Anybody in Austin?

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Specializes in Postpartum, Lactation.

We are thinking of relocating within the next couple of years. We are currently in San Diego but the high cost of living is driving us mad. We want to move somewhere with a lower cost of living, better schools and affordable housing. Lately, we've been thinking Austin. It's really difficult to find out what to expect in terms of salary. I have 3 years experience in Postpartum. I have my BSN and PHN and CLE. Can anybody give me an estimate of salary? Also, which hospitals should I look at and which should I avoid? thanks :)

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Specializes in Postpartum, Lactation.

Anybody? :)

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Yes, I live in the Austin area and have worked in several facilities. Seton is the Catholic network, while St. Davids is the Columbia/HCA network. I have never worked for St. Davids, but my experience with them in other contacts has been mixed. I can't really recommend them, and my prior experience with HCA in Corpus Christi was poor.

I have worked at two different Seton facilities, Seton Northwest and Brackenridge. Brackenridge is the "county hospital" / trauma center. As such, they get the indigent, immigrant, homeless, trauma, jail, etc. patients. I enjoyed this, but not everyone does. Seton Northwest was nice, pleasant work setting and people. I interviewed at Seton Medical Center, and have had contact with them since. I was unimpressed; the building was in poor shape (only 25 years old), everything was dirty, the staff didn't seem all that great. A friend told me she worked ER for them briefly, but quit because all the "sterile" instruments had boogies on them when she opened them, and there was usually blood on the floors and ceiling of treatment rooms.

Your PHN means nothing here, unfortunately. I worked in a communicate health center/public health setting, and there is no public health certification in this state. A BSN might be of some help in terms of qualifying for positions and payscale.

Salary in med/surg as a new nurse was about $20 per hour in 2000; I suspect experience/specialty would pay more, and of course salaries have advanced. My wife remains a pharmacy tech at Brackenridge and is paid well. Benefits are good, not fantastic, but insurance costs are reasonable. You could call the HR departments of Seton and St. Davids to get an idea of payscales.

Austin is a high cost of living, but much lower than San Diego. Housing is expensive, but again lower than San Diego. Schools are okay, not great. Some of the suburb school districts are reputed to be good, though. It will probably be a place you might like, many California transplants do.

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Hi there -

I'm in Austin too. Everyone I know that moves here from CA loves it, unless they move from San Diego, then not so much.

I'm a nursing student, so can't really comment on working as an RN here, but I can tell you that the public schools in Austin are terrible. There is only ONE neighborhood that I would consider sending my children to in the Austin Independent School Distrcit. Several of the neighboring suburbs do considerably better, but if you do look into moving here, be sure to extensively research school options and do not rely on what realtors tell you.

Now that I've been negative, I will tell you that I love it here. I feel like it's very safe, there are tons of outdoorsy things to do, tons of family activities and people are generally really warm and friendly. Cost of living is getting pretty steep, but not if you're coming from San Diego.

Good luck,

Amanda

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I work at St Davids. Not a nurse yet but from what I hear, the pay scale is considerably lower in Austin than other cities in Texas. Most new nurses make about $20/h. My SIL has 7 years experience in postpartum and makes about $21. It just depends. I do know PRN nurses make about $29/h. Some hospitals in the Temple area (North of Austin) pay up to $38/h for PRN. Cost of living is high, but as said before is much lower that CA. I would suggest searching in the "Greater Austin Area" for housing. There are some small towns not too far out from Austin. Thrall, Hutto, Taylor, Bartlett, Georgetown, Elgin, Manor, just to name a few. Oh, and I also hear Houston pays much better, but it is not as great a city as Austin. Good Luck!

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I also wanted to add that Austin ISD was rated as unacceptable a few years back. Not sure what they are rated as now. Round Rock ISD is rated very good. Westlake ISD is rated excellent, Plugerville ISD is the same as Round Rock. My kids will be attending private school. It's just too scary to risk it.

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Specializes in Postpartum, Lactation.

Thanks for the info. We are heading to Austin in February to check it out and if all goes well we will plan our move for the summer. We have been looking in Round Rock and Cedar Park. We've been researching the schools. The Texas public schools are rated much higher than California (#24 vs. #42 in 2004) and the housing is MUCH more affordable.

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This was just the thread I was looking for. I am actually from Temecula CA. Just North of San Diego & my husband & I are also looking to move to Austin. Having 10 yrs of nursing experience in OB & Pediatrics I was so worried about the pay cut.....This was the first place I have found that anyone has given me an idea of what I would make in Austin. I have called hospitals..but was told that they couldn't really tell me without an interview.

Thanks for the input on schools as well!!! We were thinking of Round Rock, Cedar Park or Georgetown. My husband also just brought up Kyle, TX yesterday. We will be going out in March to look around.

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