What do RN's make in California?

gwapo · Feb 28, 2010

In orange county, 26 to 28$/hr with benefits I believe? The salary is lower than it should be considering the cost of living. It is a barely survivable wage for that area.
Bay area pays the most, (50$/hr) but currently there isn't any jobs, and the cost of living is horrendous.
Inland Empire pays 32$/hr, decent compared to cost of living, but few jobs.
San Diego approx 29$/hr, but there isn't any jobs.
Sacramento 40$+/hr but there isn't any jobs.
Think that's about it!

planning to relocate to san diego area in May. there's quite a few openings in most of the hospitals in the area. 29$/hr?? that's horrible! that's about 8$/hr less than what i'm making now doing a local contract here in florida! looking at apartment rent in san diego, it's about 1500$/month unfurnished 3 bedrooms. twice as much as what i'm paying for now in a 2 bedroom fully furnished unit in a yatch club. i don't think I can live with 29$.hr in san diego with a high cost of living..is it true?

NurseCubanitaRN2b, BSN, RN · Feb 28, 2010

I believe that's to start off. I make that as a LVN working in a clinic up in the Bay Area. As a new grad RN you can make almost $50.00 if not even more depending where you work. You may want to try the prison system as it pays about that if not even more in the San Diego area.

paulie23 · Feb 28, 2010

Well, Gwapo, at least you won't have to live in a yatch club any longer.

gwapo · Feb 28, 2010

Well, Gwapo, at least you won't have to live in a yatch club any longer.

true! :yeah:

**NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN** · Feb 28, 2010

gwapo... the rates I was mentioning were for new graduate nurses. So you would make more than 28/hr. I am not sure how much more because I dont know how much experience you have or your specialty.

I can honestly tell you though that cost of living is high in San Diego and salary is lower than other areas. The reason is because a lot of people are willing to sacrifice the pay for the location.

Several of my coworkers moved up to where I am (Inland Empire) from San Diego because they make 5$/hr more starting off and the cost of living was way lower.

The prisons are not really hiring right now because of the budget cuts, they also are having furloughs, etc. Jobs are not secure so I would not recommend it.

I would definitely not move though unless you have a job lined up, hospitals are starting to talk lay offs and seems like not too many people are finding work.

HeartsOpenWide, RN · Feb 28, 2010

There are significant differences between unionized facilities and non-unionized facilities.
NickiLaughs is correct regarding the dearth of jobs in the Sacramento and San Francisco areas.

I am at a non-unionized hospital and I get 25.55; if I was not laid off I would be at a non-unionized hospital that has a sister hospital that is unionized and passes all the benifits. I would be getting 31.90. Quite a difference.

namahshivaya · Mar 2, 2010

I just started working in a med-surg unit at Long Beach Memorial. I believe the pay is $28/hr (averaging to $32/hr with differentials).

peachsnapple · Mar 18, 2010

Re: What do RN's make in California?

I work in the Sacramento area as a new grad (Graduated in Dec 2008, NCLEX in Feb 2009, Working in Sept 2009) and make a hourly of mid-forties. My classmates that were lucky enough to land a job in the Bay Area make around $50+ an hour. Just out of curiousity NurseCubanitaRN2b, why would you want to avoid a unionized hospital? I have worked in both unionized and non-unionized facilities, and would choose a unionized facility any day over the other option. Just curious about your reasoning?

HI itsthegreeneyes,

I have a few questions to ask you..I graduated DEC 2009, NCELX in FEB, 2010 and now there are no jobs for the new grad...I am wondering if it was just as hard for you to land a job in 2009 since you didn't start working 'til Sept 2009? All of the new grad positions are either put on hold or cancelled and these programs won't assume until summer 2010 and from what recruiters have been saying the spaces for these programs are VERY limited. Were you in a similar situation? I am so shocked at how DIFFICULT it is to find a RN job. I have a BSN, graduated at the top of my class....and I can't even get an interview. I've applied EVERYWHERE all over California. It's so discouraging. Do you have any tips? Thanks

tigertjc · Mar 18, 2010

that totally sucks... i hope i wont have to go through what your going through.

Anyhow, keep applying im sure you'll find a job.

AtACrossRoads · Mar 28, 2010

Wow so I guess Kaisers are the place to work then huh? Also, pardon my newbie question, but why would anyone want to steer clear from some unionized hospitals?

**NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN** · Mar 29, 2010

Wow so I guess Kaisers are the place to work then huh? Also, pardon my newbie question, but why would anyone want to steer clear from some unionized hospitals?

I personally like working union, not sure about cubanita's reasoning. The only issue is that it becomes very hard to get rid of staff fairly quickly, so the hard workers sometimes have to pick up for the slackers unfortunately. Otherwise, I love union.

Kaiser is the place to work per a lot of people, but they stopped hiring a year ago. Even nurses with many years of experience have difficulty getting in unless you know someone, and even then the positions are often part-time to begin with and typically nights. I don't know any nurses who work there, but was told by a friend who dated a Kaiser nurse what he makes, and honestly, I made more than him at my hospital, but this is in Southern California.