Nurses to Riches

Nurses to Riches We went from $37 per hour in NYC to over $115 per hour in California. Paid off six figures of debt in under a year. Founder of Map My Pay.
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Now we help nurses do the same with data, strategy, and transparency.

06/19/2026

Yesterday I stopped at Home Depot, and in the parking lot I saw a young mom, couldn't have been older than 25, sitting out in almost 90 degree heat with her daughter and stacks of strawberries, trying to sell enough to get through the day.

It took me right back to being 8 or 9 years old. My mom had just separated from my dad and was raising four kids on her own. She barely spoke English. We lived in public housing because she couldn't afford market rent. At one point she worked three jobs. A garment sweatshop, delivering for Domino's, driving a taxi. And on top of all that she'd buy water and fruit in bulk just to keep food on our table.

So I gave the mom what I had. $80, then I sat in my car, couldn't shake it, and pulled back around to give her the last $40 in my wallet. I asked her to please take her daughter home and rest.

Here's what I can't make peace with.

We live in a country with almost a thousand billionaires and the first trillionaire in human history. One person sitting on more money than they could spend in a thousand lifetimes. And in that same country:

Children go to bed hungry.

Veterans who served this country sleep on the street and fight PTSD with nobody in their corner.

Families lose the home they spent their whole lives paying for because they got laid off and fell a few payments behind.

And moms stand in 90 degree heat selling strawberries so their kids can eat.
That is not a glitch in the system. That is the system. Nobody stacks up that kind of wealth on their own. It gets built on the backs of the people who are barely hanging on, the ones doing the work and getting crumbs for it.

I'm not saying don't work hard. Monica and I work hard. I'm saying it is flat out immoral that we let a handful of people hoard that much while kids, veterans, and working families go without the basics. We have the money in this country. We have always had the money. We just keep deciding they get to keep it.

Next to a billionaire, Monica and I are worthless. But next to that mom in the parking lot, I see how much we actually have. So I give what I can, when I can, because 20 years ago we were standing right where she is.

Be good to people. Take care of each other. Because the folks at the top clearly aren't going to.

06/02/2026

We might trade $265/hr combined as California nurses for just $77/hr in NYC.
That's not a typo.

In California, I make $116/hr, and Monica makes $149/hr. In NYC, Monica would be looking at $77/hr at her experience level.

On my end, I'm not sure I'll work as a nurse when we get there. My focus is Map My Pay and Nurses to Riches. If I take a bedside job, I'd be looking at $89/hr per diem at best. If I don't, we'll be living on Monica's $77/hr and a portion of our equity while I build up our companies.

So we're either taking a $99/hr pay cut or living on $188/hr less than we make today.

People keep asking why we don't move to Florida or Pennsylvania instead.

The answer is simple. We'd just want to move back to NYC anyway.

When we moved to Sacramento we didn't plan on having more kids. Then our son came, and we suddenly realized we had no village.

When we applied for his school here, we couldn't even name an emergency contact. Nobody to call, nobody to pick him up if something went wrong.

Every time we visit family in NYC, our kids stay with grandma and uncles, and we get to walk through the city like the people we used to be.

We'd give up $188/hr to be home with our family.

Go to mapmypay.com to compare your take-home pay across 21,000 cities and run the math for your own move.

The full YouTube video is on our channel (Nurses to Riches)

05/22/2026

We're trading our nearly 3,000 square foot house in Sacramento for a 750 square foot apartment in NYC.

We're paying the same or more for it.

We're going to be working more once we get there.

And we're still doing it.

Right now in Sacramento, our 4 bedroom 3.5 bathroom home with an in-law suite, rooftop deck, and 2-car garage costs us about $4,600 a month all in. That's $1,958 in mortgage, $1,200 in HELOC, $1,000 in property tax, $150 in insurance, and $150 in HOA.

In NYC, a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom on the Upper East Side between 70th and 90th Street is already $4,500 to $5,000 a month if we get lucky. 750 to 900 square feet on a good day. A 3 bedroom in a good school district runs $5,000 to $6,000 minimum. And that's the low end.

When we tell people the math, they look at us like we're crazy.

But anyone who grew up in NYC and left already knows. You never stop missing it.

In Sacramento I drive everywhere. The store, the airport, my friend's place, my son's school. In NYC we'll walk, take the train, bike. And we'll be near family.

Today is actually day 3 of 76 (whoops, I misspoke). The Meta glasses arrive tomorrow so I can document this from a first person view.

Comment "MMP" and I'll send you our app, so you can look at take-home pay comparison across 21,000 cities, and run the math on your own move.

05/21/2026

Day 2 of prepping our nearly $1M Sacramento house for listing.

We budgeted $10K to get it ready. We're now looking at $27K and counting.

