Peter Bulimo

This post has been circulating on social media. Someone shared that working as a Registered Nurse (RN) in California they earn the equivalent of Ksh 20 million a year-about $160,000. First, congratulations. A stable job in America, especially one that requires licensing, exams, continuing education and emotional stamina, is earned. It is not stumbled into. There is dignity in that. But numbers, especially when converted into shillings, can distort reality. At $160,000, the figure feels cinematic back home. Multiply it by the exchange rate and it begins to sound like a victory parade. It sounds like “kuomoka.” It feels like Wamala telling Tinka in the book the Burdens: “tear up the tatters, pull down the hovel….” But California does not pay in conversion rates. It pays in gross income-and then it subtracts. For a single filer earning $160,000 in 2026, federal income tax after the standard deduction will land somewhere around $30,000. Social Security takes 6.2 percent-roughly $9,920. Medicare takes 1.45 percent-about $2,320. California state income tax at that income level can easily approach $12,000. Before you see the money, you are already near $54,000 in taxes. The $160,000 becomes closer to $106,000 take-home. This is still strong. Still respectable. But no longer mythic. Now place that number inside California and the life there. A modest apartment in many decent neighborhoods costs $3,300 to $3,800 a month. At $3,500, that is $42,000 a year. If you add a car note, $500 a month. Insurance, which in California is rarely gentle-perhaps $2,500 annually. Gas and maintenance-another $3,500. Utilities and internet-about $4,000 a year. And one must eat! Groceries $8,000 to $10,000, depending on household size. If the nurse carries student loans-and many do-payments might range from $500 to $1,000 per month. If there is a child, childcare can exceed $1,500 a month. That is $18,000 annually. Now if you are a single mother, you see how that $160,000 quickly gets eaten up. And for many in the diaspora, there is another column that does not show up on tax forms: remittances back home. School fees for a sibling. Hospital bills for a parent. Contributions to build something small back home. That can quietly reach $5,000 to $10,000 a year. And this assumes no social life. No meeting friends over dinner or a drink. An Uber ride one way from Long Beach to say West Hollywood, will cost about $80. So a round trip is about $200. You have not eaten, you have not blessed the ancestors. Isitoshe, By the time the arithmetic settles, the number that once sounded like Ksh 20 million begins to feel like something else entirely: a hardworking middle-class life in an expensive state. You have not invested yet. Or saved for a rainy day. And then there is the part that cannot be itemized. To earn $160,000 as a registered nurse often means overtime. Night shifts. Rotating schedules that disturb the body’s clock. Missing Christmas dinner because you are in the ICU. Sleeping at 10 a.m. while the rest of the neighborhood begins its day. Standing for 12 hours. Lifting patients. Drinking coffee at 3 a.m. so you do not miss a subtle change in someone’s breathing. Money is not just income, it is exchanged time. It is exchanged energy. Sometimes it is exchanged presence. There are nurses who have not attended a football or basketball match in years. Not because they do not love the games-but because when they are finally off duty, they are exhausted. None of this diminishes the achievement. It clarifies it. See, sometimes our diaspora conversations become theatrical, as if the purpose is not to educate but to signal. To reassure ourselves that the migration was justified. To prove that the struggle has yielded visible fruit. The lesson was not about cars. It was about confidence. True wealth understands that income is only one part of the story. There is health. There is time. There is peace. May the day break!