Sacramento, anyone?

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:uhoh3: My family will be checking out the Sacramento area this summer to see if moving there from Maryland will be financially feasible w/ 3 little children. I need some advice as to which hospitals I should setup for an interview while we are there. I am an RN of 15 years with the last 8 in critical care(ICU). My RN wife has done some part-time medsurg. work in the last couple of years due to the kids. Will also need some info on which ares to consider when househunting...Elk Grove seems like a reasonable place so far. Any comments will be highly appreciated..
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:uhoh3: My family will be checking out the Sacramento area this summer to see if moving there from Maryland will be financially feasible w/ 3 little children. I need some advice as to which hospitals I should setup for an interview while we are there. I am an RN of 15 years with the last 8 in critical care(ICU). My RN wife has done some part-time medsurg. work in the last couple of years due to the kids. Will also need some info on which ares to consider when househunting...Elk Grove seems like a reasonable place so far. Any comments will be highly appreciated..

What is drawing you to consider Sacramento? Have u seen the housing prices in this area yet? I live out here and the housing prices (especially in Elk Grove) are climbing like crazy!!

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I guess we're just ready for a change in climate and lifestlye. Our 3 sons are outdoors fanatics and frequently comment that they wish they were able to spend more time outdoors even in the winter. All suffer from eczema and allergies, and the cold weather really does a number on them. We are also at a point now that we are ready to find a bigger/new house but don't want to limit our options in the same state alone. I am aware that CA life is very expensive but how expensive it is will really be defined by crunching the numbers. Are there any other places in Sac that are not as expensive to live in? If so, which school districts are better?

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What is drawing you to consider Sacramento? Have u seen the housing prices in this area yet? I live out here and the housing prices (especially in Elk Grove) are climbing like crazy!!

What's the pay scale there like, anyway?

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I guess we're just ready for a change in climate and lifestlye. Our 3 sons are outdoors fanatics and frequently comment that they wish they were able to spend more time outdoors even in the winter. All suffer from eczema and allergies, and the cold weather really does a number on them. We are also at a point now that we are ready to find a bigger/new house but don't want to limit our options in the same state alone. I am aware that CA life is very expensive but how expensive it is will really be defined by crunching the numbers. Are there any other places in Sac that are not as expensive to live in? If so, which school districts are better?

The weather is nice out here. In the Summer it gets really hot..it's a moist heat and gets into the 100s. But, most people have swimming pools and air conditioning to deal with that.

Alot of people complain about allergies being a big problem out here due to the many trees and flowers in bloom. My hubby has yr round allergies and if he goes 1 day without his meds...he is sneezin' like crazy!! I don't suffer from allergies, so I enjoy the scenery more than he does :)

Less expensive areas of Sac would include Rancho Cordova, Orangevale, Fair Oaks, Carmichael areas. These areas are older and more established. Elk Grove is relatively a new city, so costs out there are pretty high. Downtown Sac and West Sac are getting pretty high too. Honestly, the cost of everything, including gas is ridiculous and will only get higher thru the summertime. We have alot of people moving up here from the San Francisco/Bay area and that is jacking the cost up for all of us up here.

I grew up in Sacramento area. I love it here. There are many positives to living here. The scenery is #1 and we are close to other California hot spots. But, the biggest problem up here is the expanding population growth and all the problems that leads to. Our state is financially struggling, school/social programs are being cut. Urban sprawl has created lots and lots of homes, but not lots and lots of jobs. The air quality up here is getting worse, the traffic has gotten to be a huge nightmare. My husband commutes about 14 miles to work and it takes him at least 45 minutes to get to work via freeway. It takes him over an hour to get home from work. We have contemplated moving out of California, but all our family is still here.

As you can see, I have mixed feelings about this area.

Nursing pay varies depending upon which health system you are working for, if you are union, etc.

You might want to take a trip out here first, to make sure you like it here. Good luck! -Tweetiepie

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Hi there! I have recently moved to Elk Grove from Rhode Island. Yes...the cost of housing is high and going up all the time. We love it here though. I recently got a job at the VA hospital and the pay and benefits are great! I am an LVN and starting at 21.40 an hour. I am not totally sure what the RNs make, but I am sure it is really good.

