Best Small Cities/Towns Nurse Salary/Cost of Living Ratio

[stnurse2016]

Hello!

I am currently in an ABSN program and will graduate next December, my husband is in grad school and his job will probably determine where we live because nursing is everywhere, but his job opportunities won't be as abundant.

But, we would like to try to research locations where hopefully we both would like to live and that would also be good as far as nursing salary/cost of living ratio, and then we could possibly target those locations first in our job search after school.

So I would like to know of any nurses living in smaller cities or even small towns and what your salaries vs. cost of living is. For instance, I am from Chico, CA, I love Chico, its a small college town, has a cute downtown, nice farmers markets, nature nearby for hiking, nice small community, I think this is my ideal, or places like it. I know salaries are much higher in bigger cities, but I'm just not a huge fan of big cities and the crowdedness.

Thank you!

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I don't know anything about Chico, CA. If I were looking, I'd check out Oregon -- Eugene, Corvallis, Portland. Or eastern Washington state. You can check out cost of living on various web sites, but I don't know of anything that will compare a new nurse salary to the cost of living.

Good luck -- it's going to be an exciting time for the two of you.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Yep, I was going to suggest Oregon too. Portland's COL is pretty high, I've heard, but Eugene, Medford, the coast, those are all good ideas.

[Libby1987]

Sierra Foothills. Sacramento wages and some areas are pretty affordable.

[susummers1]

It honestly depends, will you be staying on the west coast? If so the salaries out there are much higher than most other states. I moved from a relatively large community in Illinois to a smaller one in North Dakota and the salary for nursing is about the same. Now for some reason the cost of living in North Dakota is about double what it was back in Illinois. So that's not fun, but it's overall a better community and super family friendly place so that's better. I moved out here for my husband as well, because like you said nursing is a job you can do anywhere.

Best of luck.

[Archerlpvn, LPN, LVN]

Portland is the most crowded city in Oregon, and much more crowded than Chico. I live in Portland lol. Salem, and Eugene might be better cities. Eugene is also a college town. WA state a has some smaller cities like battleground or brush prairie that are smaller but are within an hour of Portland? Maybe Boise? Or couere d'alene ID.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Portland is the most crowded city in Oregon, and much more crowded than Chico. I live in Portland lol. Salem, and Eugene might be better cities. Eugene is also a college town. WA state a has some smaller cities like battleground or brush prairie that are smaller but are within an hour of Portland? Maybe Boise? Or couere d'alene ID.

Maybe Walls Walls Washington or the Tri-Cities. Couere d' Alene is a bit touristy area and housing may be expensive. It is beautiful, though. I know plenty of people who lived in CDA or Post Falls, ID and worked in Spokane, or vice versa. Spokane is high desert, and while I loved the climate there, it does have winter. Western Washington and Oregon have much milder climates.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Walls Walls

[NICUismylife, ADN, BSN, RN]

Folsom area in NoCal, like someone else suggested, high wages from being near Sacramento, but small, family-friendly atmosphere, warm weather, and lots of outdoor & nature activities.

Edited to add: As a new grad, you may struggle to find work though. Not sure of the nursing climate in the area, but I think it's an over-saturated area.

[saskrn]

I'm familiar with Chico, and I think Wenatchee, WA might be somewhat similar.

I really like Boise, ID, also, but it's a bit bigger. Eagle, ID is essentially a subdivision, and it used to be a little isolated and nicer than other areas.

Also in Idaho, there's the Sun Valley/Hailey area. It's popular with celebrities, but COL is higher.

Montana has some nice smaller cities. Missoula is a college town. Helena, Bozeman and Butte are also suggestions. I've had job offers from three of these in the past, and they were very nice. The cities were clean, too.

Idaho and Montana are wonderful for outdoor activities, and their cities/towns tend to be smaller.

I live in Maine right now, and it's a great state for cleanliness, outdoor activities, organic farmers markets, etc. Portland is very popular, as well as many other locations. It can be a little expensive in some locations, but you also can buy nice houses with larger pieces of land for affordable prices. There are plenty of smaller towns, and commuting is common. Usually the commutes aren't too long.

I'm off to bed!