deniatus

Oh, duh! I should have checked your name and realized you worked as an RN to make $30 an hour. As of now, I'm an LPN so I'm guessing the average will actually be closer to my earlier estimates ($20) than your salary ($30). *sigh* Also, my son may be confused. While Texas doesn't have a state income tax, you are still forced to pay the federal income tax (25% or so) regardless of what state you live in, right? He doesn't think so, but he's got little experience with taxes and is learning on the fly (on the Internet no less). Thanks MrsReillyRN.

Thanks a bunch for the responses so far. MrsReillyRN, we actually looked at Boston as a possible location (in fact we viewed it during the first day of searching...) and liked it but were afraid of the living standards (about 33% higher living standard required according to CNN's calculator), but that was with the assumption LPNs get paid around $20. When you told me they get paid $30 or so, it blew my mind! OgopogoLPN, thanks for the information. That's the conclusion we came to when looking at Seattle's apartment-renting market yesterday. My son actually looked through tons of cities in Texas and the only one we really liked was Austin. The renting market is fairly cheap (compared to other places), is a nice & beautiful town, and would allow us to live comfortably. Thanks for the suggestions so far and please keep them coming!

Hi everyone! I'm a middle-aged LPN with two sons. We currently live in a mid-sized town in Illinois, but are looking to move to a city with a much larger population (preferably 500,000+). My son has done some research on various large cities throughout the United States, but we would love for more recommendations from some fellow nurses. The city would preferably have a good employable situation for an LPN, have a low crime ratio, and low or no income tax (making it easier to live on an LPN salary). A luxury would be living on a coast with a swimming area. Two places that seem pretty nice are Austin, Texas (fits all criteria and then some!) and Seattle, Washington (high crime rate only issue) as well as a couple places in Florida (Clearwater, Deerfield Beach, Miami). Obviously, Florida remains an option if only because of the retiree population. I'm sorry for making this my first post, but we're really trying to explore all our options before making our trip to various cities and checking them out.