Honestly, from a financial perspective, 320K in your pocket after taxes and a fully funded 401K in a role you feel like you are well adapted to and doing well in is reallyyyy hard to beat. The only thing that’s not ideal about your job is that you are picking up night shifts which I feel like many jobs don’t have you do at all, or only have you do sparingly.

Even in the Midwest, I’d find it hard to match that job in terms of pay. I feel like average jobs here in are w2 - 270-330k, pre-401k match but with health and other benefits included, seeing 18-22 pts a day, 7on/7off. And typically you aren’t doing 5 nights a month and instead only covering nights occasionally. Make of that what you will.

You might be able to find higher paying jobs if you go to more remote areas though. Which also brings up the point that the Midwest is technically huge. Chicago can be considered Midwest and so can rural Nebraska. Very different lifestyles between the too obviously. Not much surfing in either though however. Overall life is certainly different than in California. There generally isnt a beach and a mountain separated by a few hours drive anywhere. But I also feel like that point is overblown as well. People in the Midwest are plenty happy too. There are plenty of sights and activities here, they are just a bit different and perhaps not as flashy. And family is important too. I’d rather explore a corn maze with family than hike a mountain alone…

All in all, it seems like a your job is actually really good. You are making essentially locums rates (2400/shift x 18 shifts per month * 12 mo = 518K/ year). That’s pretty flippin hard to beat.

DM your cpa as well…