Career Advice

Nurses New Nurse

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Hello,

I'm going to school to receive a BSN, I should also mention I am a male. I will be getting married and want to make sure I can provide for my wife and at least 2 children (future). My fiancee and I are open to relocating from Southern California because we find it expensive. Any advice on specialties, good locations to settle down (good pay, low cost of living location) and any other advice you can give me are wholeheartedly welcome

God Bless

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Specializes in ED, ICU, MS/MT, PCU, CM, House Sup, Frontline mgr.

a low cost-of-living occurs in rural areas around the country... with low costs of living you are looking at bad nursing pay!!!

are you already a nurse? if so, then you can land a very good paying job in places with a higher costs-of-living and possibly be able to care for spouse and kids on 1-2 incomes (1 income if you do not have a lot of debts). on the other hand, if you are a new grad, you will not be very employable in california.

new grads move out of california to find a job. i read on here that texas actively hires new grads. on the bad side, texas is a right-to-work state, which means employers have all of the rights. so, they pay poorly comparatively. on the good side, most areas of texas have a low cost-of-living, where you can purchase a nice sized home for next to nothing in very good family friendly neighborhoods.

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Thankfully I will be dept free. I came from the Marines so school is being payed for, at least for now. In California as you said it is not going to be easy as a new grad to find a job here, let alone by a home @500K and +9k property tax... I found some places that even though I may make much less as an RN, the cost of living/pay are coming up about equal maybe a bit better. I guess it's like looking for the holy grail, taking in account rural areas are out.

I just want the best for my family.

If anyone has done similar (recent) research please inform me! thanks

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Hhmm, how do you feel about cold weather? Minnesota is starting to hire nurses again. I love it here except it can get cold. I'm from L.A. too but I didn't move here for my career. I know the pay is middle of the road but cost of living is exceptionally low. You can actually buy a house out here for 120,000. It sounds like pay would start at 29 or so an hour and it's a wonderful place to raise a family. If it weren't for it being so cold in January... Minnesota would be the holy grail

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Specializes in ED, ICU, MS/MT, PCU, CM, House Sup, Frontline mgr.

If anyone has done similar (recent) research please inform me! thanks

I just stumbled across this today... There are more nurses who agree that CA is not a market for New Grads:

https://allnurses.com/california-nurses/how-job-market-505062.html

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It seems most male nurses I know tend to gravitate towards ER, ICU and OR... I am not sure where all the jobs are for new grads.. hopefully when you graduate we wont be in this mess.

Also, will your wife ever work? I ask because you may want to take into consideration what her job will be and what the market is for that particular type of work wherever you decide to go.

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