I used to work in medicine and the docs would all say that Nurses eat their young. Nursing is a rough job.

I don’t have any way to give you a yes no answer on taking the 20% cut.

Your calculus is:

• Can you afford it?
• How would that negatively change your lifestyle?
• What is the stress total stress level reduction?

The salary difference is 21K, That boils down to a 612 reduction a pay check using 30% tax etc rate. Also I imagine your place has a 401K or some other retirement annuity that they do percent matching on, so what will the decreased pay do to that?

Can your monthly bills absorb a 612 reduction?

A 20% cut will cause X amount of stress in your life. Is that X amount less than the reduction of stress the new position will offer?

The kick in the ass is, when you make enough money it doesn’t matter, when you don’t make enough it is all that matters.

I did not take a 20% cut but I once took a job that was a pay cut and smaller future earning potential than the one I had because it offered me a better QoL.

It was so worth it… but again it was no where near a 20% reduction.

Here is an option. Can you take the 20% reduction and pick up OT or another part time job to offset?