Relocating to San Diego...Need advice!!!!

Lilnurse0803, RN · Jul 12, 2006

Hello All,

I am planning on relocating to San Diego in January 2007, after i finish nursing school. I have been looking into some of the local San Diego hospitals and was wondering what people mean by San Diego nurses getting paid less than other CA nurses. Can someone please elaborate on this?

Also, any suggestions on what parts of San Diego are better to live in will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Melody

prmenrs, RN · Jul 12, 2006

It's called a "Paradise tax". Same in Hawaii. People WANT to come here, so will take less $$ to do it.

That said, it's still expensive to live here.

What is a good area depends on your life style--if you're a single, you probably won't live in the same part of town as a family looking for good schools.

I'd suggest finding a job, look close to the hospital. (keep that commute time down!! Very imp't, cuz gas is often highest in the country.)

Bonny619 · Jul 13, 2006

We have a good trolley system here as well. My last clinical was at Sharp Grossmont and the trolley drops you off right there.

happygrad06 · Jul 15, 2006

Downside? Cost of living, traffic, everything so rushed. You know, I go out there and honestly, I say to myself for the first few days I think "Why did I want to leave here?" Day 3, I'm thinking, "I remember now."
HA!!! I grew up there too and have been gone for over a decade but recently wondered now that I graduated would I ever move back to Calif ..except for the list above , yes! But I'd maybe like to have one of those day 3 rememberance things going on!! :) ha ha. Perhaps one that occurred at the beach!

eandgsma · Jul 18, 2006

I'm in San Diego, been here 13 years. I'm a nursing student at Palomar College. I lived in central SD, Carmel Valley to be exact from 1997 to 2003. Then in 2003 I moved to Escondido to be close to school. Biggest mistake I ever made. Yeah, my house payment was low but my husband had an hour commute to work. The schools suck and my kids are paying for it now. We are selling our house (anyone want a house that doesn't have to send their kids to school? Its a nice house! Ocean view in North Escondido. LOL) We are actually living with my parents in Carmel Valley again until our house sells. Then we will buy here. The schools here are excellent, supposedly better than Poway district now (its the Solana Beach and Del Mar Union for elementary and middle schools, San Dieguito for HS). Poway District is great but still a bit of a drive for my husband. Me, I can be anywhere north of the 52 freeway for school. We are all over the northern part of the county for clinicals and that is where we spend most of our time anyway. Only 2 days a week at the school. So, we figured, with what we were spending in gas, what we would have to pay to send our kids to private school and to be closer to our families, it didn't make sense to live in North County anymore.

So, the best schools in the county are in the Poway school district (which someone already pointed out encompasses a very large area) and the Solana Beach/Del Mar Union districts. Both areas are expensive to live in. "Average" homes in San Diego are now over 600k on a postage stamp lot. We're looking for a townhome over 1600sf that's under 700k. Good luck finding a single family home!

Oh and as far as hospitals around here to work in, there is Sharp Memorial, Sharp Mary Birch, Children's Hospital, Scripps Green, Scripps Memorial La Jolla, Scripps Memorial Encinitas, Kaiser Permanente, the VA hospital, UCSD Thorton Hospital and Pomerado Hospital all within 15-20 mins of 92130.

Hope that helps anyone who is looking to relocate.