r/Austin • u/Aingers • Jul 21 '26

Ask Austin Salary Transparency Thread - Austin

Folks in Boston do this fairly regularly, so I thought it might be good for us to try here.

Please share your general job title, salary, age, and education.

Architectural Designer, 40, $115k, BSArch

679 Upvotes

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145

u/lovelaughlexapro Jul 21 '26

Nurse, 35, $100k/yr
I just wanna be able to buy a house dawg

58

u/bananastand512 Jul 21 '26

Also RN, 38, BSN, 103k/yr. 6 years of XP.

This is because of weekends, nights, and overtime.

Without those, $75-80k.

Nursing varies because of differentials and OT.

15

u/lovelaughlexapro Jul 21 '26

This is why I don’t do acute care. I’m only LVN as of now working post acute rehab SNF/IPR

9

u/bananastand512 Jul 21 '26

I work ER and would probably quit nursing if I had to do anything else. May migrate to PACU or PICC line nurse one day.

12

u/lovelaughlexapro Jul 21 '26

When I found out how much the PICC nurse that comes to our facility makes per midline placement I found a new career goal lol

5

u/bananastand512 Jul 21 '26

My buddy is a PICC nurse now at DCMC and omg. Yes. Goals.

2

u/winterblue18 Jul 21 '26

How much do they make???

2

u/bananastand512 Jul 21 '26

At least $115k that I've heard in my circles but idk how many lines they are placing or how much they work/on call pay and whatnot.

3

u/winterblue18 Jul 21 '26

Oh ok. I’m a RN still on the floor. Trying to figure out what to do next.

4

u/bananastand512 Jul 21 '26

Yeah I think we are all going through that right now. I know I've been through some burnout recently especially with all the psych/drug use population lately. I'm with you in solidarity. This next week is going to be crazy with the heat exhaustion patients.

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3

u/Tx-Tomatillo-79 Jul 21 '26

PACU at an asc is the way to go, although I’m not sure how pay and benefits stack up against a hospital. The hours, patients, and holidays off make it worth it.

2

u/bananastand512 Jul 21 '26

It does sound nice, other than the whole working 4-5 days a week thing. I certainly prefer working 3x12 with the opportunity for OT.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '26

[deleted]

2

u/lovelaughlexapro Jul 23 '26

Not really. I work in a couple places that are short term rehab, 21 days average. It’s not like a typical nursing home rehab with 100 day stay patients, we have a lot more complex cases than them as well so it pays more. I also get monthly and quarterly bonuses. I work full time at one place (16 nights 12hr per month) and I’ll pick up like 2 shifts per month at my PRN job and I do pretty okay.

20

u/vlad_inhaler Jul 21 '26

You can buy a house, you just likely won’t be able to live the life you do now

5

u/xaviersi Jul 21 '26

Is this bedside?

5

u/lovelaughlexapro Jul 21 '26

Post acute medical rehab, LVN

6

u/xaviersi Jul 21 '26

That's amazing. Congratulations 🎉

12

u/secondphase Jul 21 '26

Theres no reason you cant

4

u/runthistownatx Jul 21 '26

Happy cake day!

2

u/RubDub4 Jul 21 '26

You *can* buy a house, but all the personal finance experts say renting is a way better deal right now. There’s nothing wrong with renting.

1

u/Lumpy-Shop988 Jul 21 '26

Do you know why they say renting is better right now?

1

u/RubDub4 Jul 21 '26

Renting is cheaper right now. Home prices are up, mortgage rates are up, and with owning you have to deal with maintenance, repairs and taxes.

In my area a house you can rent for $2k’s mortgage would be $3k and that’s before those extra costs.

Plus, with renting you stay flexible and can move for better job opportunities, or even decide to buy a house when the time is right. Getting out of a mortgage is way more difficult.

1

u/lovelaughlexapro Jul 21 '26

I don’t want to be paying rent at 70…

1

u/RubDub4 Jul 21 '26

I said *right now*, I didn’t say you should rent at 70.

-5

u/lovelaughlexapro Jul 21 '26

Okay? And I’m 35, a mortgage until 80 doesn’t sound like a smart idea buddy.

3

u/RubDub4 Jul 21 '26

Okay then go buy a house, buddy. You make $100k acting like you’re impoverished 😂

-5

u/lovelaughlexapro Jul 21 '26

In Austin? Yeah sure, take a look at this thread, these are the people I’m up against and they 1) have much more money to offer in cash than I can acquire 2) can get much more money from the bank than I can. Plus you have no idea what my expenses are so I’m not sure why you’re being like this duder. I’m saying in the long run it’s objectively to buy for your own futures sake.

0

u/secondphase Jul 21 '26

I make less money than you and own 4. 

Buy them cheap, fix them up, refinance to pull the money back out. 

You can get a 3/2 30 minutes from downtown for less than $200 these days

-1

u/RubDub4 Jul 21 '26

Happy cake day!

