• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

What is a good salary where you live?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Kingpen

Member
I saw this topic on another forum and thought it was pretty interesting, so I thought I would see what comes up here.

I am a freshly turned 23 year old and my first job out of my bachelor's degree pays around in the 60K range. I live in Albuquerque NM, where the average salary seems to be 28-33K a year.
 

TheQueen'sOwn

insert blank space here
I don't know what the average salary is here but I'd imagine a "good" salary would be 60k and higher (remember this is CDN funny money) depending on whether you are single or have children etc. If you're single here and are making 60k you're well off! However it's just a decent salary if you have kids. My parents both make 100k (with two children, and someone we had to buy a house for).

For your age you have a great! salary.
 
Kingpen said:
I saw this topic on another forum and thought it was pretty interesting, so I thought I would see what comes up here.

I am a freshly turned 23 year old and my first job out of my bachelor's degree pays around in the 60K range. I live in Albuquerque NM, where the average salary seems to be 28-33K a year.

60K in New Fucking Mexico? Jesus H. Christ are you a bankrobber? 60k would be a great salary in many major East or West Coast cities.
 

goodcow

Member
DJ Demon J said:
60K in New Fucking Mexico? Jesus H. Christ are you a bankrobber? 60k would be a great salary in many major East or West Coast cities.

60K in New York wouldn't be "great."
 

dlc

Neo Member
goodcow said:
60K in New York wouldn't be "great."

Same thing in the Bay Area. 60k lets you pay rent, but forget about anything else... I need to move to Texas or something
 
No clue on average salary for my area, but I can't wait to get out of here after college. Only job I've had was testing games for $11 an hour. I was happy with the money because I had no bills, and was just saving for tuition. Minus about 3 others, everyone in QA was making something awful like $7.00-7.50 an hour.
 

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
Over 100 K.

I work in the 2nd largest research park in the nation in Huntsville AL.
 
Kingpen said:
I saw this topic on another forum and thought it was pretty interesting, so I thought I would see what comes up here.

I am a freshly turned 23 year old and my first job out of my bachelor's degree pays around in the 60K range. I live in Albuquerque NM, where the average salary seems to be 28-33K a year.


What is your major? I would suspect in the 50 to 60k range in Phx. Which is wierd to me because the median income for a family of 4 is like 35k
 

iapetus

Scary Euro Man
I was going to say 60k would be good here, and I'm in the UK, where that works out at about $110,000. :)

Looking at the average 2004 salaries for the closest roles I can find to my job (Software Engineer) in each location:

London, UK: £40,000 ($74,688)
Amsterdam, Netherlands: 55,000 EUR ($68,396)
Tokyo, Japan: 15.5m JPY ($133,800)
Sydney, Australia: 72,500 AUD ($53,152)

Hmm. Perhaps I should move to Japan...
 

ballhog

Member
$60k would be great in NY as far as I'm concerned. I know plenty of people there who make less and are very comfortable.
 

CrunchyB

Member
So Kingpen, what did you study?

I'm about to to get my BS in Computer Engineering at the very end of this semester. Hurrah.
IT jobs for a <25 person in the Netherlands is in the 20-30k Euro bracket. Past 25 it rises to 25-50k though.
 

SyNapSe

Member
I live in KC, and 60k would be an incredible salary right out of school here. If you were willing to move to Western Kansas, you might be able to get them to name a city after you.
 
SyNapSe said:
I live in KC, and 60k would be an incredible salary right out of school here. If you were willing to move to Western Kansas, you might be able to get them to name a city after you.

60k out of school is incredible anywhere in the U.S., except for Richville USA.
 

siege

Banned
60k is outstanding here in Georgia - especially right out of school. I think the average salary is like $30-35k.
 

bionic77

Member
Jesus, $60k a year starting for an undergrad? That is a pretty sweet deal. I got a job offer for $65k next year out of law school and if I will be happy with that if I can't get anything higher near the DC area. I was hoping for something higher, but I will be pretty happy with this salary if this is the job I take next year.
 

levious

That throwing stick stunt of yours has boomeranged on us.
you going into your third year bionic?

DC is a ludicrous area, even if I manage to score 80 a year, I'd likely not be able to afford a home in most neighborhoods.

I'm going into my third year myself.
 

MoxManiac

Member
Not sure. I hear Maine is one of the lowest cost of living states, but it is also one of the lowest average income states :( Plus we are taxed to fucking hell. Vacationland, more like Taxation Land.