Good luck with your move

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Hi there! I have recently moved to Elk Grove from Rhode Island. Yes...the cost of housing is high and going up all the time. We love it here though. I recently got a job at the VA hospital and the pay and benefits are great! I am an LVN and starting at 21.40 an hour. I am not totally sure what the RNs make, but I am sure it is really good.

Good luck with your move

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying your move there. Is the traffic really getting worse there? What about the commute to San Francisco? Any suggestions as to which hospitals I should consider interviews when I visit this summer? What about the school system-how is it like? Thanks and best of luck!

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Yes...The traffic is pretty bad. NOT LA BAD...but bad enough. I leave early to avoid it.

We have heard that the schools in Elk grove are better than other cities. Our son is 22 months old, so I cant say that I know this first hand. The kids seems to test higher than the other schools around here and I have only heard good things in the paper about Elk Grove.

I have been to San Francisco twice. That would be a heck of a drive everyday. It took us about an hour and fifteen minutes to get there on a weekend. You would probably have to leave here at four in the morning or so.

When I first got here, the Jobs that stood out the most (other than the VA) was Sutter Health. They had good pay and benefits. I honestly dont know much about the hospitals around here. Kaiser is a major hospital, also UC Davis medical. They have web sites you can look at to see what they are hiring. Also SACBEE.COM is the newspaper web site here and they also have nursing jobs online.

Hope this helped

LDSHAW

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I grew up in the Sacto area but live in the Bay area now. Still have family in the Sacto area. The area has grown immensly over the past 5-10 years. People leave the Bay area for cheaper housing in the Sacto area. The housing prices are still better than the Bay area but high compare to most places in the US.

The roads in the Sacto area are not adequate to handle to growth. If you live in Roseville and commute to downtown 80 can be a nightmare. If you commute from Roseville to highway 50 area the surface streets are the only way to go without driving to downtown on 80 and back up 50 again. I would try to live by whatever hospital I will be working at or work an off shift. I wouldn't even think of commuting to the Bay area to work.

The weather gets below freezing several nights each winter. The summer has an average high of 95 in July/Aug and average low of 60. You can expected many days over 100 during the summer. Compare to back East the heat is dry. You will need air conditioning if you live there.

It is convienant as you can be skiing in about 1.5-2 hours, or in SF in about 2 hours.

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Commuting time from Elk Grove is a real nightmare...especially if your job is located in downtown Sacramento. I would suggest coming to Sacramento and trying out a rush hour commute to and from Elk Grove. It gets old really fast!

I have friends who bought homes in Elk Grove, they sold their homes and moved to West Sacramento. Downtown Sacramento is only 7 miles away from there and their commute went from 1 hour down to 15 minutes!

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The salary scales for RNs are available on-line at http://www.hr.ucdavis.edu/Salary/.

Look for NX or CNA then Clinical Nurse II.

The comments on the area are very accurate.

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Hi! I am from Maryland also and have been to California three times on travel assignments. There was a time, recently actually, when I thought I would like to relocate permanently to Sacramento. However, the last couple of times I have driven through, the traffic really freaks me out. (I am old and slow.) I'm not sure whether it is any worse than 495 or 695 -- and, in my opinion, California drivers are more courteous and safe than drivers in the DC Metro area or Baltimore. Housing is expensive, but pay is also higher. It is easy to find inexpensive food and other items. I mean -- there are lots of things that are much more expensive than in Maryland --eg: Notary Public --free at your bank in MD; $7-10/page in California! -- but there are a lot of ways it is much less expensive.

Everybody I knew in California suffered from allergic symptoms.

I can tell you this: I'd sure rather work in California than in Maryland! But I am moving to New Mexico. I hope it will be permanent. Let us know what you decide.

PS -- What I've been told about Sacramento is that everybody is moving there from the Coast -- the SF Bay area.

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