south california RN salary and monthly cost of living

[filnurseuk]

hello everyone. im a filipino nurse currently working in the uk for over 7 years now. im thinking of moving to south california (l.a., orange county, riverside) or clearwater florida for a better weather. i've been nursing for over 9 years now, 4 years in critical care. i would like to find out what an rn's average salary and cost of living.

the reason why i posted it here is i thought the best people to ask would be those who actually live in the area im interested in. i shall post the same thread in the florida forum as well. i hope the moderators will understand this.

would anyone be kind enough to tell me their nurse pay as well as their monthly outgoings. this would just give me a better idea of what a cost of living is like. i do appreciate that it will entirely be different from one person to the other depending on their lifestyle but im hoping this will give me some idea and hopefully help me in making my decisions. summary of what i want to find is as follow

Income

rn salary per hour

bi-monthly pay

appreciate it if anyone can give me their annual salary and corresponding tax deductions (federal tax and state income tax)

Monthly Outgoings

house rental ( 3-4 bedroom)

Utilities gas

electric

water

council tax or equivalent

phone bills

etc.

car insurance . me and my wife (considering we're just new in the states)

health insurance (family of four)

malpractice insuranc?

groceries

family entertainment (theme park, theatre, cinema etc.)

dining out

anything else you can add please feel free.

your response will be greatly appreciated

many thanks once again

[filnurseuk]

thinking of riverside, ca, is that a nice area. any big hospitals out there. can anyone tell about unionized and non-unionised hospital? can any one tell me what good benefits i should be getting from a reputable hospitals? any specific tertiary hospitals within the area.

cardiac icu is my area and my wife is a surgical nurse

[smile123]

thinking of riverside, ca, is that a nice area. any big hospitals out there. can anyone tell about unionized and non-unionised hospital? can any one tell me what good benefits i should be getting from a reputable hospitals? any specific tertiary hospitals within the area.

cardiac icu is my area and my wife is a surgical nurse

I would suggest you use a Google search for Riverside, CA and hospitals. Then you can contact the specific hospitals directly. Hospitals have contact info and often list their benefits, etc. Most large hospitals in California are unionized. Hope that helps.

[Haunted]

I would look into the Palm Springs, Palm Desert area. You can get a 3 bedroom house for about 1500, food and utilities are a bit cheaper, the schools are wonderful and it is a very kid friendly town. Eisenhower is a very desirable place to work in any unit. Pay rate for staff is high 30,s with shift diff for week ends etc. In the summer you will spend more on air conditioning your house but overall the area is clean and the people are nice.

Regarding your personal malpractice insurance, you are not required to have it and I sure wouldn't tell ANYONE that you have it. That puts your head on a chopping block personally and professionally. It's good to have but again, I don't tell anyone, even friends or neighbors, that I have it.

[caliotter3]

You might try posting your questions on the Filipino nurse forum. I'm suggesting this b/c most of the Filipino nurses I have worked with over the years are pretty good about keeping in touch with and networking with other Filipinos about everything. It's almost impossible where I am, (nor cal), so a lot of people (some Filipino single nurses I have met also) rent out a house with more several bedrooms and help make ends meet by renting individual rooms with house privileges (kitchen, etc.) to others, to help meet expenses. This seems to work out especially well for people with similar lifestyles and interests (for example: a four bedroom house with 2 br rented out to nursing students, etc.) Anyhow, just thought I'd throw out this idea to you for trying to reach out to people who can give you info before you

commit yourself to the big move! Good luck!

[Sheri257]

thinking of riverside, ca, is that a nice area.

There are very nice areas of Riverside but, the biggest problem IMHO is the 91 freeway. That and the 55 in Orange County are some of the toughest traffic wise.

Hopefully you can avoid most of the traffic if you're going in very early and coming home late with a 12 hour shift but, when we were looking at places to live we intentionally avoided any location that would involve a regular 91 freeway commute.

My husband is a veteran SoCal traffic warrior. He grew up here and he has to travel everywhere for his job so, he knows what the best freeways and traffic patterns are and, he insisted that we avoid the 91.

I'm glad we did because, even though I only have to occassionally use the 91 ... it's usually (although not always) a nightmare. It's just one of those SoCal freeways that are notoriously bad.

:typing