I average about 20-23k in this dinky Data Entry job which isn't bad considering how casual and easy it is (surfing the web at work as I type this) I know for a fact I couldn't live on my own with that, though.
 

bionic77

Member
levious said:
you going into your third year bionic?

DC is a ludicrous area, even if I manage to score 80 a year, I'd likely not be able to afford a home in most neighborhoods.

I'm going into my third year myself.

Yes, the immigration firm I am working for this summer already gave me an offer. Like I said, I would have been happier with 80k or higher, but if I bring in some clients (which (I think I can do) then the salary can go up considerably and with how shitty the economy has been (at least to the people I know) I am glad just to have an offer at this point.

For housing, well I worked for awhile after grad school and before law school and saved up some money, I am hoping that it would be enough for a down payment on a house or condo so I don't throw any more money down the toilet on a apartment.
 

DCharlie

And even i am moderately surprised
"Tokyo, Japan: 15.5m JPY ($133,800)"


top-gun07.jpg


"Sorry Miss, the data on the MIG is inaccurate"
 
bionic77, levious, where are you guys in the DC metro area? If you're looking for a job and you're studying law, and you're pretty knowledgeable about computers/internet/video games, I may have a position for you.
 

levious

That throwing stick stunt of yours has boomeranged on us.
DJ Demon J said:
bionic77, levious, where are you guys in the DC metro area? If you're looking for a job and you're studying law, and you're pretty knowledgeable about computers/internet/video games, I may have a position for you.

hook me up, I'll hate nintendo for you. You work for ESA right? I'm in the same building.

In seriousness, I'm very interested in intellectual property/copyright law, and would love to get into the anti-piracy scene. It was the driving force in my decision to go to GW. I was dissapointed to learn that patent law required a hard science background.
 

bionic77

Member
DJ Demon J said:
bionic77, levious, where are you guys in the DC metro area? If you're looking for a job and you're studying law, and you're pretty knowledgeable about computers/internet/video games, I may have a position for you.

I am live near the National Cathedral in Northwest and define being knowledgeable about video games? I have played a lot of videogames since about 1983, but I don't really know anything about programming or much about hardware.

Edit: Levious I am doing IP clinic this entire year. And DJ I love Nintendo so that may disqualify me.
 
bionic77 said:
I am live near the National Cathedral in Northwest and define being knowledgeable about video games? I have played a lot of videogames since about 1983, but I don't really know anything about programming or much about hardware.

Edit: Levious I am doing IP clinic this entire year. And DJ I love Nintendo so that may disqualify me.

Videogame piracy is the most helpful knowledge, though of course general knowledge of games is a plus (if you're on GAF, you're already qualified in this regard). IP law knowledge is helpful too.

Forget what I said above. If you're not willing to become a Xombie I can't help you. ;P PM me for info.
 

levious

That throwing stick stunt of yours has boomeranged on us.
bionic77 said:
Edit: Levious I am doing IP clinic this entire year. And DJ I love Nintendo so that may disqualify me.

Space is so limited, I've not been able to get into a clinic, hopefully I'll get into something other than a lecture class in the spring. You at Georgetown? I think we're supposed to hate each other.
 

bionic77

Member
levious said:
Space is so limited, I've not been able to get into a clinic, hopefully I'll get into something other than a lecture class in the spring. You at Georgetown? I think we're supposed to hate each other.

Nah I am at American, I actually wanted to get into the Criminal or International Clinic first, IP was my 3rd choice, but anything beats going to class.
 

Kingpen

Member
Sorry I didn't get back in a long time. I posted this as I left work. No, it's not robbing banks! LOL To the couple of douche bags that were talking shit, it's legit so all I got for you is Deez Nutz... I work for a government laboratory that specializes in making Nuclear Weapons. I am a computer programmer/database administrator and got my BBA in Management Information Systems through the local university business school. I am very fortunate to have landed what I did and have been told many times that I am in a select group of the youngest people to have been hired full time as a technical employee. I interned at the lab for over 5 years, from high school through college, and am still in grad school seeking my MBA in MIS. Only 6 classes to go.

And no, I'm not Doogie Houser either... Just a hard working kid that showed good work ethic and got lucky. Most people get on at this laboratory after they get their masters degrees.
 

Loki

Count of Concision
I'm from NY. A "good" salary in basically any of the outlying boroughs (Brooklyn, Staten Island, Queens, the Bronx) would be around $60-70K. Manhattan, however, is another matter entirely-- to live in the city with any degree of comfort (i.e., not being confined to a 230 sq. ft. cubicle of an "apartment") requires around $80K+, I'd wager, though obviously you can rough it if you're "on your way up" and just want to be around the action.

