Overtime keeps most nurses broke because it turns into a lifestyle. We used overtime for one year to pay off $128,000 of debt, then stepped back. Here is how we did it and why you should not live on OT.
These rates are from September 2025, when this was first written. Pay changes every year, so check current rates in Map My Pay.
Where we were in 2020
When COVID first hit the United States in 2020, Monica and I still had $128,000 of debt.
That included what was left on a $70,000 personal loan for our house down payment, the loan for our new $76,000 Volvo and about $20,000 in student loans. We didn’t have a single dollar in savings.
At the same time, our friends at Stanford had their pay cut by 30% overnight. If our employer did the same, or if layoffs started at our hospital, we would have been in serious trouble with no safety net.
Overtime was the only option
As soon as OT opened up, we took it.
In one two-week stretch, I worked close to 90 hours of overtime and grossed $11,361. Monica stacked night differentials and premiums until her check came to $8,197. Together, those two checks came to nearly $20,000.
Every dollar went toward debt. Within one year, we paid off the full $128,000. I tell the full story of those checks in the biggest paychecks we ever got as nurses.
Why overtime keeps nurses broke
For most nurses, OT is not a plan to build wealth. It keeps you stuck in survival mode.
A big chunk of OT pay goes to taxes. Bigger paychecks lead to new bills, new car payments and eating out more. Once those bills are set, you need OT to keep up.
When the overtime dries up, the payments don’t. That’s how nurses earning $200K still live paycheck to paycheck. I dig into that more in why nurses earning $200K are still broke.
Overtime only works when you use it hard, for a short time, to wipe out debt or invest wisely. As a long-term plan, it keeps you stuck.
California changed the math
This never would have worked for us in New York. Rent and taxes ate every paycheck, and unsafe ratios made the extra hours too much to bear.
Sacramento was different:
- My starting pay was $65 an hour. Monica’s was over $77 an hour.
- Our home cost $697,000. In the Bay Area, the same house would have been over $1.2 million.
- California’s nurse-to-patient ratios let us pick up extra shifts without unsafe assignments.
High pay, safer staffing and more reasonable housing gave us an edge we never had while living and working in New York.
Where we stand in 2025
We no longer need overtime to get by. Here is where we were based on paystubs through August 23, 2025:
| Name | Gross pay YTD (8/23/2025) | On track for (gross) | On track for (net) | Average hours | Average hourly pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jason | $86,929 | ~$135,000 | ~$95,500 | ~20 hrs/week | $151/hr |
| Monica | $103,123 | ~$160,000 | ~$103,500 | ~23 hrs/week | ~$158/hr |
Combined, we are on track for just under $300,000 gross and about $200,000 net for the year.
That’s on part-time hours. My $151 an hour includes differentials and holiday pay. Monica’s ~$158 an hour includes per diem pay, night differential and some overtime and double-time pay.
Use OT as a reset button
Overtime was the tool that wiped out $128,000 of our debt in one year. It was never our long-term plan to keep working too many hours.
If your bills depend on OT, you’re broke.
Use it as a reset button, not a lifestyle. Pay off what you owe. Then step back and build a system where your regular income covers your bills and leaves room to save. Instead of living on OT, use it to build wealth.
Your next move
See what you’d take home, then make the move
Map My Pay shows what nurses take home after taxes and rent at 465+ hospitals and in 21,000+ cities. It’s the app I co-founded so you can compare cities before you pack a single box.
The Nurses to Riches Accelerator is the plan Monica and I used to go from $37 an hour in New York to $143 an hour in California: license, city, hospital, and what to do with the money after.
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Written by Jason, RN. I went from $37 an hour in New York to $143 an hour in California and paid off $128K of debt in under a year. I share our numbers in the Nurses to Riches newsletter and on YouTube.