Monica and I left NYC to work as nurses in California for five reasons. We came for the overtime laws, the safe ratios, the lifestyle, the low cost of living in Sacramento, and the pay. That move changed our money, our life and our future.
These numbers are from April 2025, when this was first written. Pay changes every year, so check current rates in Map My Pay.
Two nurses in NYC and still broke
Back in 2016, Monica and I were both nurses grinding in NYC. We worked hard and made decent money, but we were still broke.
We both worked full time, but we had no savings, no investments and no plan. All we had were some nice trip photos from our side project, Traveling Dorks, and a lot of stress about money.
It didn’t add up. We were two RNs living paycheck to paycheck in one of the priciest cities in the country.
The shift that changed everything
One day I was precepting a student nurse. She told me both her parents were nurses in Northern California. Each one made over $200K a year.
I thought she was joking, but she wasn’t. So we started digging. We looked at taxes, cost of living and pay rates side by side. California made more sense for our money than NYC.
That’s even more true in Sacramento. The pay is high, but it costs a lot less to live there than in LA or San Francisco.
1. The overtime laws pay off
In California you get time-and-a-half after 8 hours. You get double time on your 7th day. No other state pays like this.
2. Safe ratios are the law
Before California, I was often assigned over 15 patients in the ER. Sometimes it was 17. In California, the law keeps your load from getting that high.
Here are the ratios the law sets in California:
| Unit | Nurse to patients |
|---|---|
| Med-surg | 1:5 |
| Critical care | 1:2 |
| Labor and delivery (active labor) | 1:2 |
| Postpartum (mom and baby pairs) | 1:4 |
| Operating room | 1:1 |
| Step-down | 1:3 |
| ER, postpartum/antepartum, and tele | 1:4 |
| Postpartum (moms only) and psych | 1:6 |
| ICU, labor and delivery, ICU patients in the ER, and NICU | 1:2 |
3. The lifestyle is hard to beat
Mountains, beaches, wine country and national parks are all close by. There is something for everyone, even if you just want some peace after a long shift.
4. Sacramento is the sweet spot
You get high pay and a lower cost of living. You’re also only 2 hours from Tahoe and Yosemite. Our house here would have cost $3 million in NYC.
For more on the city, read should nurses still move to Sacramento.
5. It’s the top-paying state for nurses
Median pay is $113K+. Many of our coworkers earn $200K+ by picking smart shifts and overtime. Some make $250K working less than 40 hours a week.
I wrote about the day I found out what nurses here make in the day I learned California nurses make over $100 an hour.
My advice
Don’t let anyone guilt you into staying stuck. If you are a nurse who feels underpaid and worn down, California might be your way out.
We took that leap 8 years ago, and it changed everything. To see how that played out for our debt, read how we paid off $128K of debt.
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.