Best Nursing Salary with the Lowest Cost of Living

e.j_rn_to_be · Mar 30, 2011

Oregon. Beautiful scenery and outdoors/hiking fun (although it rains a lot), affordable housing (even in Portland, Salem or Eugene areas), and, most times you actually might be able to DRIVE to work. Currently, I am paying $1400 for a 4 acre +gorgeous home w/ river access ... but, good luck if you are a New Grad... there are a few positions for New Grads in Oregon currently... Pay rate: $27-30+ bucks/hr for a New Grad nurse, depending on the geographic area, specialty and corporation.

GM2RN · Mar 30, 2011

Oregon. Beautiful scenery and outdoors/hiking fun (although it rains a lot), affordable housing (even in Portland, Salem or Eugene areas), and, most times you actually might be able to DRIVE to work. Currently, I am paying $1400 for a 4 acre +gorgeous home w/ river access ... but, good luck if you are a New Grad... there are a few positions for New Grads in Oregon currently... Pay rate: $27-30+ bucks/hr for a New Grad nurse, depending on the geographic area, specialty and corporation.

Do you mean as opposed to public transportation...or what?

Lola77 · Mar 30, 2011

Living in smaller town atlantic Canada an RN with 10 years experience makes around $78,000 (before income tax). That's about $38 bucks an hour. That is in my area. We are in desperate need of RN's in my area and they are hiring new grads! In my town a 2 bedroom basement apt cost around $600 and average houses are in a wide range from $150,000 to $350,000. Depending on how big of a house you are looking for. This is specific to my province, as each province's Nursing Union have negotiated their own contracts (but there are only a few dollars in the difference). They are pretty much only hiring "float nurses" and that means floating to several different clinical areas.
Just thought I'd through that out there if you're interested in Canada!

ooh where do you live? My husband is from Halifax, NS and I lived there with him for a year and LOVED it. What a beautiful province. Now we live in Florida Would love to return to Atlantic Canada someday.

Finallydidit · Mar 30, 2011

The answers you see here reflect all of my hours upon hours of research..... Texas seems to be the best place for nurses to live!

itsme583 · Mar 30, 2011

I hear Austin is fun!!!!! I don't really hear great things about Houston. What do you think is the best part of TX?

Dalla · Mar 30, 2011

Central WI pays about $22-25/hour and I own a 4-6 bedroom 2.5 bath home that I paid $144,000 last year. Monthly mortgage for me is $950. There are jobs advertised, but I am still searching after 6 months of unemployment. New grads have it even rougher.

nativa · Mar 30, 2011

Hi everyone,

Just wondering whether a $ 24.78/hr in Austin, Texas is a good wage for someone with 4 years of ICU experience. I am moving from Los Angeles, CA to Texas and this type of hourly pay is a HUGE cut on my salary. Can I get more than this?? Any input is much apprecciated.

missdeevah, NP · Mar 30, 2011

hi everyone,
just wondering whether a $ 24.78/hr in austin, texas is a good wage for someone with 4 years of icu experience. i am moving from los angeles, ca to texas and this type of hourly pay is a huge cut on my salary. can i get more than this?? any input is much apprecciated.

i live in the dallas/fw area, not austin, but i definitely think that with 4 years icu experience, you can get more than that. just checked out several hospitals, or ask for more pay!

FLmomof5 · Mar 30, 2011

So, I really couldn't find any information on this topic. I would be interested to know where you get the most bang for your buck on a Nurses salary.
On Long Island, RN's make around $74,000 but rent for a one bedroom apartment in a complex can be $1400.
Please respond. :redbeathe

Wow....my folks say there are "no apartments on LI". Guess they were wrong!

LI: $74,000 less fed tax, STATE tax, SS and Medicare.

Rent: $1400 (If one owned a house in say Levittown, you are looking @ $7K - $9K property tax plus a high mortgage on an 80 yo house!)

Cost of a gallon of gas? ~ $3.71 - 4.01

LILCO (need I say more....about the most expensive elec co in the nation?)

LIE - the worlds longest parking lot

Jax, FL: $46,800 +/- Less fed tax, SS and Medicare

Rent: 1 BR = $500 - 800 (home ownership - prices took a nosedive so good time to buy. My house = $2800 prop tax)

Cost of a gallon of gas? ~$3.43 - $3.62

JEA Heating/cooling my 2000 sq ft house + water (including watering the lawn) ~ $300/mo

95/295....whadda ya mean I gotta slow down to 35 mph 1 mi from my exit??? ( )

NO SNOW

(Don't talk to me about heat. NY gets to 90 deg/90% humidity too!)

Still near a beach

TX: again NO state tax.

SERIOUSLY low rents and prop taxes

LOW sales tax

Gas prices ~ the same as FL

Long coastline if you want proximity to a beach.

Dunno what they pay nurses. I was in IT when I lived there.

Good luck with your decision!

tothepointeLVN, LVN · Mar 30, 2011

$700 for a one-bedroom apartment? Outrageous.
My mortgage for an 1,800 square foot 3-bedroom house built in 2004 is less than $400 per month here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas. In addition, I earned $72,000 last year, so I am enjoying competitive wages and a low cost of living.

If only I could convince my husband to move.

SandraCVRN · Mar 30, 2011

Hi everyone,
Just wondering whether a $ 24.78/hr in Austin, Texas is a good wage for someone with 4 years of ICU experience. I am moving from Los Angeles, CA to Texas and this type of hourly pay is a HUGE cut on my salary. Can I get more than this?? Any input is much apprecciated.

I'm thinking that sounds about right, maybe a little low but with so many nurses looking for jobs they really don't have to pay much more.

Good luck, PS don't think you are going to find anything for $400 a month around Austin.

NPvampire, MSN, RN, APRN · Mar 31, 2011

Wow I'm ready to move to Texas. Our salaries stink in Georgia! And the COL really isn't substantitally lower than anywhere else, especially if you have to live in a good school district with low crime.