Making a decision

Columnist · Sep 12, 2012

Moved to CA Nursing for more response from our CA members.

perioddrama · Sep 12, 2012

Is there any Registered Nurses that work in San Diego or Sacramento. I am trying to decide which city to move to. my goal is the one that makes the most money. or is there someone that lives in another state and works in california?

California's economy is very weak/tough/hard/frustrating right now. Are you a new grad or an experienced nurse?

If you are a new grad, you may find that Southern California is a little, not a lot, but a little bit easier, in terms of finding a job when compared to Sacramento and Northern California.

Even experienced nurses are having a hard time finding a job in California. You can do a search on this site for other threads.

While Sacramento area may pay more, the cost of living is higher up there than compared to San Diego.

Basically, have a job first. Whichever part of the state that offers you a job, move there.

Good luck in your job hunt!

vwgirl22 · Sep 12, 2012

While Sacramento area may pay more, the cost of living is higher up there than compared to San Diego.

I am from Sacramento, lived in San Diego for 6 years and went to nursing school there and I just moved back to Sac. In response to the previous post, I disagree that the cost of living is higher in Sacramento. It is much higher in San Diego, which does not correspond to RN pay there (pay in SD is 30-40 range while it is 40-50 in Sac). The link below shows the differences in cost of living.

[TABLE=class: table_indexes_diff, align: center]

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Indexes Difference[/TR]

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[TD=colspan: 2, align: right]Consumer Prices in San Diego, CA are 5.33% higher than in Sacramento, CA[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=colspan: 2, align: right]Consumer Prices Including Rent in San Diego, CA are 17.22% higher than in Sacramento, CA[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=colspan: 2, align: right]Rent Prices in San Diego, CA are 65.37% higher than in Sacramento, CA[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=colspan: 2, align: right]Restaurant Prices in San Diego, CA are 19.33% higher than in Sacramento, CA[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=colspan: 2, align: right]Groceries Prices in San Diego, CA are 7.03% lower than in Sacramento, CA[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=colspan: 2, align: right]Local Purchasing Power in San Diego, CA is 75.96% higher than in Sacramento, CA[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

*from numbeo.com

In regards to the job outlook, its tough everywhere. I would say northern cali/bay area is the worst, followed by Sac, then Southern Ca. In my opinion Sacramento is hard because there just aren't that many hospitals. There is Sutter (which gives preference to Sac area nursing school graduates) then the Dignity Health hospitals which post random new grad positions from time to time but no actual new grad programs. Last but not least, UC Davis has a twice a year program but its incredibly competitive (something like 10 positions and nearly 1000 applicants). Southern Ca has many more hospitals to choose from so I think chances are slightly better down there. Hope this helps. Good luck!

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Sep 13, 2012

Basically, have a job first. Whichever part of the state that offers you a job, move there.

Agree with this. Since you've listed two very different locales in CA, it doesn't appear that you have a preference, or are planning to move to a specific area. So see whatever job you can land and then go from there.

San Diego is really only slightly better than Sacramento: we have several nursing schools so while there may be more hospitals, there's also more graduates/nurses fighting for those spots. Plus we get those from LA down who have having problems finding jobs there and are casting their net further south.

As far as living in another state and commuting to CA, you can do that to. But that pretty much strikes off Sacramento and San Diego (unless you're want to live in Mexico). You'd be looking at inland CA...which actually might give you much better odds of landing a job.

Best of luck!