Low pay in Seattle?

U.S.A. Washington

Published

I moved up here because my partner got a job at Amazon and I expected the pay here to be higher than Portland, OR or even Vancouver but...no! It's abysmal. I started as a new grat at OHSU at $33.49/hour and that was pre shift differential! I left my last job making $35.93 per hour with 2.5 years of experience and all the jobs seem to be set at a pay scale for significantly less? Most of the jobs, hospital or not, seem to be set at around $30-$31/hour which is a HUGE hit especially given that we're paying double our rent back home. Is this standard or is there a way to make more than that as a staff nurse in Seattle (outside of contract type jobs, I need something permanent).

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Moved to Washington Nursing for member response.

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Payscale is dictated by the union contract for many RN positions. Do you have a BSN? My hospital pays more for that. Also, you could see about relocation expenses reimbursement (even after the fact) to bridge the lower pay for the first year. PM me if you want more info.

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Keep in mind that WA has no state income tax so you may actually end up taking home more $ than you were in OR.

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Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.

I was going to ask if you were union. That dictates your salary if you are.

PacNW student. I want to know what hospital you work at where you get paid more for a BSN? I'm trying to get that in our nursing contract.

Most hospitals in Pierce Co pay less than King Co. hospitals.

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Hi There, I saw your post about applying to UW DNP program. I am wondering if you are in the program or just applied. I just applied, for 2015. Hoping to meet others that are doing the same so that we can share out experiences. Let me know. Thank you.

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just know it could be worse... in Utah they pay their nurses terribly (starting at 21/hr!!!) I cant wait till we move to WA.

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Jeez that's depressing. I make more than 2x that as a new grad in the SF Bay Area but I want to move to somewhere I can afford (and will have enough water to support human life). Housing isn't much cheaper in the surrounding areas, but with the pay being half and no pt ratios, it sounds like a really crappy switch for work. :(

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