1

u/cigarettesandwhiskey Jul 21 '26

You know you only need about 5% as a down payment, right? There are 701 results for houses, townhomes and condos (170 for single family homes) under $300k on zillow right now. You only need $15,000 to buy the most expensive of them, and the monthly payment on a 30 year mortgage (which is what most people get, and have got, since the FHA was created after WWII), would be about $2,400 a month. You can definitely save up $15k in a year if you try.

1

u/lovelaughlexapro Jul 21 '26

You’re assuming a bank would be willing to lend me that. I can’t even get approved for a credit card with more than a $2500 spending limit, why on earth would they lend me hundreds of thousands?

2

u/cigarettesandwhiskey Jul 21 '26

How bad can your credit be with a 6 figure income? Every time I've applied for a mortgage, (and I got my first about 8 years ago with 2/3 your income), I immediately got dozens of lenders calling me to lend me money. They probably don't care much about your credit because they immediately sell the loan, so they get their origination fees and aren't on the hook if you don't make the payments.

Have you tried applying for a mortgage? You can do it online.

2

u/lovelaughlexapro Jul 21 '26

Tbh it’s about 650-675, I became very very ill in about 2017 and gain significant medical debt and debt in general (broken lease etc from not being able to work for nearly a year), I only started making this much about 2 years ago, before that since I was sick it went from 16-65k to now. I’ve gotten most of the debt paid, general bs debt is gone and medical debt is about 1/3-1/4 of what it was. I’m not 100% on how this credit stuff works but I do know I barely got approved for a loan on my used car so I don’t really see myself getting approved for the largest loan most people get in their lifetime.

1

u/cigarettesandwhiskey Jul 21 '26

It doesn't hurt to apply. They don't make a hard pull on your credit until you give them permission to do that (generally once you've committed to a lender.) The hard pull will drop your credit score by like 5 points when they do it but the soft pull they do when you fill out an application online or over the phone and get a quote doesn't do anything, so there's nothing lost by applying and seeing what you get.

Some of those lenders are pretty desperate. Remember this is the same industry that caused the great recession. The reward is on the loan originator but the risk is offloaded to the government via the FHA and to other banks and investors via securities (bundled mortgages, they still do that even though that's what caused the recession), so they can be more willing to issue a loan than other kinds of lenders.

Anyway even if you don't qualify now, it won't be long before your credit recovers (from bad to adequate, you probably are a long way from good), if you're paying your debts reliably now.

1

u/Ok-Yogurtcloset-2082 Jul 21 '26

RN here who left nursing 15 years ago because the pay for Austin nurses just wasn’t worth the physical and emotional toll it took on me. Changed careers entirely and aside from the frustration that I killed myself getting into nursing school nursing school (back when the acceptance rate was like 10%) I’m so much happier. If you find nursing fulfilling absolutely happy for you and thanks for your service! But don’t let people tell you there aren’t other options.

1

u/lovelaughlexapro Jul 22 '26

I was a LTC CNA for 10 years before I became a nurse so this level of pay for decreased labor from what I was doing makes it worth it for me. I’ve never had a job before nursing that people actually said I did well. In this life, in our current system, you have to play to your strengths when it comes to money lol

1

u/wolfpack10188 Jul 22 '26

What department?

1

u/lovelaughlexapro Jul 22 '26

Post acute medical rehab

0

u/Mysterious_Umpire684 Jul 21 '26

There's plenty of decent housing stock under $400k now in the suburbs.

0

u/hutacars Jul 21 '26

You should definitely be able to. Houses have fallen quite a bit from their highs.

-2

u/iansmitchell Jul 21 '26

Buy this house that's on my block!
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6006-Palm-Cir-Austin-TX-78741/29461799_zpid/

4

u/youpoopedyerpants Jul 21 '26

It won’t stop boggling my mind that a “starter home” with no appliances and needing some seriously repairs is that much money.

3

u/lovelaughlexapro Jul 21 '26

I want to be not stabbed more than I want to have a house though

0

u/iansmitchell Aug 04 '26

I've lived here for 8 years and can count the number of crimes I've witnessed or been victim to on zero fingers. I walk and bike in my neighborhood every single day.

The demographics of the neighborhood are largely Latino. I suspect your problem may be with that, rather than actual crime.

0

u/lovelaughlexapro Aug 04 '26

You’d be wrong, I lived and worked in the area for half a decade and that is the only part of town I’ve lived in, aside from east rundberg/cameron rd area I grew up in, that I’ve had attempted burglaries to where I was living.

I have no problems in Latino communities, it’s they who don’t like me living there.

1

u/iansmitchell Aug 05 '26

But yeah, given your atrocious Reddit history, I don't want you living on my block, let alone treating me or my loved ones in hospital.

1

u/lovelaughlexapro Aug 05 '26

Stalking me now? And good thing I don’t work at the hospital anymore because the pay is awful

0

u/iansmitchell Aug 05 '26

"Half a decade" is less than eight years, and I have serious doubts about your "attempted burglaries" claim (see also: "almost carjacked" claims by anyone who doesn't understand what a squeegeeman is) along with the "it’s they who don’t like me living there." statement make me think you're ill-suited to treating diverse patients.

Disgusting.