NY is the absolute worst for real estate, be it in Mahattan, where $2K/month gets you a nice 340 sq. ft. apartment <rolleyes>, or in Brooklyn, where one-bedroom apts. go for around $800-1000+, with 2-bedroom places going for upwards of $1350. Houses are pretty much all selling for over $530K now. Hell, I always thought my house was worth only around $400K or so, but my mother said that this lady on the block behind us recently sold her home for $680K, and it's not as big as ours is. To call it a "seller's market" is an understatement right now.


In short, NY sucks. Yet it's great in so many other ways, which makes the whole situation suck even more. :(
 

Future Trunks

lemme tell you something son, this guy is SO FARKING HUGE HE'LL FLEX AND DESTROY THE SUN no shit
Kingpen said:
I interned at the lab for over 5 years, from high school through college,

There we go. Now I believe you. You gotta admit, without that statement, 60K out of college (bachelor's) is quite hard to believe. But now I can definitely believe it. Nice, man. (thumbs up icon)

I wish there was some way I could have interned at the place I just got an offer from, instead I did internships at other places over my college career. Although, I'm excited to get the opportunity to work out there - all of the skills I'm going to take from the job and such plus the benefits and upward mobility and freedom.
 
around 17k a year. parttime job as store clerk and monthly student loans.....i'm screwed :)

rent is pretty cheap though so i have nothing to worry about most of the time. I got a one bedroom apartment for 217 euro a month, but then again i don't live downtown where things are ridiculously expensive.
 

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
Average wage here is I think is about 35-40k. A good/great salary would be anything over 50k. (This is Ireland, by the way). Salaries for college graduates would start at an average of about 25k. In my chosen profession (software engineering), salaries scale up to 100k..you might start on 30k if you're lucky. You would think the cost of living would be a bit lower, but in truth, COL is higher here than anywhere else in the euro zone, and probably most places in the US.
 

Hitman

Edmonton's milkshake attracts no boys.
The job I'm shooting for when I get to University can start paying me 40-50k after 2 years of schooling then 100k withing 8 years of graduationg.
 
Anyone know a good site that has median salaries for canadian (ontario specifically) residents? I want to know how much i can expect to make after my i finish undergrad for the 8 months before grad school.
 

DCharlie

And even i am moderately surprised
"Only true if you work as a coder for a foreign investment firm in Tokyo."

with a lot of experience. As discussed to night , some of us are in the situation where we can earn this salary, but it means going to a rival company and throwing away 4-5 years of ladder climbing.

Actually, you can get that "salary" if you hit -all- the bonuses, but you will be raped.

The thing is , in 4 years, my base salary has moved about as much as asthmatic ant carrying some very heavy shopping - where as my bonus has gone through the roof. This SUCKs. This is like saying "Don't worry - the cash that we don't actually HAVE to give you is going up, so instead of not getting 15,000$ this year, you'll not be getting 20,000$ this year! AWESOME HUH?! actually, we are giving you a BIG PAYRISE. Next year, we won't be giving you 50,000$!!!! That's a massive pay hike ! Infact, we factor in these bonuses we aren't paying you to your annual salary so that even though we are below the industry average, it looks like you are above! aren't we bright? ;) "


um... no.
 
Teh Hamburglar said:
I'm an Info systems major and I'd have to be fucking Doogie Howser to get 38-40k a year.

it's no wonder you're not making that much if you're not willing to make that kind of sacrifice.

ditto the "anything about 0.00" damndest thing...there are no jobs here, and people are flooding into this area. I dunno what they expect to live on, but still they come.
 

Phoenix

Member
60K is great most places. If you made that in San Francisco you might be a bit uncomfortable, but even there you will have a reasonable life. Starting out I made 25K in Computer Science in 1995. Times have changed (to what they used to be) and companies won't kiss ass anymore so expect anything in the 25-35 range (adjusted for locale) starting to be GREAT.
 
i don't make a damn thing, instead choosing to mooch off the parents while i go through school. currently, their salaries are pretty nice. dad makes about 20k a month and mommy 4-5k a month. they support me pretty nicely. :)
 

pestul

Member
$30k (cdn) in St. John's, NL and you're pretty well off. I only make $23k and my fiance makes $26k, so that seems to work out all right. We're both 1yr out of university.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom