Brentwood Nurses Make $125K and Still Can’t Breathe

Hi {{first_name|nurse,}}

Brentwood looks like a win on paper.
Six figures. Bay Area rates. A “good” market.

Then the mortgage quote shows up.
Then the taxes hit.
Then your leftover number does that thing where it feels… tiny.

This week’s city insight is about one thing: breathing room.

Brentwood sits in the shadow of larger Bay Area hospital systems, which means many RNs commute to Kaiser Antioch, John Muir Health (Walnut Creek), or Sutter Delta Medical Center.

This creates a strange situation:

Nurses earn Bay Area wages
But live with East Bay housing costs

Those housing costs have surged because buyers priced out of San Francisco and Oakland moved east. Tech money pushed prices up. Nursing wages did not rise at the same pace.

So on paper, the pay looks great.
In real life, the math breaks down fast.

When negotiating in places like Brentwood, don’t stop at base pay.

Ask specifically about:

• Shift differentials
• Weekend premiums (often 15–25%)
• Overtime thresholds
• Traveler vs staff RN ratios

High traveler usage usually means more overtime opportunities and higher burnout risk.
Get overtime rules in writing during the interview, not after you accept the offer.

What if the problem isn’t how much you earn, but where you’re trying to live?

Brentwood, California is a perfect example of geographic math going wrong for nurses.

Registered nurses here earn close to $125,000 a year, which sounds incredible.
But salary numbers without context are misleading.

They look strong.
They feel weak.

• Median RN salary: $124,790
• Estimated taxes: $39,059 (31.3%)
• Average home price: $827,227
• Monthly mortgage: $4,432
• Monthly leftover income: $2,712

Here’s what’s actually happening.

After taxes, a Brentwood RN takes home about $85,731 per year, or $7,144 per month.

Now subtract the mortgage.

That leaves $2,712 per month for:

• Utilities
• Food
• Gas
• Insurance
• Student loans
• Savings
• Life

Housing alone eats 62% of take-home pay.
Financial planners recommend staying under 30%.

That’s not tight. That’s fragile.

1. Spillover demand
Brentwood absorbed housing pressure from wealthier Bay Area cities. Home prices inflated because of tech migration, not healthcare wages.

2. Limited housing supply
California’s development rules slow new housing. When demand rises, prices explode instead of supply increasing.

3. Wage and housing decoupling
Nurses get paid based on statewide contracts and hospital systems, not ZIP-code housing markets.

You’re paid for the job.
You pay for the location.

Those two numbers don’t talk to each other.

Brentwood nurses aren’t underpaid.

They’re geographically mismatched.

A nurse earning $125K here has less breathing room than a nurse earning $75K in Tulsa or $68K in Pittsburgh, where homes cost under $200K.

This isn’t about budgeting harder or skipping coffee.

It’s structural.

High pay without geographic context is financial theater.

Brentwood’s salary sounds like security, but delivers stress.

Until housing costs and wages align, six figures here can still mean living paycheck to paycheck — just with a nicer title.

Run your own numbers at https://mapmypay.com and see whether your salary is really working for you — or just working.

If you haven’t downloaded it yet, you can do it right now. No more waiting. No more guessing your real take-home pay.

Here’s what you’ll get inside:

✅ See after-tax nursing salaries across 1,000+ U.S. cities
✅ Compare leftover income after rent or mortgage
✅ View crime stats, housing costs, and cost-of-living in any city
✅ Filter by shift, role, or how much money you want left over
✅ Join a private, nurse-only community where receipts (and pay stubs) speak louder than opinions

We built this for you—because you deserve to know where your money goes and where it goes further.

👇 Haven’t downloaded it yet? Grab it now:

Talk soon,
Jason from Map My Pay

P.S. We’re posting daily in Map My Pay’s community section. Make sure to join us there and ask your most important questions.