Pay Differences Across California

U.S.A. California

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So I just have a question based on some of the hourly wages I've seen on job postings around the state.

RN's in the Bay Area make upwards of $45-50+ an hour. That's understandable, extremely high cost of living.

RN's in the Central Valley make $38-50+ an hour. Great salary, with a cheaper cost of living (compared to the Bay Area)

RN's in Southern CA have a starting wage of $28-35 an hour. The cost of living (in some places) is still extremely high, comparable to the Bay Area but the hourly wage is so much lower.

Perhaps it's just that way for RN 1's (which are the jobs I'm looking at).

The only justification I can come up with is that because So Cal jobs are in high demand, hospitals can get away with paying their nurses less...?

Does anyone have any insight to this? :)

Thank you for the reply. It is definitely tough even for LTC. The last 2 weeks, I've approached a few facilities and although they were hiring, they too have mentioned seeking out experienced nurses only. A facility I interviewed with the other day had even informed me that they were receiving a flood of New Grad applicants, whereas 5 years ago probably only 1 New Grad at most would apply. Thank you for the feedback. I was curious because applications usually ask for a minimum salary expectation, and I was unsure what to put (just wrote down 30/hr for the sake of answering it). Fortunately, I already live in the area and don't have to worry about rent or much else... So at this point I'll even work for 28/hr to gain experience as long as I can still stay local. The pay doesn't concern me as much as the length of time between graduation and experience.

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Well it's because most people will take the pay cut for orange county or san diego.

In the inland empire it's not that expensive....since the crash (but even before) you could find reasonable houses....

Now brand new ones can go for 150k to 200k. Nurses here start at 32/hr, a nurse with 10 years experience would easily make 40/hr.

Not quite the same salary as the bay area, but definitely cheaper housing wise.

I just took the NCLEX and I live in Moreno Valley, part of Inland Valley. You know any hospital around here that welcomes new grad? I applied to several but I haven't heard anything back. Pretty discourging!

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Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Critical Care.
I just took the NCLEX and I live in Moreno Valley, part of Inland Valley. You know any hospital around here that welcomes new grad? I applied to several but I haven't heard anything back. Pretty discourging!

I don't think there are too many new grad opportunities right now. Loma linda has a few three times a year, but they prefer their own nursing students first, and the competition is stiff.

The only other ones I know of is that sometimes Community hospital of San Bernardino will consider them.

Inland Valley Medical Center in wildomar. You can always apply at riverside county regional med center, low pay, and I think they're mostly in a freeze but you may get lucky. I know that sometimes Arrowhead regional med center will hire in their ER

It's about timing.

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Specializes in ED.

I am glad I found this thread because I am thinking of relocating from Florida. Is there a market for a 10+ yr experienced ER nurse in the Inland Valley area? Is $40/hr for full time the going rate?

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Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Critical Care.

You would probably be able to find a job in the Inland Empire (if that's what you meant by inland valley). I would think you would make at least 40/hr base. You'd actually probably make more. 43ish/hr maybe? Some hospitals pay much better than others though as well.

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
I believe that the difference in pay rates between Northern and Southern California is because Northern California to a large degree has been "unionized" since the 1940s. Southern Ca is catching up in union membership and pay but there is still a large gap. I work for a hospital system that has hospitals from sacramento to san diego. Sacramento area is at least 7-10$ less and LA is $12/hr less. Hospitals always state it is cost of living, etc. But the reality is they pay you what they can get away with. :twocents::twocents:

*** You srer correct. The cost of living has nothing at all to do with what a hospital can pay it's nurses. The hospital is not reimbursed more becuase it is located in a high cost of living neighborhood. If a hospital in SF can pay $50 then a hospital in any other part of Ca can also pay $50 but chooses not to. If they can maintain staff at whatever level of pay they are offering then there is no incentive to raise wages.

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So I just have a question based on some of the hourly wages I've seen on job postings around the state.

RN's in the Bay Area make upwards of $45-50+ an hour. That's understandable, extremely high cost of living.

RN's in the Central Valley make $38-50+ an hour. Great salary, with a cheaper cost of living (compared to the Bay Area)

RN's in Southern CA have a starting wage of $28-35 an hour. The cost of living (in some places) is still extremely high, comparable to the Bay Area but the hourly wage is so much lower.

Perhaps it's just that way for RN 1's (which are the jobs I'm looking at).

The only justification I can come up with is that because So Cal jobs are in high demand, hospitals can get away with paying their nurses less...?

Does anyone have any insight to this? :)

You got a couple things wrong....

Bay area new grads get 50$ a hour, 20 experienced RN's make 70$ or a little more.

Sac area new grad RN's make 44-46$, 20 experienced RN's make 55-60$

Prison RN's make 46-53$ no matter where in the state.

Kaiser in Sac area make 49$-70$

most these pays include night premium.

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Yes Mdfog10 I agree it is because Northern Cal is unionized so strongly. I actually work at a non union hospital but they have no choice but to compete with the union hospitals so they offer us just as good of a deal. I assure you they only offer this high pay because they have to, not because they want to. Northern California is one of the few places in the country that nurses are paid what they should be and are given a great deal of respect. I hope this trend goes elsewhere in the U.S. Nursing is a very hard job but hosptials and other employers will pay as low as they can for us. For some reason, they want to pay us low for the job we do. Yes we can work overtime and make decent money, but who wants to work 60 hours a week, especially in a physically demanding job like this. Most nurses I know cannot work more than 32 hours because of the demands of the job. I don't really believe that hospital administrators and HR departments understand how difficult our jobs really are, nor do I think most really want to know. We as a group need to respect our industry and get the pay up for our profession.

By the way I don't know who you work for with hospitals across the state but I do know Kaiser pays nurses in Fresno and Sacramento the same as their nurses in the Bay Area. I know that UC Davis Med Center in Sacramento pays their nurses well too and they have fantasic retirement benefeits. It is not uncommon to to make $60 per hour in the San Francisco Bay Area with ten years nursing experience and $50 plus per hour in Sacramento and other parts of the central valley of Northern California. These are day shift hourly rates without differentials. I wanted to move to Southern California at one time but I was astonished at how low they pay in all of Southern California. Nurses down there need to demand more. They are not being paid right for the cost of living down there.....just my opinion.

UCDavis has begone renegging on their pension promises, CA is broke.

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Specializes in ED.

NickiLaughs, thanks for responding to my question. Yes I did mean Inland Empire. Can you tell me if any of the ER's in the Inland Empire area use travelers? I was thinking this may be a good way to go for me.

Thanks

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Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Critical Care.

I've seen our hospital use them sometimes. St. Bernardine's Medical Center. Although I will say I don't see travelers nearly as much as I used to.

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...:redpinkhe

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Specializes in ICU, PICU.

How is the pay for new grads in the Bakersfield area?

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