You'll never make it in California

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I am sick of people telling me this!! Its realy discouraging and when you hear it so many times you start to believe it. I'm going to be graduating from nursing school in may and I plan on moving to CA sometime before september to work as a new grad.

I live in pa right now and I'm going to pack up all my stuff and relocate. I might be moving with 2 friends, but I'm not really sure about it. I might end up just living by myself for a while. A lot of people tell me that I'll never make it because its sooo expensive.

I'm going to be living in the orange county area. When people start with all this negative talk about how expensive CA is and how congested it gets on my nerves.

It is possible for someone to live in an apartment and work at a hospital in Orange county and live comfortably correct? I won't be pinching pennies will I?

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I've never lived in PA before, so I can't do a comparison for you. However, if it was really that horrible, why would so many people live there? Yes, Orange county can be expensive. Yes, you could be traveling in traffic. Yes, you could be pinching pennies. It just all depends on your planning. Pick a hospital that is close to where you will be working or vice versa. Don't pick an apartment that is financially out of reach for you. There's so much to do (and spend your money on). I think you'll do fine (and have a lot of fun) if you want to. Just make sure to send your unsupporting friends a Christmas card with a picture of you by the beach with no snow in sight.

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Specializes in L&D, PACU.

There's a nice relocation wizard at:

NowHiring.com Salary Wizard

Put in how much money you think you'd be making as an RN where you are, and then see what it would take to have a comparable disposable income. Then see if any hospitals in the Orange County area are offering that sort of salary. You can usually find somewhere on their website where they'll tell you.

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Thanks for that info!

Can someone tell me what California state sales tax is? Like the taxes that come out of your paycheck, the taxes you spend on groceries, etc. In pa it is 6% and I'm sure its much higher in California.

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I've never lived in PA before, so I can't do a comparison for you. However, if it was really that horrible, why would so many people live there? Yes, Orange county can be expensive. Yes, you could be traveling in traffic. Yes, you could be pinching pennies. It just all depends on your planning. Pick a hospital that is close to where you will be working or vice versa. Don't pick an apartment that is financially out of reach for you. There's so much to do (and spend your money on). I think you'll do fine (and have a lot of fun) if you want to. Just make sure to send your unsupporting friends a Christmas card with a picture of you by the beach with no snow in sight.

The main thing I am worried about is finding a job. Then wherever I get a job.. i will try to find an apartment close by and do plenty of research before moving there. Also... just curious... if I were to move there alone, which i really do'nt want to but I will do if I have too, whats hte best way to find a roommate? I'd love to find a roommate who's also a nurse but I'm sure thats hard to do. Do you think its easier to find an apartment yourself then use roommates.com to find another roommate? Or to use roommates.com and find a place to live so you can be someone else's roommate? Its hard to find a complete stranger to ask to live with you or if you can live with them when you don't know them and they might think you're a lil strange.

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maybe try craigslist for a roommate...? i'm not sure if that would be any better than roommates.com, but at least it's another source.

sales tax is 7.75%, but you don't pay tax on groceries. about 25% total comes out of my paycheck personally, but the more income you earn, the more is taken out. the bulk of it is federal taxes, though.

edited to add: it's wayyy easier to get an apt & then try to find a roommate. that way you're not the one trying to sell yourself to someone looking for a roommate & you get to choose who you'll live with more than the other way around. at least that was my experience with finding roommates.

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Specializes in Public Health, DEI.

You might remind the naysayers that we really don't hold guns to people's heads and insist they stay here (nor do we threaten to kill people who trash our state, but that's a whole nother story:uhoh3::uhoh3:)... If it doesn't work out, what's the big deal? You'll move back to PA or somewhere else to see how you like it there. Come out, give it a try! I did, 20 years ago, from PA, as a matter of fact. I've never looked back!

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Okay so when they take it of your paycheck. Lets say I make 29 dollars an hour, and work 36 hours a week and make $2,000 each pay check. How much in taxes would be taken out? Just curious

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Okay so when they take it of your paycheck. Lets say I make 29 dollars an hour, and work 36 hours a week and make $2,000 each pay check. How much in taxes would be taken out? Just curious

somewhere around $400 would be taken out... maybe a little more. probably not less than $400, though.

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I did a search for paycheck calculators and I found this one..

PaycheckCity.com - Hourly Paycheck Calculator

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Specializes in Medical-Surgical.

It is possible for someone to live in an apartment and work at a hospital in Orange county and live comfortably correct? I won't be pinching pennies will I?

Don't worry. You will live comfortably.

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I did a search for paycheck calculators and I found this one..

PaycheckCity.com - Hourly Paycheck Calculator

i used the calculator (out of curiosity) & told it to calculate how much i should be making with bi-monthly paychecks & it gave me weekly no matter what i asked for. unless i'm doing something wrong?

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