Re: Wages in New Jersey
NJ is a GREAT place to live. You've got everything you could possibly want in a small area. From my house (a little south of Trenton), I can be at the beach in 45 minutes, the mountains in an hour and a half, Philly in 20 minutes, NYC in an hour, Baltimore in 1.5 hours, Washington DC in 2 hours, etc.
As for pay, I live in central jersey and graduating this May from school and we've been pitched from $24/hr (about $50K/yr) to $31/hr ($65K/yr). The variabilities I see aren't so much in location because from New Brunswick to Camden (about a 70 mile spread). IT depends on the hospital, experience and specialty. Benefits also depend on the hospital you choose. Like Capital Health Systems near me you get benefits on the 1st of the month after you complete 30 days. So if you're hired around the 1st or 2nd of a month, you'll have benefits the following month. Robert Wood Johnson pays 100% of the nurse's benefits plus has all kinds of incentives like discounted child care, free snow day emergency daycare, mortgage assistance, virtually free health club, etc.
So basically all you've got to figure out is if you want to live in a city setting (north-east jersey), mountain setting (north-west jersey), the pine barrens (lots of forrests - central jersey), rural farming areas (central/south jersey) or near the beach (east jersey).
Good luck!
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