Anyone leave their home State to pursue a career in Nursing?

verene, MSN · May 24, 2019

I moved out of state for nursing school for lower cost of living, higher RN pay, and roughly the same tuition I would have paid in-state. For me it worked very well, though I am contemplating a move back to my home state in the future.

I've only lived out West, so not sure about schools in the South.

apmarquez · May 26, 2019

I moved out of state from Maine to Florida; I am originally Massachusetts though. Anyway it is much easier to get into nursing school down here but the pay for a nurse isn't so great. My friend who lived in Texas says the cost of living is cheap and they pay much better for nurses. I would go to Texas if i could as for their nursing schools i am not sure if they are as easy to get into as the ones in Florida. Honestly as for the cost of living since I moved here a couple of years ago prices have seemed to up especially for housing. A lot of the south doesn't pay that great for nurse especially new nurse except Texas from what i have heard. Also if you move to a city with a lot of nursing schools the job market around the time you graduate will may be very competitive to get a job at a nurse residency. I just graduated nursing a couple of months ago and i am currently studying for the NCLEX.

WCSU1987 · May 26, 2019

8 hours ago, apmarquez said:
I moved out of state from Maine to Florida; I am originally Massachusetts though. Anyway it is much easier to get into nursing school down here but the pay for a nurse isn't so great. My friend who lived in Texas says the cost of living is cheap and they pay much better for nurses. I would go to Texas if i could as for their nursing schools i am not sure if they are as easy to get into as the ones in Florida. Honestly as for the cost of living since I moved here a couple of years ago prices have seemed to up especially for housing. A lot of the south doesn't pay that great for nurse especially new nurse except Texas from what i have heard. Also if you move to a city with a lot of nursing schools the job market around the time you graduate will may be very competitive to get a job at a nurse residency. I just graduated nursing a couple of months ago and i am currently studying for the NCLEX.

My Wife and I know someone who did that. Couldn't get into a program moved to Florida and came back worked as a Nurse up North.

A lot of the nurses at the hospital I work at are just moving to Florida for lower COL.

As long as the pay is between $20 to $24 an hour that isn't too terrible. Able to find a 3 to 4 bedroom 2 bath $250,000 or less we would be okay with that.

Bit on the fence of moving to Florida. Receive the full on smack of hurricanes. Texas full on smack of tornadoes. IDK.

We are looking at 5 States to move to: Virginia (Charlottesville/Richmond/Virginia Beach); North Carolina (Charlotte/Apex/Durham/Wilmington); South Carolina (Conway/Greenville/Columbia); Georgia (Augusta); Florida (Orlando/Tampa/Gainesville). Then rent and go from there.

FurBabyMom, MSN, RN · May 26, 2019

I moved from the midwest to the southeast when I started working. It is possible but not the easiest thing I've ever done. Although, I did move 7.5 years ago and was a lot younger in general.

Atlantic hurricane season is what it is...a crap shoot. Having grown up in the midwest, we had our share of tornadoes. The tornadoes are not exclusive to Texas but occur throughout the southeast as well.

Sending you a PM, but you need to choose very carefully where you "land". Some of the places you've mentioned it will be very difficult to find what you've described under $250K.

OUxPhys, BSN, RN · May 28, 2019

Be careful with the south. My dad just moved back from North Carolina (not really by his choice, step mom wanted to be closer to grandkids) and he said they have taxes for everything down there. Like other posters said COL is generally cheaper but then so will your hourly rate. Check out Texas (I am currently thinking of moving out of state in a few years and Texas is on the list).

FurBabyMom, MSN, RN · Jun 1, 2019

On 5/28/2019 at 7:50 AM, OUxPhys said:
Be careful with the south. My dad just moved back from North Carolina (not really by his choice, step mom wanted to be closer to grandkids) and he said they have taxes for everything down there. Like other posters said COL is generally cheaper but then so will your hourly rate. Check out Texas (I am currently thinking of moving out of state in a few years and Texas is on the list).

Texas has no state income withholding tax; although they will tax you more in other ways to make up for it.

It will also end up where you move to. You will likely make less in the rural SE, but cost of living may be less. On the other hand, that means you might be further from more specialized services, limiting the types of jobs available at community hospitals (if the hospital nearest where you live isn't critical access). In my state we have 2-3 clusters with where all the super advanced services are offered in those three small areas with multiple big hospitals within 20-40 miles. It is more expensive to live by and work at the more advanced hospitals in my state...but the population density near those facilities is higher - should make sense.

My overall taxes in the SE are less than what they would have been where I grew up (Ohio). My parents live in a different but adjacent state to mine now - their taxes, including the ones they pay on "personal property" (vehicles) are less than half what they paid in property taxes alone, on a property assessed at a lower value (than their current house in the SE) by the county auditor in Ohio. We also have not city income withholding taxes - it's all property (real estate) and the counties give the cities a share of the vehicle registrations with addresses in their city limits.

jfast · Jun 6, 2019

I would recommend looking at Chattanooga, TN area to add to your list. No income tax, right next to the border of GA if sales tax is too high for your liking, pay is in line with what you were hoping, houses are affordable, and essentially no hurricane risk.