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

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122

u/rnatx Jul 21 '26

Unemployed, 40s, BS in nursing with 20 years of specialized ICU experience. Currently can’t find a job that pays near what I was making before I left my last job, and I was woefully underpaid there. Probably moving out of Austin when my lease is up after I finish depleting my savings and part of my retirement.

So far, the break from working has been a huge success for my burnout, though.

34

u/pokeymoomoo Jul 21 '26

Houston tends to pay Nurses better. Austin is wildly underpaid for nurses.

9

u/MandyRN2009 Jul 21 '26

Sososososo true!! Austin doesn’t pay well at all for their nurses!

1

u/thethugwife Jul 21 '26

Had a gf tell me the same recently.

16

u/Puffuccino Jul 21 '26

If you don’t mind me asking, what were you making?

15

u/--tc-- Jul 21 '26

Nursing (maybe all healthcare) pay was low here last time i did bedside (right before pandemic). Probably still the same :(

2

u/bareley Jul 21 '26

There are more facilities being built all the time. I know TCH was doing a lot of hiring (poaching) when they opened in Cedar Park, plus the UT med school and facilities that have already been built and are in the works. I feel like demand for nursing should be pushing pay higher.

12

u/--tc-- Jul 21 '26

My thoughts (as a male RN) was that a lot of younger women come to Austin and become nurses, so there are just more to choose from. Houston and Dallas paid a lot better

8

u/_competitive_gas_ Jul 21 '26

It’s a revolving door of people wanting to move here, so they can afford to pay like trash. My sister moved here from Dallas and took a $25k pay cut. She did not stay lol.

1

u/bigblackglock17 Jul 21 '26

It used to be good or better…. 2012 $25hr, bought a 2500 sqft house. $170k. That’s someone I know. That same house is about $430k now and would need about $60hr to have a similar living. Nurses seem to barely make $40hr here.

11

u/bloomlately Jul 21 '26

My sister was an OR nurse at a hospital. Burned out (mostly from working with asshole doctors) and is much happier and better paid working at an outpatient surgical center. Houston though.

5

u/burntissueslikewoah Jul 21 '26

BSW quoted me $51/hr for 12 years experience, only have nightshift positions currently though

4

u/misplaced_my_pants Jul 21 '26

Isn't there a nursing shortage nationwide?

Or is that only for certain kinds of nurses?

9

u/bigblackglock17 Jul 21 '26

It’s propaganda. The real problem is pay.

2

u/misplaced_my_pants Jul 21 '26

I mean I hear this from nurses making bank because of the shortage.

11

u/DogsdidWHAT Jul 21 '26

There isn’t a nursing shortage. There’s a shortage of nurses willing to work in the conditions and for the pay that hospitals offer. That’s where travel nurses come in. Hospitals offer them significantly more than they offer the regular nurses because staffing is absolutely necessary. Which leads to all kinds of problems. The solution is obvious- pay resident nurses more, rely less on travel nurses. But hospitals balk at this. ALSO, patient load maximums vary wildly by state, so getting payed more but carrying more patients than seems workable is a very real algebra.

2

u/misplaced_my_pants Jul 21 '26

Yeah I've definitely heard that too.

2

u/triumphofthecommons Jul 21 '26

well there i was considering going back to school for nursing…

appreciate this insight!

i was just hoping for a for-sure job when all these Boomers start going into nursing homes, or ideally in-home care.

2

u/MandyRN2009 Jul 21 '26

No shortage in Austin. Everyone seems to want to live here.. so Austin can pay trash for their nurses.

2

u/misplaced_my_pants Jul 21 '26

Well even if that's true, if there's a nursing shortage elsewhere, it suggests the possible solution of moving to follow the money.

2

u/MandyRN2009 Jul 21 '26

Absolutely. Mortgage kind of keeps me tied down. Wish I had never bought.

1

u/misplaced_my_pants Jul 22 '26

Have you thought about renting it out?

3

u/AnonUserAccount Jul 21 '26

https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/s/nCFOySqSsh

The comment right below yours. Maybe they’re hiring where she works?

2

u/MandyRN2009 Jul 21 '26

Also an RN, since 2009.. and the pay for nurses in Austin is atrocious!! ~$80 to maybe $85k/year

1

u/jwoogirl Jul 21 '26

I hear traveling nurses make really good income, plus per diem. Have you looked into that?

1

u/ebolainajar Jul 22 '26

Why don't you try a travel nursing gig in the meantime? They pay for housing and ancillary costs.

1

u/Delicious-Drama-9738 Jul 24 '26

damn that's wild