Washington State starting pay for LPN/LVN's in the seattle area

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Hi everyone,

My name is Ben, I'm 21 years old and am living in Phoenix, AZ. Starting in August I'm going to be entering a practical nursing prgram at my local community college. Its a 18 month program and after the first 6 months of study I will be allowed to take the state exam to become a CNA. Thats good because I can get experience as a CNA before I actually become an LPN. After I graduate from the program I would like to move to the Seattle, Tacoma area. I need a change from all this summer Arizona heat! :coollook:

I just have a few questions and hopefully you LPN's in the Seattle area can answer them! With a year of CNA experience does anyone know what my starting pay will be like as a new grad LPN? Will I be able to find a job that pays ATLEAST 15$ an hour so I can make rent? Whats the cost of living like up there? From my research I see that it's much cheaper to live in the suburbs such as Tacoma, Everett, Bellevue, ect. Is this true? Will I be able to find a good job easily? Is there anything else you all think I should know? If someone can please answer me I would really appreciate it :specs:

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Not Bellevue...

Try Renton/Kent/Federal Way

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:heartbeatBEN

I WOUD TRY RENTON, OR KENT BELLEVUE IS A GREAT PLACE TO LIVE BUT A LITTLE EXPENSIVE.

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I live in South King County (Tukwila, Des Moines, Renton, Kent, Federal Way) I have a one bedroom apt. that is really decent. I pay $875. Im not yet an LPN, but I've talked to LPNs who had minimal experience. Most have told me that they had to start in LTC and were paid $16-$18.

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Hope you like LTC becuase that's all there is for LPNs around here. Starting wage around $15-16/hr with minimal and/or very expensive healthcare benefits. You'll like Seattle. It's a great city!

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Specializes in Mother-Baby, Rehab, Hospice, Memory Care.
Hope you like LTC becuase that's all there is for LPNs around here. Starting wage around $15-16/hr with minimal and/or very expensive healthcare benefits. You'll like Seattle. It's a great city!

I'm not sure where you live, but I have lived and worked right around and in Seattle and the Eastside as an LPN. I can tell you that the average starting pay for LPNs in LTC is more like $18-19 and up to the low $20s. I've worked in 2 major hospitals in the Seattle area as an LPN. There are also LPN openings for clinics/offices and home health in that area, so it is not true that LTC is all there is. http://jobs.nwsource.com/careers/jobsearch/results?kAndEntire=lpn

Also, when I was worked in LTC I had very inexpensive full medical benefits as well.

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Specializes in PACU.

Don't even consider a job for less than 16/hr in this area, just laugh at the person offering. You should be able to start out at 17-19ish easily.

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thanks for asking this question, I'm considering an LPN program and want to move to Seattle, too! reading these answers really helped =) good luck!

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