Best City to Work/ Have a Career in

Nurses General Nursing

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Several coworkers and I were talking tonight about places around the US that are the best places for nurses to live (in regards to pay/ cost of living and ratios). A new nurse came here to Portland, OR from North Carolina and said our job situation was the best he has ever seen. A traveler said she thinks she agrees. New grad pay is $33/hr, $1.00 weekend diff, $5.60 night diff. Ratio for med surg telemetry is 1:5-6 on night shift. I'd love to hear from others all over the US and see what it is like where you are at! Maybe someday I'll end up in your area :)

I'm a big fan of SF, spend a lot of time there due to my SO living in the city, but the housing situation has changed drastically with the tech boom. My SO's apartment (tiny and modest) acquired 4 yrs ago during the down economy at $1,700/mo now goes for $3,500+ (thank goodness for rent control). The house next door was remodeled recently and with a bidding war, sold for 500K over asking price, in a very modest neighborhood. There are a lot of kids out there making boatloads of money.

We have friends who just rented out their house for 13K/month. It's a nice house in a better neighborhood but it's also rather ordinary.

I was going to move there but we'd have to move to a different apartment, something not so tiny. They're starting at 4K/ month in an undesirable neighborhood with questionable. safety.

If I were young and wanted to live rougher, or commute, SF could be a strong enough draw, but I'm used to a higher standard of living so we'll settle in my area with our Northern California wages and more affordable housing.

So to answer an old OP, Northern California outside of the Bay Area, in the pretty foothills sandwiched 2 hrs between SF and Tahoe.

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Specializes in Labor and Delivery.

I love Houston:)

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For a new grad who can't get hired in their home state, Fargo ND is not a bad place to start your career. Pay is on the lower end compared to other states like CA, NY, much of New England, and even neighboring MN. But for those from the southern states, pay is higher. Rents are pricy as housing is short, but there are new apartment buildings and twin homes popping up constantly. The weather also sucks for 8 months of the year, as it is very cold and snowy. But both hospitals in Fargo need nurses and will hire anyone because neither hospital can attract experienced enough nurses. Most of the nurses both hospitals hire have between 0-5 years of experience, not more than that.

In other words, get started in Fargo, work for 1-4 years and then move back to your home state or another, better paying state. I am looking at getting a job in MN, and am even looking at jobs in CO (where I moved from, and I am trying to get my license reactivated) and even TX.

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Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Critical Care.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA definitely best place to work. I live about a 20 minute BART (subway) ride from downtown so i save a ton on living costs. after 1 year of working in a snf and now in acute care i make 58/hour plus 10% differential for pm : $62 plus full medical and my employer matches 5% of retirement contributions. toss in the diversity of sf, tons of things to do and places to eat at. Also, our hospitals are ALWAYS expanding, SF General just opened up their new building, UCSF just recently opened their mission bay campus, and Kaiser will be opening a new building nearby too.

Cost of living is crazy though. I'm in Sacramento and about to hit 70$/hr base (8 years experience), 11% dif for evenings and 17.5% dif for nights. Full medical with 5$ copy's for the ER, I'm not sure of our retirement match but I'm aware there is a small pension and I think the match is 3%. My mortgage on a nice 4 bed home in a great area with good schools is 1900$ a month. I love SF weather, but the cost of living and the traffic alone made Sacramento more worthwhile. Plus I can still go 1 1/2 to visit in the bay or two hours to Tahoe. Not bad deal. Although I have to spend my summers in a swimming pool. Everyone has different priorities, I have a family so the burbs make more sense.

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Specializes in Medical Oncology, ER.
Cost of living is crazy though. I'm in Sacramento and about to hit 70$/hr base (8 years experience), 11% dif for evenings and 17.5% dif for nights. Full medical with 5$ copy's for the ER, I'm not sure of our retirement match but I'm aware there is a small pension and I think the match is 3%. My mortgage on a nice 4 bed home in a great area with good schools is 1900$ a month. I love SF weather, but the cost of living and the traffic alone made Sacramento more worthwhile. Plus I can still go 1 1/2 to visit in the bay or two hours to Tahoe. Not bad deal. Although I have to spend my summers in a swimming pool. Everyone has different priorities, I have a family so the burbs make more sense.

