Should nurses still be moving to Sacramento?

Monica and I recently made a video where we spoke about our reasons for wanting to move back to NYC by the time our son is old enough for kindergarten.

That video received a lot more attention than we had anticipated. Especially considering how much we've praised working at Kaiser for the last three years.

The truth is that if we had all of our family here in Sacramento, we would never even consider moving back home. Our family is everything to us. We have missed the family gatherings and celebrations since moving away from home.

But two years from now is a long time, and to say that, we are one hundred percent sure our move back to NYC is definitely going to happen. It may be a stretch if we end up changing our minds due to various reasons, one of which is the growing immigration issue that has been making headlines there since mid-2023.

And if you're thinking of moving from your home state to Sacramento, here are some factors you should consider:

Job opportunities

If you think you are going to get hired quickly at a Kaiser hospital in or around the Sacramento region, think again. Kaiser Sacramento is the most competitive market for nurses (and many other professions) in California.

I had a conversation with a Kaiser nurse recruiter who told me the Kaiser hospitals in the Bay area are losing a lot of their nurses who are leaving for Sacramento because of the lower cost of living and the fact that they are still earning the same as the nurses who work in the Bay.

It took me eight months to get a job offer at Kaiser. I wasn't desperate for a job, so not getting a call back for an interview never bothered me. And this is how you should approach your job search when considering your move.

If working at a lower-paying hospital in the area is what you have to do before you land a job at Kaiser, do it!

Cost of living

When we first moved to California in 2017, a home in the Sacramento-Folsom-Roseville area had a median selling price of $255,360.

Today, median home prices in the same location are around $402,010.

That’s not to say it is now unaffordable for nurses, but just like the rest of the country, the cost of living is increasing.

For some context, Monica and I paid $697,000 for our house in 2018. Our monthly mortgage payment is $4100 with property taxes, mortgage insurance, HOA dues, and home owner’s insurance. In 2023, working fewer than 20 hours per week, we were able to bring home $14,100 per month. That is the equivalent of 29% of our take-home pay going toward our mortgage payments.

So, if you were to purchase a home for $402,010, put 20% down, and pay approximately $8,905 in property taxes, your mortgage payments would roughly amount to $2,834 with an interest rate of 6.28%.

So, let's break this down in a more casual way. Imagine you want to match our lifestyle, where 29% of what you bring home each month goes towards your mortgage. You'd need to make about $9,772 every month. Sounds like a lot, right? But here's a real-life example: I used to bring home $4,500 every two weeks when I was working 30 hours a week. If you do the math, that's $4,500 twice a month, which happens 26 times a year. Divide that by 12 months, and you're looking at around $9,750 a month in your pocket.

Now, after you pay a mortgage of $4,500 from that, you've still got a decent amount left—about $5,250. That's quite a bit of money for a single-income earner to have for other expenses or to enjoy. It's all about balancing your income and your mortgage to make it work.

Increasing Homelessness & Crime

In Sacramento County, we're facing a tough situation with homelessness, ranking third in the nation for the number of people living on the streets for a long time.

It's a bit of a shocker, especially when you consider that we're ahead of places with bigger populations like Seattle and the Bay Area. The stats show that about 72% of our homeless neighbors don't have a roof over their heads, and many live in tents around the city, putting us fifth in the country for unsheltered homelessness.

Despite pouring hundreds of millions into solving this, it's still a big problem. With almost every shelter bed often taken, Sacramento still has a long way to go toward solving this issue. It's not just Sacramento either; nearby areas like Roseville, Natomas, and Elk Grove are beginning to see a rise as well.

And I don't mean to cause any worry, but even in nicer neighborhoods, although less likely, you might come across the reality of homelessness. For instance, Monica and I had an experience where our Arlo camera was taken right from our front door. There was also this one time, admittedly because of my oversight, I parked our car outside the garage with the garage door opener visible on the sun visor. Unfortunately, a homeless person broke into the car, took the garage door opener, and then got into our house. They left with one of our bikes. It was a wake-up call about being more cautious and aware of our surroundings.

Dealing with crime is a tough reality for many of us. In our case, it's been quite a journey. We've had our property broken into and things taken from us. It's not just once or twice, either. Our cars have been broken into a couple of times in Sacramento and again when we were visiting San Francisco. It seems like break-ins are just something you have to be aware of around here.

But it's not just thefts and break-ins. There are other serious crimes like rapes, shootings, and murders that happen in Sacramento, though thankfully, these are rarer and much less likely to happen in the cities outside of Sacramento and the nicer neighborhoods within the city. It's a reminder to all of us to stay aware of our surroundings, no matter where we live.

So, should nurses still move to Sacramento?

After all the negative information I just laid out, you’re probably second-guessing your move to Sacramento. But the reality of the matter is that Sacramento is relatively safe, and if you want to live in a more family-friendly city, there are plenty to choose from. Rocklin, Granite Bay, Folsom, El Dorado Hills, Elk Grove, Roseville, and Auburn are just a few I can think of off the top of my head.

In our opinion, moving to Sacramento is still the best decision we have ever made. So pack your things and come here already! You won’t regret it.

See you soon!

Jason

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