Austin Nurse Trains New Grad. Then She Learns How Much the Newbie Makes: ‘It Just Honestly Makes No Sense’

A Texas nurse moves from Austin to Tyler and is prepared to take a huge pay cut. After she adjusts for cost of living and differentials, she’s actually making more than ever.

TikTok creator Maddy (@maddkies) posted a video about her revelation last week. “Listen, I knew I was getting underpaid as a nurse in Austin,” she says.

She knows that because she once learned while working at an Austin hospital that a trainee was making more money than her. “She was getting paid a few dollars more than I did and it just made no sense that someone I was training was getting paid more than I was,” Maddy says.

Former Austin Nurse Learns What Wage She Will Earn in Tyler

Eventually, the Austin hospital where Maddy worked did unionize and did end up granting “small” raises to its nursing staff. However, Maddy recently decided to relocate to Tyler, which is considerably smaller than Austin.

“The cost of living is a lot cheaper here. I recently got a new job. It’s on the same unit that I was working in Austin just here in Tyler. I was mentally prepared for my base rate to be lower than it was in Austin.”

She was pleasantly surprised when the human resources department of the hospital called and informed her of her new wage. “Tell me why my pay here in Tyler is literally like cents less than it was in Austin,” she says. “I’m basically getting paid the same. On top of that, the evening differential is more and the night shift differential is more. So I’m going to be getting paid more here in Tyler than I would in Austin where it’s so expensive to live.”

To end the video, she says, “I knew I was getting underpaid, but what? Make it make sense.”

Viewers React to the Former Austin Nurse’s Pay Story

In the comments section, viewers weighed in on the cost of living and nurse pay in Austin compared to other Texas cities.

“Yes, Austin is so expensive and nurses are so underpaid,” wrote one viewer.

A second person said, “I moved from San Antonio to a small town and I literally got offered $5 more base salary to do way less work.”

A third viewer said, “Austin is underpaid so badly. I had three jobs when I lived there and they were all so underpaid.”

Maddy replied, “It’s so insane. It just keeps getting more expensive to live there!”

How Much Do Texas Nurses Get Paid?

A licensed professional nurse in Texas makes an average of $56,000 per year and that number goes up to $90,000 for registered nurses. Nursing assistance make far less and some specialties, including nurse practitioners and anesthetists, make far more.

According to this Forbes cost of living calculator, the cost of living is 3% lower in Tyler than it is in Austin. The cost of housing is approximately 12% lower in Tyler than it is in Austin, while energy and phone bills cost slightly more.

That means a nurse on an average salary can in fact live more comfortably in Tyler than in Austin. This aligns with the sentiment in this Reddit post to r/nursing from last year. Several Austin nurses in the thread express discontent with how much they earn.

Patch Texas contacted Maddy via email for comment.

@maddkies