After traveling for years, how do you go back to a regular staff position?

[ChristopherB, BSN, RN]

I've been thinking about settling down to one hospital again sometimes in the next 6 months. However I've run into a few issues and I feel that I'm sort of "stuck" travel nursing now.

• In most places, it would be a huge pay cut if I were to stop traveling and take a regular staff job.
  
• I've run into the issue with some hospitals that due to hospital or union rules, I'd start at a low salary because I'm "new" to the hospital even though I have almost 8 years of experience as a nurse.
  
• In the areas where it wouldn't be a huge pay cut, the cost of living would be high.
  
• Many of the hospitals I've enjoyed working at don't pay well compared to the cost of living.
  
• Many of the areas I've enjoyed living in have high costs of living compared to the pay for RNs.
  
• I've grown tired of the winters in the northern U.S. so that limits my choices as far as where I'd want to "settle down."
  
• I prefer working day shift. After working night shift for a few years, I rant into the problem where I had trouble sleeping during the day. I tried night shift for short times while doing travel nursing assignments and ran into the same sleep issues again. However most open staff positions I find are night shift.
  

So, can I find an area where I won't have to deal with much winter weather, where I'd be able to get a day shift position without a large pay cut, and the area doesn't have a high cost of living?

[NedRN]

I've never heard of a union that didn't have seniority rules. It is true that because of that, some hospitals may prefer to hire nurses with fewer years of experience.

Cost of living is often tied to average compensation, but there are places where the curve varies. In addition, it depends on your goals. If you look at cost of living sites, they are often tied to home ownership costs. Some places, renting is a much lower percentage than the cost of the underlying property. If you don't insist on home ownership, you may do better. There are some cool calculators online to help you determine when it is better to rent than to buy by plugging in rental cost versus home prices and mortgage rates.

Another strategy is work close to a high paying area. Wages are still high due to the competitive forces nearby, yet the housing costs are much more reasonable. This plays out all over the country but I might point to perhaps the entire Central Valley in California, extending to the rather nice town of Chico (compared to say Fresno). Similarly, Sacramento pays very close to the Bay area but with more reasonable housing costs, especially in outlying areas (where you can still find a nearby hospital).

In any case, what you want to look at is not gross pay, but net pay after mortgage or rent.