I need some help! I currently work in a busy Las Vegas ER - over 3 years experience. My family and I are considering a move to North Carolina - but I couldn't believe the pay difference!! I am making $32/hr FT now - and I was quoted $21.55/hour in North Carolina!! ICK!!
Do any of you know some hospitals there that would pay more - I am looking in the Raleigh area. If not - any areas in the East/Southeast/Northeast that pay more and have decent areas to live??
I am thinking I will have to do travel or agency just to make ends meet there. I can't find a decent house online for less than $250,000.
Specializes in ER, Trauma, ICU/CCU/NICU, EMS, Transport.
You guys rock!! Thanks for the info!!
Cost of living isn't as bad in Vegas as everyone thinks - once the housing market crashed, you can find really nice houses for around $230-$250,000 in great areas.
Pay is great - I am actually working PRN at a hospital now and making $42.64/hour.
If I didn't have a son to consider, we would never move - but the school systems here are horrible - and the people are just not the down-home friendly bunch you can find back east. I am originally from Ohio - so I get that my pay won't be as much - I was just expecting a little more than the $21-$22/hour.... we work too hard to be paid that!!
Thanks again... and keep the help coming!!!
~Amanda :)
$230-$250K for a house, that's Crazy!!!!
Come to South Carolina, (the Upstate) housing is EASILY in the Low $100-$200K for even a 3-4 BR house.....(sheesh)
Specializes in ER, Trauma, ICU/CCU/NICU, EMS, Transport.
If you REALLY want to see if the wages stack up or are comparable for a given state/region I offer you two suggestions...
#1) Go to salary.com. there you can enter the known information like rate of pay, job location, zip code, benefits and you can compare to local economy's, you can even compare across the country....FOR EXAMPLE if you're making $32/hour in Vegas, salary.com will tell you approx how much you should be making in any other area to maintain the same standard of living. Their website takes data from recruiters, human resource professionals and even includes federal, state and local tax rates and housing markets....
#2) DON"T JUST GO BY THE PER/HOUR RATE!!!!!
YOu need to calcultate the ENTIRE benifits/annual package value...
a) take the hourly rate and multiply it by the number of hours worked in a year -ADD-
b) the employer's portion of what they pay on your health, life, dental, disability, long term care, vision insurances (YES, these amounts count as benefits, cause if you weren't having an employer pay a portion of the premium, you would have to pay the WHOLE thing!) -ADD-
c) your employer's "match" portion of whatever IRA/401 plan they offer -ADD-
d) expected earnings from holiday pay -ADD-
e) shift differentials, weekend diffs -ADD-
f) the amount of hours they will allow you to do education and training (CPR, ACLS, TNCC etc) ON THE CLOCK -ADD-
g) any educational reimbursement they give you (like for CEU's or certification) -ADD-
h) expected amount of vacation/PTO sellback you might be able to "cash-in" each year that you accumulate it
THEN DIVIDE this total amount by the hours you expect to work in that given benefit year, this tells you your ADJUSTED dollars per hour wage.
When people fail to include benefits and the other intangibles it makes comparing hourly salaries difficult like comparing apples to oranges.
And be WARE! Not all employer health insurance plans are paid the SAME!!! When your monthly health insurance premium for a family totals approx $800 (your share plus employers) EVEN a 10% difference in the employer's portion can make a big difference at the end of the year!
Also don't forget to adjust for different rates of State Sales tax, gas tax between two jobs.
Also see if there's a difference in state income taxes.
And FINALLY, get an idea of your expected commute to work. With today's gas prices, the difference between a 20 mile round trip to work versus a 40 mile round trip to work can be pretty impressive on a monthly basis!!!
I am a RN and a Paramedic in North Central Ohio. There are plenty of private EMS departments in Ohio many of them also run primary 911, not just 911 transfers (where the FD responds, treats then calls the private to transport) most of the privates do a combination of interfacility transfers and primary 911, and some in the Toledo area do the 911 transfers (so I've heard). I dont know much about southern Ohio. The city of Cleveland also has their own city EMS that as I understand it is seperate from the FD.
You will probably find that the pay scale is lower than what you would like. I am a new grad RN and was quoted pay rates at several different facilities all in the low 20's. But I have heard the Columbus and Cinci area pay is much better. The Paramedic pay at private departments seems to vary alot but none of it is great. Most base pay's seem to be between 8-10/hr then with different pay incentives up to 12-15ish/hr. Hope some of that helps you. Good Luck
P.S. If I were you I'd go to NC that is such a beautifull state, and Ohio weather stinks!
If you have kids to think about, forget Fayetteville NC. The schools there are HORRIBLE, unless you are in the "right" district. I was glad my kids were with my ex-h and didn't have to go, since I couldn't afford private school.
There is a lot to think about, huh? What a process! I wish you lots of luck!
Specializes in ER, Trauma, ICU/CCU/NICU, EMS, Transport.
Just an update to my post LONG post above...
I've been on my current job for nearly 7 years now and got myself interested to see "where I'm at" so I've calculatd my "annual benefits package" as it stands and then used that to figure my "adjusted" per hour amount....
I found some interesting information in that my actual "take home pay" per hour is 60% of my total hourly "adjusted annual benefit".
In otherwords, there's about $25/hour that I am NOTgettting that goes to my benefits from the employer....
Hi Amanda. I'm an ER nurse in the triad area approximately 45 min - 1 hr away from Winston-Salem. We have a lot of nurses come from the mountians to work at our facility, and there is a lot of nurses that travel the 45min - 1 hr trip to work in Winston. I know the PRN staff at our facility make about $30.00 / hr. Any questions feel free to email me.:)
mwboswell
561 Posts
$230-$250K for a house, that's Crazy!!!!
Come to South Carolina, (the Upstate) housing is EASILY in the Low $100-$200K for even a 3-4 BR house.....(sheesh)