maybe moving to TN- salary/job availability questions

U.S.A. Tennessee

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Hi there.

My husband is getting out of the Navy early next year and we are thinking about relocating to east TN. He'll be going to college and watching our son while I support us. I was wondering how the salaries vary in say, Knoxville and Chattanooga?

By then I'll have 2 years nursing experience, not a ton, but I've done a year of ortho working for a surgeon (but not in the OR) and a year of endo doing pre-op, sedation, and PACU. (plus 2 years of experience in the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman and IT specialist)

I make $28.17 an hr now, but we're close to Seattle so I doubt I'll make that much when we move to the southest, but I need to know how much less we're talking. I have a BSN if that matters. Also, any info on where the good public schools are located would be great. Our son is only 8 months, but he'll be in school before we know it.

Any help would be appreciated.

It absolutely boggles my mind at how little RN's (new grad and experienced) are being paid! I am in Memphis and new grads start between $21-23 depending on which hospital. That's day shift, not including weekend or PM diff. I now have just under three years of experience w/ only two of that being bedside (ICUSD and LTAC - present) and am currenlty making just under $28/hr day shift. I so want to move to East TN, but I can't see the cost of living being SO much less that it justifies that large of a pay cut?!

Specializes in Critical care, Trauma.

Old post but wanted to add my recent experience. I am BSN-prepared, live in rural, KS and make $26.60/hr. Last week I interviewed at several of University of TN Medical Center's Critical Care units. After giving me credit for 6 years of nursing experience (2.5 yrs of which are LPN) they're offering me $24.58. Honestly, after some of the posts on here I was expecting a couple $$ per hour less. After looking at a few different cost of living calculators they both say that the cost of living is about 10% less in TN (was hard to tell by some of the apartments I looked at, but wasn't there long so it was good to get another perspective) so that helped me to feel better about it as well. It doesn't feel like it, but they're actually giving me a little bit of a raise.

These are the two Cost of Living calculators I used.

Cost of living: How far will my salary go in another city? - CNNMoney

Cost of Living Calculator | NerdWallet - City and Salary Comparison Tool

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