CA wages?

kjschulke · Mar 27, 2005

I imagine UCSF has a higher pay scale.
It is known that the UCLA per diem RN pay is lower than that of other area hospitals. Is it the same at Davis?

I can't speak to the specifics of per diem pay, but a recent Sacramento Bee article did a comparison of wages for staff nurses with 10 years of experience, placing UCDMC on the lower end and Kaiser on the upper end. However, I think the appeal of working at UCDMC lies less in the hourly wages and more in the benefits, all RN staff, collegial nurse-physician relationships, etc. There are many opportunities to go beyond bedside nursing if that is one's interest.

Sheri257 · Mar 27, 2005

Most people who come to California think they are prepared for the housing prices until they find out that the houses they are buying are so much smaller than they are used to.
My house is now worth about 3x what I paid for it. Salaries have not gone up accordingly, and, amazingly, even though we had the "dot com bomb", housing prices have continued to soar.
Don't mean to be so negative, but please be prepared! I remember a while back somebody did a survey and some very huge percentage of Californians were thinking of moving out of the state.
NurseFirst

This is true. California has the most expensive housing market in the country. You really need to do a lot of homework because, in many markets, higher salaries don't mean much when you consider housing costs.

What we did to hedge our bets, so to speak, was move to a semi-rural, much cheaper but fast growing area that was within a half hour to hour commute of lots of jobs. Even though the pay was lower, we discovered we could actually save more since our mortgage was so much cheaper. And, luckily, wages have risen since we moved here as the population growth has increased the demand for hospitals and nurses.

These are the kinds of things people may want to check out before moving to California because, it's definitely tricky business.

:coollook:

pickledpepperRN · Mar 27, 2005

Really????? Are you talking about being on the float team @ UCLA (1 yr of adult/1 yr of peds experience minimum) or simply per diem? The float team (in-house registry) gets paid pretty well IMO....I can't imagine other area hospitals paying much more than that unless they are further north...

A 20+ year RN said her pay is better benefitted than if she were per diem. She really likes UCLA driving more than an hour to work there. Her plan is to retire in a couple years.

It must be simply per diem.

It takes a special person to maintain current skills for peds AND adult. I can care for post open heart adults, not kids.

jules_srn_530 · Mar 28, 2005

I'm in northern california, north of sacramento, i work for the fremont-rideout hospital group at thier SNF and i can only tell you what iv heard from other nurses that i work with when im in clinical at one of the hospitals, and days 7a-7p make approximatly $26/hr. cost of living is decent but its going up, and i cant also give you an exact quote because im still the poor college student mooching off my parents...thats what thier there for right?...of course ;-) http://www.frhg.org is the web site for the company if you'd like to take a look.

*PICURN* · Mar 28, 2005

A 20+ year RN said her pay is better benefitted than if she were per diem. She really likes UCLA driving more than an hour to work there. Her plan is to retire in a couple years.
It must be simply per diem.
It takes a special person to maintain current skills for peds AND adult. I can care for post open heart adults, not kids.

Yeah she must be talking about strictly per diem (not in-house registry). I used to work in their in-house registry during nursing school and the RN's would get paid insane amounts of $$/hr....but of course no benefits. And you had to have at least a year of peds and adults to do it. It's an amazing hospital though. I couldn't do the in-house registry as an RN.....I'll just stick to the PICU!

Nancy2 · Mar 31, 2005

Hi all, I am interested in learning a little more about CA. We are thinking of relocating within the next year to the northern part of the state. Preferably to a smaller city or town. Can anyone out there give me any ideas of how much wages are, and of any good places to work? I've heard about sign on bonuses, etc, but I don't really know where to look.
Any info would be appreciated. Thanks!

If you are looking for a smaller town in Northern Ca, you might want to look at Lake County. There are 2 hospitals and they both pay closse to bay area wages and the cost of living is MUCH lower!! The 2 hospitals are Sutter Lakeside and Redbud. Redbud is an Adventist hospital.

Hope this helps.

jzprple · Apr 10, 2005

Hey everyone...

I'm considering moving back to LA (or else up to SF) but am having a hard time deciding what good rates are. I know UCLA is starting around $25 and Cedars aournd $28....can anyone tell me if that is good or average or low and also what your opinions are on these 2 hospitals?

thanks!

