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Discussion

In term of pay and working condition,what state or city is the best place for nurses?

Tired of Arizona heat, and its public school, want to move out of state. Not sure where to go. I need your helps to find a place to move to. I am looking for place with relatively low cost of living, good pay and working condition. I know it is hard to find such a place. I am ready for some trade-offs too. Just mention some places for suggestions please. Thank you. RN Ken

Featured Replies

Corvallis and Albany Oregon. Take your pick. Corvallis has a pop of about 50,000- is home to Oregon State University, has fabulous schools, basically nonexistent crime, mountains, rivers, and an ocean close enough for a day trip, and friendly people. Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center has something like 130 beds (but has a new tower going up that will bump it up about 40 more I believe). It has a cath lab that does open hearts and It used to be a level two trauma center but I'm not sure if that has changed. Their pay scale is something like 29-44$/hr.

Albany is about 20 min to the west, more conservative-agricultural-industrial, and home prices are more affordable. Albany General has about 65 beds and is slower paced. If you don't mind the rain...and I'm being serious about this, a lot of people really can't... it's a nice place to live.

  • Experts

Look to California's Central Valley.

Since California is the only state with a legally mandated nurse/patient ration, you will not have more than 5 patients on a typical med/surg floor. The pay rates are the best in the nation before cost-of-living adjustments are made. Rents and house prices are plummeting rapidly due to the foreclosure crisis, and are now easily affordable on a nurse's salary in the Central Valley. You can move to a city such as Sacramento, Stockton, Fresno, Bakersfield, Modesto, Tracy, or Los Banos, and buy a large house for less than $175,000 or rent an apartment for about $750.

I think Houston could be added to that list from what I have been reading around the boards.

I hope there are more options...so far California Valley is first on my list. After I finish school and get about 2 years experience. I hope the houses will still be "affordable" because it seems that even now it is tough, it's just cheaper than the popular CA cities.

Nursing ratios matter a lot to me- I don't want to get burnout any faster than need be....I would pick that over highest pay, that is why CA looks so attractive.

  • Author

Thank you for Good responses. Oregon sounds good. Hopefully, it won't rain like a shower all year long.

What Central Valley city you recommend? Fresno area has high crime problem. Same as Houston. Anymore ideas? More options I have, better choices I may make. Thanks. Ken

  • Experts

Any large city is going to have "safer" parts of town within their city limits, far away from the more crime-infested areas. The northwest part of Fresno is supposed to be nice and desirable. The northwest and southwest parts of Bakersfield are really beautiful.

Houston has very pretty suburbs outside the city limits, and the hospitals pay more competitively than the Dallas area. Sugarland, Pearland, The Woodlands, and Katy are all supposed to be very nice suburbs of Houston.

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