Surviving an Interstate Move

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Specializes in Primary Care, LTC, Private Duty.

I'm in the early phases of moving interstate. My licensure paperwork is underway, but I'll still need a job in my new state (thankfully, they're in abundance which is one of the reasons why I'm moving). I also still need to find a place to live (a rental for now but I also have pets, which complicates things).

For nurses who have undergone this process before, do you have any survival tips? Right now I'm still able to juggle everything, but I can feel the mental strain building between trying to keep everything together at my current job, selling my house, trying to figure out housing in my new state when they want you to already have a job lined up, and trying to find a job when it seems like my odds would be better if I was already local. It's kind of a Catch-22: I don't want to jinx my chances of landing the wonderful jobs I have my eye on by applying too early/before I can tell them "yes, I have a place to live and can definitely start in x-amount of weeks", but I keep running into the issue of not being able to prove future income to potential rentals before I have a job offer from a local job.

Thank you for any advice!!!

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It's been almost a year since I did a big interstate move. I still feel stressed, lol. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to talk details/specifics. Good luck with your new adventure!

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Specializes in Primary Care, LTC, Private Duty.
34 minutes ago, vanilla bean said:

It's been almost a year since I did a big interstate move. I still feel stressed, lol. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to talk details/specifics. Good luck with your new adventure!

Thank you, I sent you a PM!

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PM if you need/want recommendations for IL, KY, NC, GA, NM, CA, WA.

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Specializes in Primary Care, LTC, Private Duty.
11 minutes ago, morelostthanfound said:

PM if you need/want recommendations for IL, KY, NC, GA, NM, CA, WA.

I'm heading northeast, but thank you for the reply and willingness to help!

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Specializes in ED, ICU, Prehospital.

Same here. PM if you need/want advice on PA, OH, NC, OR, CA, FL, MA, VA

I've lived in many places as an RN and with my former profession in healthcare, family scattered all over as well.

Just finished a cross country move a couple years ago, it's not the move--it's the job and cost of living. Make sure you get on bankrate.com or some such for an evaluation of the salary vs. the rent. You may have a nice chunk of change after your house sale, but you don't want to use that--believe me, I just went thru that. The salaries are NOT accurate on most of the jobsites like indeed.com

And a sad thing---most people don't tell you the truth about their salary anyway---it's a pride thing, I think--and if you're asking managers, they'll blow smoke up your butt all day long to get you to relocate, invest all that moving entails---only to find out that the state income tax takes about 52% of your pay for a place like Oregon and California.

There are actuaries that work for states, localities and businesses who figure this out--it's their job. In other words....that super high paying SF or Portland job? It's because taxes...income, property, gas, utilities---will eat most of your paycheck, plus rents are insane because people believe in this "high pay" thing.

I penciled it out---the $34/hr I made in NC gave me more in my pocket than my $61/hr in CA.

Make sure you do the math and be realistic. Have a support system wherever you go, in case things go sideways....and even if they don't. Moving on your own to a place you've never been, with nobody? Not a good plan.

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Specializes in Primary Care, LTC, Private Duty.
27 minutes ago, HomeBound said:

Same here. PM if you need/want advice on PA, OH, NC, OR, CA, FL, MA, VA

I've lived in many places as an RN and with my former profession in healthcare, family scattered all over as well.

Just finished a cross country move a couple years ago, it's not the move--it's the job and cost of living. Make sure you get on bankrate.com or some such for an evaluation of the salary vs. the rent. You may have a nice chunk of change after your house sale, but you don't want to use that--believe me, I just went thru that. The salaries are NOT accurate on most of the jobsites like indeed.com

And a sad thing---most people don't tell you the truth about their salary anyway---it's a pride thing, I think--and if you're asking managers, they'll blow smoke up your butt all day long to get you to relocate, invest all that moving entails---only to find out that the state income tax takes about 52% of your pay for a place like Oregon and California.

There are actuaries that work for states, localities and businesses who figure this out--it's their job. In other words....that super high paying SF or Portland job? It's because taxes...income, property, gas, utilities---will eat most of your paycheck, plus rents are insane because people believe in this "high pay" thing.

I penciled it out---the $34/hr I made in NC gave me more in my pocket than my $61/hr in CA.

Make sure you do the math and be realistic. Have a support system wherever you go, in case things go sideways....and even if they don't. Moving on your own to a place you've never been, with nobody? Not a good plan.

Thank you! I just PM'd you with more specifics. I know the salaries will be lower where I'm going, but the cost of living is also MUCH lower than where I am now with fewer taxes, so it balances out. Thankfully, this move will take me closer to family, too. Unfortunately, not close enough that I could stay with any of them to circumvent the Catch-22 of needing a local address so that I don't immediately get passed over for any jobs that I apply to yet needing a local job before I can be considered for a local place to live.

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Specializes in ICU.

I would get a local PO Box address to put on applications. I ran into the same issue when I was moving cross country- nobody would look at my applications until I had a local address. In terms of a place to stay, not sure what type of pets you have, but there are a few hotel chains that are pet friendly. I moved with my 90 lb pitbull and stayed in a Red Roof Inn for a few nights when I first moved. Then I ended up putting my dog in boarding for about 3 weeks while I found an apartment that worked for us. Not the most ideal, but it worked out in the end.

Edited to add that the local address thing did the trick and I had an offer in hand before I moved.

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