Would you move to an undesirable location for career/money?

I am curious as to your views of moving to a personally undesirable location for career or money. We have now watched a few series of resident friends leave our desirable city which they loved living in, move across the country to a place that is very remote, has very extreme weather, no place for their spouse to work, and/or nowhere near family. The reason is always that the money at the new job is better - - generally the job is no better in terms of what you do day to day. Where we are, people moving away seems to be the majority trend.

Now, I understand the money incentive, but I think where I differ is I require alot more money difference to be bought! That is the fact that someone is going to make 250k in one location versus 350k or even 400k in another would not compel me to move away from family and friends and a place I love. A better job for me or DH where we would have measurably improved working conditions or ability to further our careers might persuade me, but it would need to be a really special kind of job.

Anyway, this came to mind because we have gotten several calls in the past few months with complaints of how these people miss family, are in the middle of nowhere, etc. We have also had some practices two hours outside of the city calling DH, inviting him to dinner, etc. so its been on our minds.

Anyway, why do we appear to be such a minority? Do you think its worth it to move to an area that is undesirable or less desirable to you personally for a specific medical job/salary?

I hear what everyone is saying about college/retirement savings - - and I completely understand why let's say a sole breadwinner in academics or primary care would need the salary boost. But most private practice specialists make enough money to afford college/retirement, even in desirable areas where physicians make less. To each his own - - but I find I don't know what to say when an interventional cardiologist friend who has decided to settle in a border town in Texas away from his family and friends in New York calls to gripe . . . I mean, this person would be comfortable anywhere, why make himself unhappy?

I guess this gets to a broader issue, which is that my personal view is that the primary purpose of money is to make you and your loved ones happy -- and yet I see so many physicians where money seems to be having the opposite effect . . .

[Stella]

I moved here for my SO. Does that count?

[Vanquisher]

Not for money...no, but everyone's idea of desireable is different too. One word is the job maker or breaker for me - schedule.

Lets compare jobs, shall we?

Job A

Podunk town in the middle of nowhere.
Salary 250K
Schedule - incredible. Little call. 40 hour work week.


Job B

Dream location
Salary 350K
Schedule sucks. Q3 call. 70-80 hours.

I take Job A. Not everyone would. It's all about your priorities. My priorities are to be with and see my husband/family together. We can take trips, and I plan to do a lot more at my house than watch paint dry.

[DCJenn]

Just ask Sally about this....as the former AirForce family got sent to the asscrack of Texas...

Sometimes you don't get a choice.

However, there's no way in hell I'd go someplace hideous unless the Army sends us. I'm staying the city. (of course, downtown San Antonio is not a huge metropolis, either. Nor is downtown DC)

Jenn

For the most part, no I would not do it. I think the debt and retirement/college savings could come into play. But no amount of money makes you happy if you hate your day to day surroundings, IMO.

Ladybug: I don't just mean major-metro, more anyplace that you personally enjoy living. For me, its currently in a big city; but I used to live in Maine and adored it because there was so much to do outdoors and there are many college towns I love as I could go to free lectures endlessly I think.

Unfortunately for me, my taste is also the majority's taste because there is never an undersupply of physicians in an geographic area I have been drawn to. I do think you're right that with kids your needs and desires change - - we are probably moving to a close-in suburb in the next few years, even if we don't have kids as I cannot take seeing one more rat strutting down the sidewalk in my chi-chi urban neighborhood . . .

[alison]

This is still far too much of a hypothetical question for dh and me. I love certain things about Chicago, but I itch to leave this place because it's just...too much. I know that a big part of my happiness is where I live (my surroundings). Dh has always said that he could care less where he lives because a hospital is a hospital is a hospital.

We've got giant rats in my neighborhood. They're so big! And the tails on those things!

[SuzySunshine]

Would we make the move PURELY for the money? NO! Absolutely NOT! We would really like to stay here, DH isn't shy about telling the higher ups that and he would make MUCH less here than most other attending academic positions in his field.

We would also not consider moving to a much more expensive area just because the pay was higher - the salary has to meet the minimum standards of living IMO. Like Stanford - you'd have to pay us a small fortune to move back there permanently. We'd love to, but not for what he could get paid at say Iowa or Wash U.

With all of this said, we HOPE we have a choice when DH is done. We hope we have to decide on more than one place. That isn't always the case in his field.

BK (before kids) I would have said YES in a heartbeat. AK (after kids) that changed, as did our job search criteria. Originally we even though we'd do it after the kids came, but then 9/11 hit, my kids are 'beige', my husband is brown, and we didn't want to be in a very rural area where it was more than likely we'd be the only people with any kind of a color palette in our home.

[spotty_dog]

Not really, nope. Once we settle down, we're looking for location, location, location. Living in the "right place" where we enjoy the climate and the people has been the point all along. It's one reason DH chose his specialty, which tends to have job opportunities in the kinds of cities where we want to live.

[Sheherezade]

Our job opportunities each year are so limited (across the country) that you kind of take what you can get. The jobs also vary widely in responsibility. There were jobs that wanted to put DH as dept head his first year out (because they had no one) and jobs that put him low on the totem pole. $$ was only a factor for us because we couldn't live in a house in Boston on the salary DH would earn there. The inner ring burbs were out due to housing concerns as well. Commute to affordable areas was around 60 minutes. The only job offered there that year was also unsuitable. *sigh*

In a less specialized field - or post board certification - it might be easier to choose where you live.

Also, in academics, the dogma is that you need to move around to advance. It builds your resume to work in different areas of the country.

for us, no way. Career advancement and money is a long way down the list of factors that we see affecting our quality of life. Working hours and a good family friendly program are far higher up the priority ladder.

I would consider doing this for a few years once we have kids. A good time would be when they're very young--but I prefer to live in big cities in general, but I would consider this so that when we returned to the big city DH could perhaps work part-time in order to be with the kids more. But there would have to be career opportunities for me as well if we moved to a totally rural area, which would probably be unlikely.

No, I don't think so.

We left Chicago to move to Denver for this current fellowship, and that's been hard enough on me. I miss the community feel of my neighborhood in Chicago and it's killing me, even though I know we'll only be here two years.

Also, I'd like to second what a previous poster said about the importance of diversity. One of DH's friends from undergrad moved to Boston with her husband for a residency (she's a Hindu from India, he's a Muslim from Pakistan) in 2002 and they said they got a lot more grief than you'd expect. DH is Korean and feels strongly about living somewhere where he's not the token Asian doctor. I'd like my daughter to see other mixed race kids too.