wages?? why so low in Tampa, FL? (house, buying)

[Jammie]

Originally Posted by ukdame

Florida Colleges are supposed to be raising tuition this fall by 7 %. Legislators just put out a new budget plan w/many cuts to schools and State run facilities. Teachers are to get a 2% cut in pay and axilliary staff layed off or hours reduced.

Are you serious? I'm surprised that the teacher's union would allow for them to get a decrease in pay. Wouldn't it go to impasse?

[ukdame]

I has yet to get passed by the union , it just sent teachers reeling. I am not a teacher but I can say that Unions in the State of Florida are pretty weak. My husband worked for a community college and finally left after he had to write his own greviance. The union rep didn't even know how to write one. I suspect the younger teachers will just head north . Personally I would put my kids in private school.

[ukdame]

I am an RN to retire soon and yes it took me 8 years to get back the salary I had in North Carolina which you would expect to be low.( and was ). But yet....the sun shines almost every day!!

[Michael the Unknown]

I have to agree about the pay scale. My mother in law has a skin condition that does so much better in Tampa so she decide to move there from the East TX area and she is retired but with no family there. So of course my wife wants to move to Tampa to be closer to her mom and help take care of her and make sure she's safe. I have been looking for a job there for HVAC Designer/Cad operator and the most I have seen for offers are $12 to $15 a hour. East Texas to Shreveport pay scale is $20.00 to $30.00 a hour and what surprises me is when we go to Tampa to visit the cost of living there is 2 times the cost of Shreveport, La or shall I say East Texas. So of course my wife will just have to hope her mother is safe and sound or she can move back closer to us and break out the skin cream or whatever.

[Spring Hillian]

Originally Posted by divaluv13

Why are the wages so low in tampa, fl? I live in PA, and wages are more up here? I want to move to florida but now rethinking about it! I would hate to move to a place that pays less for what you do!

Thanks again,
Linda

One way of answering your question would be to bring up a Cost of Living Calculator. Input your current location and then enter Tampa Fl. Adjust the annual gross salary and hit enter.

You will then see what it takes to live here vs. there.

[Vannort54]

My wife's frinds daughter is a traveling nurse, she is from Michigan she told us that they avoide Florida because of the low wages. My wife was lucky she is the insurance administrator for a big dental office in st Pete. We came from the Chicago area they hired her at $24 hr.a $1 less then she was getting in Chicago. But pays more for medical here. She has since made up the dollar difference. My wife was recruited here because they could not find andy qualified people here in Tampa .

[Spring Hillian]

Originally Posted by Vannort54

My wife's frinds daughter is a traveling nurse, she is from Michigan she told us that they avoide Florida because of the low wages. My wife was lucky she is the insurance administrator for a big dental office in st Pete. We came from the Chicago area they hired her at $24 hr.a $1 less then she was getting in Chicago. But pays more for medical here. She has since made up the dollar difference. My wife was recruited here because they could not find andy qualified people here in Tampa .

Then that is proof that the wages in Tampa arent as low as some advertise. If you have the credentials you get the bucks.

[floridagirl777]

We did a cost of living calculator comparing where my sister lives (MD) and here. We are both in the same profession, but salary wise, she makes about 15K more than I do. Once we factored in the high taxes and high rent she has to pay up there, our salaries were almost identical. I think she made like 1 or 2K more per year than I do, but that is negligible when all is said and done … especially considering how lovely it is to live in Florida.

[GA2FL]

Tampa is fine and so is its wages, it is best to work in the IT, health or professional fields. The rental market is kind of up there around $1,000 for an upscale 1/1 or $1,200 for an upscale 2/2, with the requirement of income being x3 of rent. But you can easily find a nice safe clean 1/1 for around $800. If you make +45k a year down here you are living excellent no worries, 100k you are living like a king.

[PhotoProIP]

Originally Posted by GA2FL

Tampa is fine and so is its wages, it is best to work in the IT, health or professional fields. The rental market is kind of up there around $1,000 for an upscale 1/1 or $1,200 for an upscale 2/2, with the requirement of income being x3 of rent. But you can easily find a nice safe clean 1/1 for around $800. If you make +45k a year down here you are living excellent no worries, 100k you are living like a king.

Mention if you are alone without a family to support $45k is good money; once you add family, you'll be poor here on that income.

PA, or any other northern state wages, are irrelevant here because Florida is overpopulated now, so it all boils down to supply and demand.