How common is it to earn $100,000/yr in California (Los Angeles: colleges, income)

[k374]

Just wanted to take a simple poll... do not focus on pockets like "Silicon Valley" but rather a common cross section of California's big cities - San Diego, LA and SFO. This is not household income but individual income. With starting salaries for most college grads around $75k is it safe to assume that most college grads hit $100k or just under that (perhaps $85-90k) with a few years experience? Or is this totally false.

Just how common, percentage wise, is a $100k/yr salary? 10%? 20%, 50%??

[sacramento916]

Pretty common.

[Majin]

Originally Posted by sacramento916

Pretty common.

Agreed. If you're a college grad with a few years (3-4) of experience you should be making close to 100k or a bit above. 100k is still poverty level in CA though unless you live in Stockton or Fresno.

[18Montclair]

According to the 2010 Census:

Californians Individuals(persons employed age 16+) Earning $100,000+ Annually: 14.6%

As far as the largest CA cities...

Employed residents earning $100,000+ Annually:
San Francisco 24.6%
San Jose 23.0%
Oakland 15.7%
San Diego 14.6%
Los Angeles 11.6%
Long Beach 10.1%
Sacramento 8.6%
Anaheim 8.4%
Fresno 7.7%
Santa Ana 3.5%

[k374]

Originally Posted by Majin

Agreed. If you're a college grad with a few years (3-4) of experience you should be making close to 100k or a bit above. 100k is still poverty level in CA though unless you live in Stockton or Fresno.

It's the poverty line for a family of four, not a single individual...or so I thought. However, it seems only 10% of people make that or over even here in LA, hard to believe!

@18Montclair, thanks for that info, very useful.

So for LA we're looking at 100kers being in the 90th percentile more or less. That is certainly not anywhere close to being median.

[Snort]

With starting salaries for most college grads around $75k

What? Where does that come from?

[ilushka]

Originally Posted by Snort

What? Where does that come from?

I was just typing up the same question

[ragnarkar]

Originally Posted by Majin

Agreed. If you're a college grad with a few years (3-4) of experience you should be making close to 100k or a bit above. 100k is still poverty level in CA though unless you live in Stockton or Fresno.

I could retire in a decade or two with that salary..

[yowps3]

100k isn't much in California

[ilushka]

Originally Posted by k374

With starting salaries for most college grads around $75k is it safe to assume that most college grads hit $100k or just under that (perhaps $85-90k) with a few years experience? Or is this totally false.

Starting salary offers for college graduates rise 3.5% - Feb. 10, 2011

"Students who will graduate this spring are receiving job offers with starting salaries averaging $50,034 per year, up 3.5% from last year, according to a survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers."

In California I think it's a tad higher, from my experience.