OMG--is US$32 per hour as starting too good to be true or really true in Los Angeles?

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is US$32 per hour as starting for RN too good to be true or really true in Los Angeles?

If it were true, I wouldn't be surprised.....given the high cost of living in CA. If you convert $32 to Philippine Peso that would be around P1280 an hour right now...but sadly you are also spending in US dollars, and whatever you earn is most likely calibrated to the cost of living in the area where you live in the US.

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if you're going to work day shift three days a week, you'll probably make in the

40's. if you go to nights, then it's pretty wide open. i've been a nurse for 2 years, and my best paycheck for 2 weeks was over $8,300, for working 13 out of 14 nights in a row (7p to 7a).

so in short order, if you work nights and work 72 to 84 hours a week, you can indeed make quite a bit. and i think you can do that in most large metropolitan areas. the question becomes whether you'll live long enought to enjoy it :).

i can't see myself doing this for more than another couple of years. i'm really thinking of working hard for 6 months of the year and taking the next 6 months off.

how many careers can you do that with, plus get to travel?

despite all the complaining that goes on in nursing, this really isn't so bad :).

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Specializes in Neuro-Surgery, Med-Surg, Home Health.

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I know this thread was begun quite sometime ago, but I can tell you that in our large acute care hospital here in San Francisco, Calif., RN's starting salary in 2008 is around $40/hr. for those RN's with no experience. It goes much higher for experienced RN's.

After six months of probationary period, an RN can work as many OT hours as he/she wants.

At the top tier of our hospital's staff RN pay level, assuming you work the 7pm-7am shift you can earn as much as $67/hr. that includes the 20% night shift differential. (There are even higher RN salaries in some of the SF hospitals I heard about.)

RN's in our hospital get paid double-time-and-a-half when working on a legal paid holiday. That is a little over $1,000 for ONE 12-hour night shift work for some RN's with enough seniority. Don't believe this? Google RN salaries in the SF Bay Area's acute care hospitals.

Benefits for RN's is great. Health insurance programs cost from zero to a few dollars per pay period. There is visual and dental insurance as well. Add paid vacation time off (number of days depending on the length of service), paid holiday off, paid educational leave, paid floating holiday, paid longevity day off, generous sick leave, etc.

Sure the job is hard and very stressful, but the recently implemented state of California mandated staffing ratio of 1 nurse to a maximum of 5 patients in Med-Surg, units has made the life of nurses that much better.

The cost of living here in California is astronomical compared to other regions of the country and the rest of the globe for that matter. If you are an RN in an acute care hospital in any major city in California you can lead a comfortable life, and possibly even better than the typical middle class American family.

Thankfully nurses in major California cities are now better compensated for all the hard work we do. Is the pay high enough now to ease the nursing shortage? Only time can tell.

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Specializes in Oncology, Med Surg, Ortho.

Yep it's true. I'm in LA and at 6-7% raise a year with a night time differential you can quickly be at 40$ an hour. Not to mention time and half overtime you pick up.

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Specializes in Oncology, Med Surg, Ortho.

PS. Housing is A LOT more expensive here so you need that $32+ an hour. Everything else is about the same I think, cost of living wise.

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Specializes in ER.
is US$32 per hour as starting for RN too good to be true or really true in Los Angeles?

not a good rate for California for the high cost of living....

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This thread was started two years ago, so one must take that into the context of things as well.

Since the material being discussed in this thread is no longer valid, I am going to be closing this thread.

Feel free to start one with current information.

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