Sacramento

U.S.A. California

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I have been offered a job in Sacramento. It only pays $87000 base pay. I am wondering if this is enough to live on there. I am from the midwest and really want to get out of the winter. Any input appreciated.

Lee

Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.

You can buy decent home in a nice area of Sacramento such as Elk Grove or Folsom for about 200-250K. I would say that makes your 80K pretty good! Depending on how you're used to living. (-: DH and I make less than that, own our home and send our kids to private school on about that or less.

OTOH: We have no consumer debt (-;

To check out neighborhoods in Sac, go to greatschools.net Even if you don't have children, many people feel they can learn a lot about an area by looking at the schools in a neighborhood and comparing them.

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.

If you're really concerned about saving cash, you could also look at places like Winters, Woodland, and Dixon (Davis is nice but $$$), all of which are within about 30-45 minutes of Mather (which is still Sac in my book), depending on the time of day, of course.

You should do just fine with $87K around here.

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Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Critical Care.
[sarcasm on]

No, you won't survive here on $87000/year. Making $20/hr in the Midwest will be a much better option for you.

[sarcasm off]

It was a good question, some areas of California are absolutely ludicrous to attempt to live in even with 87k a year

taxes are higher here than many other places too.

I know certain parts of California where 87k, you would be living on top ramen, barely making ends meet.

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Sacramento-area's median household income dipped 1.4 percent last year, but the actual financial pain is likely much greater, especially with the fast-rising jobless rate and furlough Fridays that are cutting 14 percent of pay for the region's state workers.

The four-county region's household median income -- meaning half the households earn more, half less-was $60,162 in 2008, compared to $61,029 in 2007, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released Tuesday.

Sacramento's median income drops 1.4 percent - Sacramento Business Journal:

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Thanks again to all you sweeties who had insightful information for me. I am heading that direction this weekend for a look around.

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Make sure you get a place with A/C. Most places will have it. It gets very hot there in the summer.

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Before you put a deposit down, ask on the boards here if the area is ok especially in the area you are working. Mather now has a very nice housing tract surrounding it however, not far away....I wouldn't live (my apologies to anyone that lives in RC). I would go to Elk Grove or Galt and perhaps check out the apartments there. When we transferred to a new state, I wish we had done that instead of buying right away. You need to check it out first for the neighborhood that's best for you. Rancho Cordova--NO Parts of South Sacramento NO Elk Grove Yes. Florin area NO

I make half of what you will be and making it fine. The best part is, you are 90 minutes from Lake Tahoe (30 minutes from snow and you don't have to shovel and NO BLACK ICE!!!!!) and 90 minutes from the ocean...(oh yeah, 6 hours to Disneyland). You will also find that you will save money here. Fruits and veggies will be cheaper and much better than what you are use to seeing as we have many roadside stands and heating and air conditioning will be cheaper (I know the Californian's going what???????......Midwest and south can have very high heating bills in the winter due to zero degrees and high air conditioning in the summer due to humidity. We had less money when we moved from CA to the middle of the country due to food prices and heat/air oh and insurance.

We don't have earthquakes and the only tornados around here are teeny F1's. You will enjoy. Check out Folsom Lake this summer, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, big trees, Old Sacramento, the Capitol grounds and San Francisco. If you have little kiddos, take them to the zoo and Fairy Tale Town.

Enjoy

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Thanks a bunch!

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Welcome Knuckles63, I work at the Sacramento VA, (Mather) and I think you will be very happy here. The weather is great, housing affordable, and the VA is a small med center with people very friendly. I hired on almost 2years ago as new grad and just bought a new house a few blocks from work!!! Rent some where cheap and close til you can get around and scope things out for yourself.

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congrats,

how did you find the job and were. i am a nurse from chicago with 3 years experience, although i havent started appling yet, but if you can find a job why are people so discouraging in here.

i am also looking to move to sanfransisco and sacramento area. can you help???

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I think people are discouraging because the job market is so tight in sac and bay area. There are alot of nursing schools in the area and new grads are having a very rough time finding jobs. I looked 6-7 months before I got hired!!

So having a job before you move is a must.

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I just got back from Sacramento and have decided to turn down the job. My girlfriend really didn't like it there. She is from a fairly small town and she was completely freaked out by Sac. So everyone there is at least one job there up for grabs. Thanks everybody for the help and info.

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