Your income vs price of homes

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Oct 14, 2009

Those prices sound terrible to me, but I have lived in the South most of my life. Median house range in my town is about $150-200,000. New RN's start at $38-40,000/yr. I know several making closer to $100,000 and they own a house plus a vacation place. So I suggest you move to Texas.

PostOpPrincess, BSN, RN · Oct 16, 2009

New RN PAY SoFLA: Not Enough

House to buy: Too expensive to own.

If you're willing to live under the bridge, then maybe you have a chance of living here relatively comfortably at starting pay.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Oct 16, 2009

I live in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, where the average new grad RN pay rate is about $23 hourly, plus or minus a couple of dollars.

A decent house in a low crime area can be purchased for about $100,000 in many areas, but the property tax rates are more expensive here than they are in California.

rngolfer53 · Oct 16, 2009

I live in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, where the average new grad RN pay rate is about $23 hourly, plus or minus a couple of dollars.
A decent house in a low crime area can be purchased for about $100,000 in many areas, but the property tax rates are more expensive here than they are in California.

However, TX doesn't have a state income tax, if I remember right.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Oct 16, 2009

However, TX doesn't have a state income tax, if I remember right.

That's correct. There's no state income tax deduction in Texas.

Even though salaries and wages are higher in California, much of my pay disappeared through federal, state, and local taxes when I was living and working there. I now live in Texas, and have been taking home a larger share of my paycheck since.

MeganAK · Oct 16, 2009

Anyone have any input on wages vs housing in rural areas? Many of the posts I saw were cities, where I think the pay is a bit higher. I was living in a rural town in Alaska, making $34/hr with median house prices being around $220,000 and now I live in a rural area of West Virginia and only make $22/hr with median prices around $120,000. I feel ripped off with the low pay, but I tend to think that might be normal for rural areas?

JomoNurse · Oct 16, 2009

I live in Orange County, California. A decent, starter home in a decent neighborhood is about $450,000 in Orange County (that's the recession price. At the height of housing bubble the same house was $800,000 to $1,000,000). That's about 2,000 sq. ft. I make $40 per hour. I don't know if any of you are familiar, but Orange County was on Bravo television in the TV series "Desperate Housewives of the OC". My neighborhood is full of multimillion dollar mansions on every corner, so $450,000 really is on the cheap side. This neighborhood is definitely NOT nursing salary friendly!

HeartsOpenWide, RN · Oct 18, 2009

Those prices sound terrible to me, but I have lived in the South most of my life. Median house range in my town is about $150-200,000. New RN's start at $38-40,000/yr. I know several making closer to $100,000 and they own a house plus a vacation place. So I suggest you move to Texas.

My cousin is in the midwest and wants to move to Texas; she has a friend that moved there and says it is cheap. She said she would never move to California because of the house prices and general cost of living.

HeartsOpenWide, RN · Oct 18, 2009

Anyone have any input on wages vs housing in rural areas? Many of the posts I saw were cities, where I think the pay is a bit higher. I was living in a rural town in Alaska, making $34/hr with median house prices being around $220,000 and now I live in a rural area of West Virginia and only make $22/hr with median prices around $120,000. I feel ripped off with the low pay, but I tend to think that might be normal for rural areas?

I am in a rural area. I am the OP so see my original post for some Rural California prices...many people assume that rural means cheap...it does not!

DoGoodThenGo · Oct 20, 2009

Here in NYC, one of the constant problems with attracting and retaining nurses is the high cost of living. Even with wages of >70K and higher many nurses find making ends meet and "affordable" housing a challenge.

You can't touch a house in a decent part of NYC for less than 200K, more if the school district is excellent. Many two wage couples still find themselves struggling.

Some of the major hospitals in NYC have tought of bringing back "nurse's residences", or at least building or finding housing for nurses and other staff, but that is expensive, and not all nurses relish the idea of their employer being able to "reach out and find them" should staffing require. Being as this many many of the hospitals in LI that bring in Phillipine nurses have had hard time finding them housing that won't break the purses of either the nurses or the hospital.

As another poster stated, wages of 70K or even 95K for RNs seem like allot, and if one were living in the South or Mid-West, any place but NYC it would indeed be, however the taxes and cost of living here greatly reduce one's actual income.

Many nurses work in NYC hospitals, but commute from either Upstate or out of state to get around high living costs. It's either that or take on some type of part-time work.

emnicams · Oct 20, 2009

I live in Tennessee. I make $22/hr and bought my house for $97,500. The average price for a nice -but modest- home around here is probably more like $130K.