Confused why salaries for new grads are not higher?

[YoungWiseWoman]

hello all,

so i was in anaheim last week at the nsna convention. a lot of the ca hospitals were represented, and i was able to get my questions answered about new grad. programs. it was an exciting time!

one of the main questions was about salary. the hourly pay avg. for new grads was $28. ucsf was the highest at $40.

this is where the confusion comes in... the starting rate for new grads is $27 (with $3 evening diff.) at a hospital in houston. since the cost of living in ca is so much higher than houston, why isn't there a bigger difference in new grad starting rate?

i looked at the diff. today and i'm really starting to panic. can i make it there? should i wait and do travel nursing? the hospitals i am looking at are methodist, loma linda, ucsd, and ucsf. how are people making it living in these areas? i am getting discouraged because i feel like i need to wait, but i really don't want to. i want to get out there and explore, but i don't want to live in a dump and eat roman noodles to do it. i just don't understand how the math doesn't equal to really poor in ca!

please help:confused:

[cuppy]

You can get a nice house in Texas for 200,000, most places in Cali that will buy you a run down shack in the middle of methville.

.

In most of Northern Ca, you would be lucky to get a run down shack. (for 200,000) The average price of a two bedroom one bath home in Northern CA, (this was just on the news the other night) is 720,00.00. I would guess most of us live here because we love it, and the ones who come here seeking the big bucks get a rude awakening to the high cost of living.

[nursinguy]

Yes, in Chico

Ahh, cool.

My brothers best friend works in chico hospitals peds department. I think he said he makes 30$ a hour with 6 years experiance. So either peds pays less or you make better than average experiance rate.

[ORSmurf]

Ahh, cool.

My brothers best friend works in chico hospitals peds department. I think he said he makes 30$ a hour with 6 years experiance. So either peds pays less or you make better than average experiance rate.

Wow, that's interresting. I work in an outpatient setting and a couple of my friends who work in the hospital are making in the 40's (with 10+ years experience). I thought I was on the low end, but happy because I have great hours.

[Sheri257]

You can get a nice house in Texas for 200,000, most places in Cali that will buy you a run down shack in the middle of methville.

There's little doubt you can get a nice house for cheap in Texas but cheap places have their price tags also ... just in different ways. There's no ratio law in Texas so instead of five patients max in Cali you can get 8-10 patients in Texas.

And, if you happen to live Dallas and you're not willing to put up with lousy working conditions, you can get blacklisted by the Group One hospital association and never get a job in that area. A cheap mortgage in Dallas isn't going to help much if you're unemployed.

You can't even get much nurse liability coverage in Texas ... it's a fraction of the coverage you can get in other states ... presumably because your license is more at risk there. Texas is probably one of the least nurse friendly states in the country.

Cali's income tax does bite, and Texas doesn't have any income tax so that's good but their property taxes are higher so ... that does reduce some of the tax savings.

Every place has it's price tag, one way or the other ... and cheap isn't always that cheap either.

:typing

[nursinguy]

Wow, that's interresting. I work in an outpatient setting and a couple of my friends who work in the hospital are making in the 40's (with 10+ years experience). I thought I was on the low end, but happy because I have great hours.

I got the feeling from him that peds payed less because its m-f, no weekends, and evryone wants to work peds, so they can pay a lower rate.

[ORSmurf]

I got the feeling from him that peds payed less because its m-f, no weekends, and evryone wants to work peds, so they can pay a lower rate.

That makes sense.

[suzanne4, RN]

Ahh, cool.

My brothers best friend works in chico hospitals peds department. I think he said he makes 30$ a hour with 6 years experiance. So either peds pays less or you make better than average experiance rate.

Chico is much further north than the Bay Area, so salaries are not the same there. There is not a difference in the nursing unit in a facility, rates of pay are the same for a nurse with the same experience. No matter what area in the hospital.

Peds does not close on weekends if he is working on a regular nursing unit. Kids get sick all of the time or are in accidents. There is more to the story about where he works than just being in Chico. He may not even be in a hospital in the first place.

Most of the hospitals in CA are union facilities............so again, unit does not pay less in the same facility. Definitely more to the story.

[nursinguy]

Chico is much further north than the Bay Area, so salaries are not the same there. There is not a difference in the nursing unit in a facility, rates of pay are the same for a nurse with the same experience. No matter what area in the hospital.

Peds does not close on weekends if he is working on a regular nursing unit. Kids get sick all of the time or are in accidents. There is more to the story about where he works than just being in Chico. He may not even be in a hospital in the first place.

Most of the hospitals in CA are union facilities............so again, unit does not pay less in the same facility. Definitely more to the story.

There are hospitals that are non-union. I believe the more north you travel from Sac the less union hospitals there are, that may be the differance.