Nursing salary vs quality of life in North Carolina

RNperdiem, RN · Mar 17, 2016

The cost of living does balance out. The cost of housing varies a bit. Generally, this is a well educated, often upscale part of the state. Depending on where you live, the cost of housing might be higher than rural areas, but never in the "California" range of housing prices.

mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN · Mar 18, 2016

I am originally from Chicago. I became a nurse here, but the amount of house my husband and I have here, we could have never afforded up there. There is a LOT to offer here. Because of all the universities and hospitals, there is a lot of things to do for adults and kids.

Not quite sure how to answer the working conditions/pay question. There is a lot of hospital swapping going on lately. I think the big 5 are relatively comparable. Depending on your area of interest. I work at big Duke (there are 3 hospitals in the system) and I am perfectly happy with my hours and pay and opportunity. I know a lot of people who work at each of the hospitals in the area. Most everyone is happy and if they aren't, there are plenty of opportunites to move laterally in the area.

I don't know that many that have second jobs. A few. Some are clinical instructors for one of the many comm college and ABSN students. It is absolutely livable on one job. My husband works at the airport for TSA and we have 2 kids. We do not struggle.

While we miss Chicago terribly, we will never move back. The weather is great here, we are close to the beach, the mountains, Atlanta and DC are less than a day's drive.

The Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area is really nice. Very diverse. Lots of things to do.

HTH!!!!

LAmom · Mar 18, 2016

Thank you so much, very reaffirming.

LAmom · Mar 18, 2016

Thank you, that is all very useful information. We also have 2 small children and I really want them to experience growing up on the east coast ( we are originally from NY). Salary was my only hesitation, but certainly the pros are outweighing the cons.

ThatBigGuy · Mar 18, 2016

A little math will help you compare housing and salaries. You will only be making about 55% of your previous pay after the move. As long as housing in NC is 55% of the housing in LA, you'll come out even. According to Trulia's market trends, housing sells for $509 a square foot in LA. Chapel Hill is $222 per square foot, and Raleigh is $122 per square foot, making Chapel Hill 44% of LA, and Raleigh 24% of LA.

So while your income will go down, your housing costs will go down further, relative to LA. You'll also gain a little bit of money back by reducing your state income tax by about 3.5% with the move as well.

Housing in LA is what drives the cost of living in LA so much higher than NC. So if you do a deeper dive into things like groceries, gas, entertainment costs, utilities, etc., you'll find that NC's costs will be lower, but to a lesser extent than the housing disparity. Since housing will be your biggest expense, you'll likely find that you'll come out ahead, even in a highest cost scenario, such as choosing an exclusive Chapel Hill neighborhood over a more rural setting near Raleigh.

The simple math would indicate the move would be somewhere between financially even to financially beneficial.

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Mar 18, 2016

My D lives in a "hip" area of Durham, NC, which is also in the triangle where you are looking. Her rent is $1700 a month for a new construction, charming 1800 sq. foot house with a yard near Duke. She splits it with a roommate. She loves living in that neighborhood.