The exterior paint quote alone came in at $8K. Our house is 3 stories of stucco, so it needs scaffolding, a power wash, primer, and two coats. Cool Breeze Painting gave us a fair price and is throwing in a discount for our neighbor who wants hers done too.

A roofing company quoted us $15K just to fix a leak our developer never properly sealed. There's already a class action lawsuit against the developer.

On top of all that, we've put $10K into the Volvo over the last two months. We're driving our old Chevy Spark from our Manhattan days while it sits in the shop again.

Projected equity when this sells: $306K.

Next week we fly to NYC to apartment hunt with our son. He doesn't know yet.

The math of leaving a high-pay market is something nobody really talks about. We're showing every dollar in this vlog series.
Full vlog on YouTube.

Comment "MMP" to compare pay and cost of living across 21,000 cities. We also curate every high-paying nurse job we find.

05/20/2026

Day one of documenting our move back to NYC.

We moved to California 9 years ago (wow, time flies!), and I went from earning $47/hr to $116/hr, while Monica went from $47/hr to $149/hr.

Our net worth was negative $80,000. Today, our net worth is closer to $1 million.

Since moving here in 2017, all we could think about was moving back to NYC. And we’re finally doing it. This summer we’ll be listing our house, and you won’t believe what we’re already going through financially.

So, if you want to follow us on our journey, follow us here, on TikTok, and on YouTube, especially YouTube if you want more than a 3-minute video update.

05/10/2026

This is the universe and timeline I was meant to be in.

I met Monica on August 28, 2005. Nearly 21 years later, she is still my best friend, my partner, and the person I want by my side for the rest of my life. I would not have it any other way.

She is, without question, the hardest working person I know.

I have started and failed at more businesses than I can count. Through every single one of them, Monica never flinched. She picked up extra shifts, held down our home, and stood by me while I chased dream after dream. Most people would have walked away. She never did.
But above everything else, watching her be a mother to our children, and a wife to me, has been one of the greatest gifts of my life. She shows up for us the same way she shows up for everything, completely and without hesitation.

There is no one I would rather build this life with.

04/21/2026

I ranked 12 nurse living scenarios across 6 California cities by one number: what actually ends up in your bank account after taxes and housing every month. Not gross salary. Not hourly rate. What you keep.

Two of the 12 scenarios are mathematically impossible on a single nurse salary.

A Stanford nurse trying to buy a home is looking at a $3.2 million median home price, an $18,831 monthly mortgage, and a take-home of only $11,324. That's negative $7,507 every month before you eat.

Mountain View is the same story. $2 million median home, $11,628 mortgage, and you're $1,682 in the hole every month.

If you want to live in either city, you're renting. Period. And that actually leads to one of the most surprising results in the full ranking.

The full breakdown of all 12 scenarios with every dollar is on my YouTube channel. And if you want to run the numbers on your own city, go to mapmypay.com. We cover 21,000 US cities for nurses and nine other healthcare roles.

04/18/2026

If you are a nurse or nursing student trying to decide between the CRNA path and the physician anesthesiologist path, this clip from my interview with Jason Bolt CRNA breaks it down clearly.

A CRNA spends all 3 years of school focused entirely on anesthesia from day one. The ICU experience and nursing background already covers the generalist foundation, so you go straight into learning anesthesia when you start the program.

The physician anesthesiologist path is 4 years of medical school plus a 1 year general medicine internship before you even begin learning anesthesia, and then another 3 years of anesthesia residency after that.

Both end up doing the same job at the bedside with the same scope of practice.

See what nurses and CRNAs take home in your city at https://mapmypay.com

Full interview on my YouTube channel Nurses to Riches.

04/14/2026

Stanford pays staff nurses more than any hospital in California, and it isn't even close when you factor in the full rate structure.

New grads start at $92.77/hr. That's $173,000 a year at 36 hours a week.

At 10 years base you're at $118.66/hr, which is $222,000 a year. No per diem. No night shift. Just base rate.

At 10 years per diem nights, you're making $155.02/hr. That's $290,000 a year.

At 30 years per diem nights, $163.60/hr. $306,000 a year.

And this is without overtime, without weekends, just picking the right position at the right hospital.

See what you'd take home after taxes and housing in any of 21,000 US cities at mapmypay.com. Full breakdown of all 5 top-paying California hospitals is on the YouTube channel ().

04/13/2026

Here's how a staff RN actually hits $150/hr in California.

→ Step 1: Get your experience up. Every year moves you up a step on the union pay scale. Stanford goes from $92/hr new grad to $108/hr at 5 years.
→ Step 2: Go per diem. You give up benefits and PTO, but you gain 15-20% on top of your base.
→ Step 3: Work nights. Add another $8-$16/hr.

Go to mapmypay.com to compare pay and cost of living across 21,000 cities and apply for these high paying jobs. We curate every single one 👇

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