Julie

graduate: August 2005

Semester 2 of 3 in Accelerated BSN

RNKPCE · Apr 10, 2005

I know one hospital in the bay area starts new grads at around $37/hr base pay. This is not a Kaiser facility, though Kaiser tends to pay the highest state wide. But look beyond pay alone look at benefits and job satisfaction and hospital retention rates.

The bay area housing prices are different than smaller towns in Northern California but the high prices are spreading. Sacramento area use to be very affordable but the high cost of living has spread up to there to some degree.

Here is a site that shows houses for sale in San Jose. Nice area not the most expensive though and the cheapest house is $506,000 and 1000square ft.

http://www.mlslistings.com/common/search/propertyResults.asp?type=property&page=1&open=0&from=citylist&name=

All I can say is I am glad I bought my first house in 1987 and my second in 1991. I couldn't afford one now.

JaimeeG · Apr 18, 2005

I live in the Modesto area, and RN wages here are starting between $26 and $28. As a new grad, I will start at $26.10 with a $5000 sign-on bonus. When I have my license in hand, I will be raised to $27.10.

We recently purchased a horse farm in SW Missouri and will be relocating there next year. I was quite disheartened to learn that RNs in that part of Missouri are currently only making between $15 and $16. There is also no sign-on bonus. I will definitely taking LOTS of bonus shifts over the next year so I can move with a decent amount of savings.

The expense of living in California is beyond ridiculous. Our particular area was recently listed as one of the top 50 "most unaffordable" places to live in the U.S. The median single-family home price is currently well over $350,000. We just sold our property here at $150,000 per acre. Craziness.

Jaimee

fly-gal · Jul 10, 2005

For UCSF, Just visit http://www.ucsf.edu and click on employment. From there you can look up jobs and then go back to the salary ranges, input the job code and find out exactly what your pay rate is. As a RN with almost one year experience I get $34.45/hr, plus 16% night diff, also small weekend diff (5%?). We are the lowest pay in the the SF area, so the rumor goes. I believe it is true as my friends in Kaiser make $41/hr on the night shift - same experience as me. However, hopefully we are to see a competitive raise soon as CNA is negotiating/planning a strike..

HeartsOpenWide, RN · Jul 15, 2005

I am from northern caifornia, and I mean the real northern california, not S.F. or Sacramento. Thats central to me. I am up here in the Redwoods. About 1 1/2 hours from the OR border and on the coast. Last time I checked, starting nurses got $20per/hr with benifits and $25 with out. Housing in california is pathetic every where. The average home here might not be 700,000 like the bigger cities. But here you can not buy a fixer upper for less than $250,000. Any descent 3 BD home will go for no less than $450,000. But what makes it so bad it that the average annual income around her is 21% less than the annual income state wide... The house jump has only been recent. 5 years ago 50% of locals could aford to buy a house. Now only 5% can. Houses that were on the market for 75,000 five years ago are now selling for 230,000 - 300,000 easily.

But living here is like nothing else! Your eyes, spirit and body will thank you.

http://www.enlightphoto.com/webpages/cacstn/cacstn1.htm

soon_to_be_RN · Jul 27, 2005

I am from northern caifornia, and I mean the real northern california, not S.F. or Sacramento. Thats central to me. I am up here in the Redwoods. About 1 1/2 hours from the OR border and on the coast. Last time I checked, starting nurses got $20per/hr with benifits and $25 with out. Housing in california is pathetic every where. The average home here might not be 700,000 like the bigger cities. But here you can not buy a fixer upper for less than $250,000. Any descent 3 BD home will go for no less than $450,000. But what makes it so bad it that the average annual income around her is 21% less than the annual income state wide... The house jump has only been recent. 5 years ago 50% of locals could aford to buy a house. Now only 5% can. Houses that were on the market for 75,000 five years ago are now selling for 230,000 - 300,000 easily.
But living here is like nothing else! Your eyes, spirit and body will thank you.
http://www.enlightphoto.com/webpages/cacstn/cacstn1.htm

I live in Northern CA in the wine country of Sonoma County. I just started working as a "New Grad RN" and the hospitals around here start at $33/ hr day shift up to $42/hr night shift for and I.P. My PM shift is $37/hr including full benefits.

The cost of housing here has gone through the roof :uhoh3:

The house I own is now worth $725,000 and I bought it in 1996 for $190,000. No way could I buy this house today even with $42/hr.