thats a really good mortgage. and sacramento is nice minus the crazy summer heat lol

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Pittsburgh ("the Paris of Appalachia" :)) is a great little city -- big enough to have all the "big city" type amenities, but small enough to be manageable. Winters aren't too bad. Lots of interesting healthcare stuff going on, good places to work (one of the top academic medical centers in the US), strong healthcare and education communities, lively arts community, lots of great restaurants (named #1 "new food city" in the US by either Bon Appetit or Gourmet, I can never remember which one just a few years ago). Pro sports teams (if that's your thing). So many different and unique communities and neighborhoods. Cost of living seems v. reasonable. I consider it an undiscovered gem, and recommend it highly.

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Cost of living is crazy though. I'm in Sacramento and about to hit 70$/hr base (8 years experience), 11% dif for evenings and 17.5% dif for nights. Full medical with 5$ copy's for the ER, I'm not sure of our retirement match but I'm aware there is a small pension and I think the match is 3%. My mortgage on a nice 4 bed home in a great area with good schools is 1900$ a month. I love SF weather, but the cost of living and the traffic alone made Sacramento more worthwhile. Plus I can still go 1 1/2 to visit in the bay or two hours to Tahoe. Not bad deal. Although I have to spend my summers in a swimming pool. Everyone has different priorities, I have a family so the burbs make more sense.

I lived in Davis when I was a teenager. I miss Davis sometimes. Would be nice to get a job in Sacramento, and then think of moving to a surrounding town. Davis may be too expensive though.

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Specializes in Cardiology, Cardiothoracic Surgical.

I'm a big fan of the Triangle in NC- plenty of work opportunities to be found here, we have some of the top medical centers in the country, and cost of living is very reasonable.

I made somewhere in the $40,000s my first year as a new grad with shift diff and overtime. Experienced nurses with specialty experience can often make high 30s-40s/hr on the floor. I've heard of some cath lab nurses pulling in the 50s on travel contracts.

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Specializes in Palliative, Onc, Med-Surg, Home Hospice.

I like the upstate SC. COL is not to high, (2 bedroom apt in a decent area runs around $750 to $950 a month), shift diffs for me are $4 for nights, $6 for weekends. I am driving distance from Atlanta, Charlotte and Ashville. Heck, even Gatlinburg TN is not too far. And upstate SC has things going for it (If you avoid a couple of counties) The only other place I could imagine living is the Chicago 'burbs.

Upstate SC is pretty.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

I like the south! Anywhere that I am not freezing is good. I have developed a cold intolerance, which I didn't realize until I was in freezing temps in Afghanistan and discovered I have Raynauds. Ugh. My husband had a med school interview in Connecticut and I was like, noooooooooo! Lol. Thankfully we won't be going there! Virginia or another part of Georgia (I live in Savannah now, love it here). We'll see. I spent a couple of decades in Virginia, but another part than where we'd go.

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The two very best places for nurses I have found, in terms of COL vs pay are Madison Wisconsin and Minneapolis MN. Minneapolis has a slight edge. With 5+ years of experience nurses in my hospital make well over $100K NOT counting working OT. Plenty of inexpensive houses. If willing to drive a little ways outside the city plenty of reasonably priced homes in the country. We got a 12yo 4 br, 2 ba, house on 43 acres with fields, a stream and woods for a little over $100K. I have looked into many, many areas and nothing I found comes close to those two cities. Of course we have long cold winters, but they just keep a lot of rif-raf away.

I absolutely agree. I'm in LaCrosse, WI which is the halfway point between Madison, WI and Minneapolis, MN. Starting is about $30/hour, good differentials and cost of living is CHEAP!! Was looking to move to Bozeman, MT area but I don't think my wallet can handle it!!

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Hey, Im not Nurse but a PCT at New York University Medical Center. Out here, new grads have a starting salary of 78,000 which comes down to 40-42/hr plus weekend or night diff. There are a lot growing and promotional opportunities (at NYU). The nurse to pt ratio is 1:3,4. New York City is a great place to land a nurse job. However, cost of living is high.

NYU ratio was never 1:3, or 1:4 except for step down.

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