standard of living in texas with new grad pay

[harmonylove28]

pls what does the standard of living looks like. getting a 2 bedroom apertment, utility bills, groceries and all others with a single family and what to expect as a new graduate. all your contribution in helping me with everything about texas will be highly appropriated.

[BrittRN2b]

Your cost of living is going to depend largely on where you live in Houston. You mentioned wanting to work in the med center. If you want to live reasonably close (within a fifteen minute commute) to the med center I'd guess you will be paying about $900 for an average 1 br apartment, $1100 for a 2 br. There are some pockets in the area that are cheaper but I'd stay away because those aren't the safest areas, in my opinion. Now if you want to live out in one of the suburbs you might pay less rent ($600 1br $800 1br) but your commute could be 45 mins to an hour. Especially with gas prices going up and more people moving closer to work, I've seen the rent in the area increase quite a bit in the past 2 years. Houston is great but the great cost of living comes with a price - one of the worst commute times in the country.

[NeosynephRN]

Yes this is my plan eventually...but I wanted to get trained in the med center first because the sickest ones usually end up down there and I figured if I regularly care for the sickest the first few years of my career then I will have those skills and knowledge the rest of my career and can work anywhere.

You could also think the other way around...work in a smaller arena first, get down the basic skills and knowledge and not be thrown in with the worst of the worst...then when you are more established you can go to the med center and move to the more "difficult" patients building on a base of skills you allready have. Just a thought!