to me......

[FutureNurse35]

Originally Posted by Scoobiedoo

Wow, thats an 'insult' vs. New York's current $21.50+ per hour RN wages!

Where in NY you referring to?
If you talking about $21.50 in NYC, that is too low. You need to make $75,000 a year in nyc in order to have a quality life.

I think $17 is not an insult for that area. You probably can get a one bedroom for $450 as oppose to getting one in nyc for $1200 or more.
You have to look at the cost of living instead of per hourly rate.

[Spartak]

I'm a new RN grad. A month ago I got a job offer from the hospital located in a small town in Southern Texas. They offered $17.50 per hour. It sounded like an insult to me. So, I turned down the offer.

[curlylocks29]

i dont feel as though the wage difference should be so much...im from michigan..... my husband is a RN and i am in nursing school...we are moving to arkansas and were told he will be making around 23 an hour when in michigan he makes 32.....ive vacationed in the area that we are moving to and gas and food and clothing were all the same as here....house taxes are less but not enough to make up for the difference in pay

[DoveNoir]

Originally Posted by krazykev

Des this mean that gas, heath insurance, and taxes are cheaper. I think that no matter where a person lives $17.00 is shamefully low for a licensed medical professional.

Actually, from my experience, yes- however I moved from there to Chicago and Ohio.

My HI was with a local company that had most of the state, and was $135 a month for the family (and I called- they haven't raised about 200 yet)

Sales tax is 7.5% ... and still is I believe, depending on the city it may be more.

Gas is usually 10 cents below national average- on any given day.

[DoveNoir]

Was this your article? http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/20...ngshortage.txt

[DoveNoir]

As a Medicare Service "Specialist" I pretty much studied all the law books, made sure claims that were called in as not paid were filed accordingly, and if there was an issue with the payment, then I would do the math and check if something was wrong on our end.

If there was something wrong with the computer handling the claims, I would send it up the line for further research.

No exp required, knowledge of medical term and coding appreciated. 11-12 an hour for an ever increasing load of states. Our office of 6 handled 2 sometimes 3 states worth of hospital inpt claims.

[Mudwoman]

For a new RN grad with no experience, the starting wage is $17.50 hr. If you have been an LPN, they give you credit for half the time you have been an LPN, so your starting pay is higher. So, for example, if you were a LPN for 10 years before becoming a new RN grad, you would start with a pay scale of an RN with 5 years experience.

[wtbcrna]

I am always amazed how these rural areas/cities with low cost of living seek to justify nurses low hourly wages based on cost of living/median income in that area. Do you think they do the same thing for the doctors/other providers.....NO; they actually usually get paid more to come and live in those areas.

I started out at almost 21 hr as a new grad in Tyler, Tx more than 6 yrs ago.

I think I will stick with the military for now the pay is much better than what I could make at most civilian facilities for now.