Is it better to practice dentistry in California or Florida? I want to be a general dentist in either the San Francisco Bay area or Tampa or Fort Lauderdale. Most people have told me to move to Florida, because real estate and the cost of living is much cheaper. I've also been told that California's economy is currently doing very badly and that a lot of people are moving from there. I just love the atmosphere, lifestyle, weather, and character of the bay area and am not sure if I should give all that up due to the cost of living and economy. I'm trying to decide where I want to live, so I know whether to take the WREB or Florida dental board exam, and how to go about finding a job. Any advice would greatly be appreciated.
Practice dentistry in California or Florida?
- Thread starter mberry
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Do you want to open your own or work as an associate?
Northern Cali is not too bad,weather is better, but if you want to build up an office from scratch , Florida might be cheaper
Florida has economic problems too.
If you want to work as an associate , check the job adds/market before making a decision
i was in a similar situation as you, however i decided on FL. the economy is doing better here, and the area that i wanted to move to in CA (souther CA) is pretty horrible for dentists right now. i have a few friends there and they all (without exception) advised me to stay away from southern CA right now. northern CA is better. the nice thing about FL is that their licensure is harder, so less dentists. CA accepted the WREBs, licensure by residency, licensure by credentials, and they now even accept a mexican dental school (only state to do that). so there are a lot more dentists there. good luck
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Did you graduate from a FL school? What did you do to prepare for FL license?
yes i graduated from a florida dental school. they helped us out a lot to pass the boards. if your coming from out of state there are two board prep classes that pretty much hold your hand throughout the entire process and get you patients. the downside is that they cost somewhere around $8K!
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Hate to tell you, but FL has a nice atmosphere, lifestyle, and weather. You just need to like humidity 😉.
Don't think that FL is cheaper than CA everywhere though. As a whole, Southern FL is cheaper than Southern CA, but chances are you will want to live on the coast of FL, and chances are you will want to live on a canal or waterfront. If you want to live in Miami, you will probably want to live in Coral Gables etc. These homes can be very pricey.
Now what is very nice about FL is no income tax, and frankly, less taxes all together. 👍
I want to be an associate first then buy out after a few years. Buying a practice as well as a home will be difficult considering the high cost of real estate in the bay area. If I decide to move to Florida and then California when I'm financially stable, will California accept a Florida dental license or do I have to take the WREB? Also, is it necessary to learn Spanish before I move to Tampa or Fort Lauderdale?
if you take the FL license you will be able to go to any state after 5 yrs (i think Delaware is the only exception?), but CA for sure. i currently work in tampa and i dont speak spanish, so no you dont need to speak spanish here (guess it depends on the area). if your going to work in Ft. lauderdale than you may want to learn spanish to increase your client base. if you go any south of ft. lauderdale you definitely need to speak spanish to be successful
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Are there even opportunities to practice in areas (I assume) that are extremely saturated?
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Ft. Lauderdale is still nice. Everywhere else in Broward county = North Miami-Dade County.
It's because of reasons like the above I wouldn't even consider practicing in Miami-Dade/Broward... and my wife even speaks Spanish fluently. Many other nice places in Florida besides southeast FL.
Many other reasons to which I will not go in to on a public forum.
Then again, far less saturation than Southern California... you can still find very nice practices for sale in "saturated areas" throughout SoFla if you look hard enough.
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YOU DON'T WANT TO DO THAT. Once you're financially stable and settled into your practice in Florida, it's very hard to move to Cali. I'm from NorCal and made a strategic decision to move to the NE to open my practice after I had already returned to live in Norcal and SoCal after dental school. My thought back then was I'll return to Cali after I save up a million or two. I've now reached that point, my practice is on cruise control with no worries, 30 hrs workweek, house on the hill with an acre of manicured lawn, low taxes, vacation 10x a year. When you reach that point soon enough like me, why would you want to return to Cali and restart the rat race all over again when everything is cruise control going so well? Why would you want to return to Cali to pay high state sales tax, high state income tax, high gasoline tax, high HOA fee and Merill Rule, high real estate, high property tax, etc? With the money you save by being in Florida, you can afford to visit Cali or anywhere else as many times as you want and still come out ahead financially. I'm writing this from in Cancun, my 18th trip, and honestly wouldn't be able to enjoy this lifestyle had I stay in Cali.
If you do go to Cali, you do need to brush up on your Spanish. I saw more Mexicans and heard more Spanish spoken at Oakland Airport last week than at Cancun Airport this week.
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So it seems like the consensus is to move to Florida. Is there anyone that actually encourages me to practice in California? Most people have also recommended Fort Lauderdale over Tampa. Is there anyone who disagrees? And if I do decide on Fort Lauderdale, what's the best way to find a private practice to become an associate in?
i personally recommend tampa over ft. lauderdale. you'll get a better opportunity if you actually go to a suburb of tampa (tarpon springs, land o'lakes, lakeland, etc). lots of dentists in ft. lauderdale. gets better as you keep going north
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Having grown up in SE Florida, Jupiter to be exact, I can attest to it being a different breed. West Palm and St. Lucie are only 45min-1hr away, but they are two completely different worlds. If you are looking for more of a laid back old Florida style of living then you ought to be looking from Hobe Sound -north to Canaveral. West Palm all the way south to Lauderdale is almost a solid metropolis especially on the coast. If you go further inland there are some less urban areas ie Wellington, but in general the area is really booming in population.
Does anyone know if my income as a dentist in California would be higher than it would be in Florida so that it balances out the higher cost of living there? I love the weather, landscape, and liberal atmosphere of the San Francisco Bay area but am thinking about giving it up for more affordable living in Florida. Would any other cities surrounding the bay area be a cheaper and comparable alternative, like Sacramento for example?
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Sacto is now dirt cheap in term of housing and may get cheaper based on the coagulation of last week's worldwide events and Cali's impending massive layoffs to close their yearly $20BIL deficit. You're about an hour from SF which is perfect for your liberal mindset. All my family and friends (mostly dentists) are doing fine there so I'm confident you'll do just fine. Just expect to pay a lot of taxes and fees and ridiculously expensive traffic tickets (like $160 for not using car turn signal) .
Thanks for your input. Do you know if Sacramento is similar to San Francisco? In terms of what there is to do, the landscape, and mentality? I've heard from some people that it's great, and I've heard from others that it's really boring and has a flat landscape.
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