NYC Retiring RN looking to relocate to Houston

[Emergency RN]

Twenty five plus years experience (Open Heart, IV Team, Oncology, ED) with BCLS, ACLS, PALS, and BSN; looking to take retirement early from ice cold and frightfully expensive NYC and transplant to sunny economical Houston. My question is, what are the job prospects for someone with my background and experience? Also, I'm not even looking to make top dollar as I'm going to be already collecting a partial pension (which Tx apparently does not tax! YIPPEE!!) which should cover just about the bulk of my crucial expenses (mortgage, family living exp). Anything else on top of that would just be gravy so to speak. I read in some other threads that outlying rural facilities have better opportunities, albeit at smaller salaries, which for me wouldn't matter. Does anyone have any comments and or suggestions that would be helpful for my situation? I'm looking at a probable timetable of another 1.5 years in NYC, so I should have plenty of time to consider my options fully. Appreciate all that answer and please be brutally honest if you have to. I rather know truth beforehand than find out after the fact. Thx!

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Oh Honey - you'd better enjoy your (very short) retirement while you can... anyone with your qualifications is going to be snapped up in a hurry in Houston. Our city continues to grow - new hospitals opening up in suburban & 'exurban' (waaay far out suburbs) areas. There are always opportunities for experienced nurses. I am sure you will be able to find one to suit you.

You are correct - say G'bye to ice and snow & hello to a few jungle-hot months each year. Ditch that winter wardrobe & slouch around with the rest of us in flipflops & shorts for most of the year. Say adios to state income tax... no such animal here - but howdy to sales tax of 8.25% and higher than average property taxes. Housing will be dirt cheap compared to what you are used to but your electric bill may give you a shock - LOL. thanks to GW Bush's great experiment in deregulation.. our power bills are higher than anywhere else.

Welcome to my town!!!! Don't hesitate to PM me if you need more info.

[Emergency RN]

Sales tax in NYC is 8.875%, so I would actually still be saving money, LOL... But your notation of power costs is indeed an eye opener, and I thank you for the warning. And yes, property tax is the savage beast in New York and our neighbors, New Jersey & Connecticut, so there won't be much surprises there. In fact some of the areas that I'd been looking at seen rather cheap by comparison. One colleague pays over 7K per year in Valley Stream (a Long Island, NY suburb), from real estate listings I'd looked at, that seems rather "average" for the area. I looked at some Sugar Land, Tx (a Houston area suburb that I'm considering) listings and found the historical data of homes that I would want hovering around 4-6K per year. Not great, but still at a substantial discount to NY!

Additionally, I went on one of those pay scale web sites, and had it calculate my needed salary cost of living equivalent in Houston, in order to maintain my exact same lifestyle in New York, and it worked out to be 41.8%! In other words, in Houston, I only need to make about 42% of what I used to, in order to be economically at the same COL point. Since even the lowest average paying nursing job in Houston is roughly at 54% (compared with my previous salary), taking even the lowest paying nursing job in Houston would literally mean an effective 12% COL raise for me. And if I got a "typical" paid nursing job, the, average salary would be 63% of NY (or effective 21% COL raise).

Now I finally understand why people have been moving to Texas!!! Only a year and a half to go; I can't wait!

ADDENDUM: BTW, speaking of high electrical costs, I noticed that many homes I've been looking at seem to only use electric ranges (would probably suck a huge amount of power on a daily basis); my question is, is natural gas lines pretty accessible throughout all of Houston or are there some areas that only have electrical but no gas utility? In line with that, are there any specific Texas or Houston tax incentives for solar power usage? Thx.