Pay difference Denver, CO Springs, Ft. Collins

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Is there a pay difference between Denver, CO Springs, or Ft Collins? We are selling our house and wanting to relocate to CO, but………I am really surprised by the pay, its much lower than I expected. I am coming from southern California and know I will have a decrease in pay in CO but my friend who has the same number of years experience makes exactly half of what I do in Denver. I would expect maybe a 30% decrease, but half, wow! I just can’t see that even with the cost of living lower that is equivalent to the pay difference. Any insight on pay in other CO cities would be much appreciated!!!

Colorado Springs is saturated as well and you will be making more in Denver. I live in Colo. Spgs and commute to Denver (which I DO NOT recommend). Good luck!

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Specializes in LTC, Psych, M/S.
Did you compare the increase of pay to the cost of the area. Vail is a pretty expensive place to live so I would imagine they would pay more.

Liz520, I know a lot of people that live in Fort Collins and work in WY. WY is a pretty wealthy state so it can be a good place to live. I am not sure what their taxes are compared to CO though.

Their should be a lot of jobs opening up in a couple years, to bad it's not sooner. They are building a few new facilities so that will open up a lot.

Wyo could be considered wealthy by some standards. There is no state income tax...i read once that residents of cheyenne were some of the lowest taxed citizens in the nation. from what i've seen healthcare is not funded as well as it is in other states nor is social services...most likely d/t the conservative state gov't.

If you live in CO and work in Wyo you still have to pay state income taxes on that income.

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.

As a whole I am told the state does very well for themselves, I know when I just went to Casper to take my boards, Gas was at least 20 cents cheaper there. Tuition is cheaper, and from my understanding because of them doing well for themselves with the oil industry and something else that escapes me, they can afford to pay their people more and have more resources.

I do not live there though so I don't know. This is just what some Wyoming Residents and one of our Teachers that came from WY had told us. That the state as a whole is a wealthy state.

I will be getting my RN-BSN from University of Wyoming and I am shocked how cheap the tuition is, especially for out of state residents.

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Specializes in Emergency Room.

I was attracted to this post because I had the same nurse salary sticker shock when I moved here to Utah. I moved from Washington State to Utah to land my first RN job and ended making less money then I was making as an LPN in Washington. Housing is not cheap here and I am living pay check to check. I was looking into moving to Colorado, but saw that the salaries were also low and housing is expensive. Thankfully I landed a job back in Washington State and will be making 30k more a year. I move there next month. Colorado, Utah, Idaho nursing pay is not good. Many nurses here work OT or have second jobs to earn extra money.

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Specializes in LTC, Agency, HHC.

I live in a small town in Northern Colorado, about an hour away from Cheyenne. I work in Greeley at a nursing home and I make $20 (as an LPN.) The starting wage where I work for a new grad RN is $23. I am not sure what the hospital pays. The pay in Denver is actually very, very good for an RN. Depending on your specialty, you may be able to negotiate pay, but it absolutely won't be what you make there in CA. (I used to live in the bay area, and fresh out of LPN school I could have made $28/hr in 2005.) It may be tougher to negotiate pay in Denver (or CO at all) because there are so few jobs here, due to the nurses working longer.) The cost of living is lower, the taxes are lower......gas prices are generally lower here in the midwest than anywhere else.... The county I live in has no debt.....I thought that was interesting. I don't know about the difference between here and WY because I never go to WY. If I were you, just call the HR in a few places you may be interested in and ask them for info. Go online and check out the job sites like career builder, etc., and search jobs in the local papers. (Ft Collins Coloradoan, Longmont Times Call, Boulder Daily Camera, etc.)

PM me if I can help you and I will be glad to. And good luck! I really do love living here, it may be a culture shock for you, moving from So CA to here, but it is wonderful here. The pay cut is worth the view!! LOL (And it is just cheaper here, obviously.)

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I'm an LPN here in Denver, with 3 years experience. I make $23.00 an hour. I have also lived in Southern CA, but didn't work as a nurse. My pay is on the high end based on where I work. I work in the clinic, not the hospital. I know that RN's in my company start at $33.00 p/h. Don't really know what the pay is in Ft. Collins.

Hope that helps.

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
I was attracted to this post because I had the same nurse salary sticker shock when I moved here to Utah. I moved from Washington State to Utah to land my first RN job and ended making less money then I was making as an LPN in Washington. Housing is not cheap here and I am living pay check to check. I was looking into moving to Colorado, but saw that the salaries were also low and housing is expensive. Thankfully I landed a job back in Washington State and will be making 30k more a year. I move there next month. Colorado, Utah, Idaho nursing pay is not good. Many nurses here work OT or have second jobs to earn extra money.

I love WA. That will always be my hone.

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Specializes in Emergency Room.
I'm an LPN here in Denver, with 3 years experience. I make $23.00 an hour. I have also lived in Southern CA, but didn't work as a nurse. My pay is on the high end based on where I work. I work in the clinic, not the hospital. I know that RN's in my company start at $33.00 p/h. Don't really know what the pay is in Ft. Collins.

Hope that helps.

Any chance you work for Kaiser?

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While everyone here is talking about CO and Wyoming nursing jobs can anyone offer me some advice or help regarding finding an RN position in CO my family wants to relocate out west but there just doesn't at least appear to be jobs for new grads. Im even willing to start at a nursing home. AAny ideas? Im looming for more rural settings. Thanks

_

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Specializes in Professional Development Specialist.

It depends on your specialty. I am paid pretty well for the Denver area, comparable to my cohorts from school when you add in their overnight and weekend differentials. However I work days and 2 Saturdays a month. A coworker just took a big pay cut to get their first hospital job. But even still I make far less than those out of state. CO is lower paid, and the market is heavily oversaturated. But if you have 3+ years experience in a specialty field that likely won't affect you.

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Specializes in LTC, Agency, HHC.
While everyone here is talking about CO and Wyoming nursing jobs can anyone offer me some advice or help regarding finding an RN position in CO my family wants to relocate out west but there just doesn't at least appear to be jobs for new grads. Im even willing to start at a nursing home. AAny ideas? Im looming for more rural settings. Thanks

_

Depends on where you are looking to go. The hospitals won't hire a new grad until you have at least a year of experience. I work in Greeley, like I said in an earlier post, and my company will hire pretty much on the spot new RN's. Pay is $23/hr. PM me and I will help you with info. Best thing to do is look online for jobs and contact HR and recruiters. Good luck!

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Specializes in LTC, Psych, M/S.
As a whole I am told the state does very well for themselves, I know when I just went to Casper to take my boards, Gas was at least 20 cents cheaper there. Tuition is cheaper, and from my understanding because of them doing well for themselves with the oil industry and something else that escapes me, they can afford to pay their people more and have more resources.

I do not live there though so I don't know. This is just what some Wyoming Residents and one of our Teachers that came from WY had told us. That the state as a whole is a wealthy state.

I will be getting my RN-BSN from University of Wyoming and I am shocked how cheap the tuition is, especially for out of state residents.

Wyoming does fund education very well....both k-12 and secondary.

I've also been thinking about the online RN-BSN program thru UW, now that my kids are getting older. Do you have any 'inside info' mividaloca? I emailed the director a couple months ago but never got a response.

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