Salary comparison between Seattle and Houston (jobs, title, oil)

[mysavy]

If I move from Seattle to Houston, how much pay cut should I expect, if any? I'm in the IT profession. I am curious to see what people experienced wrt to pay when making a transition from Seattle to Houston.

Thanks in advance...

[houstoner]

What exactly do you do in IT?

[mysavy]

Senior developer with about 10 yrs experience.

Thanks,

[vtowntom]

You should probably be getting a raise depending on what type of company you get a job with. I moved from the Seattle area to Houston (not an IT job though) and got a nice pay raise. (that's why we moved)

[Topaz]

Have you looked at a tool like Salary.com? I picked two random zip codes from Houston and Seattle and Software Developer III showed as 79K to 95K (25th to 75th percentile) in Houston and $86K to $102K in Seattle. You can probably find titles more accurate for your specific skills and years of experience. If you add in any management experience, the salary is usually much higher than these numbers.

[Supermac34]

Try for an IT position at one of the oil and gas companies. They are paying very well right now and you might even make a raise.

Most people make more money when they change jobs...that might be wiped out a little by moving to Houston, but I bet you can actual increase yourself unless you are making a killing right now.

How long has it been since you have changed jobs or renegotiated your salary? Usually the longer you stay at a position, the further behind the market you fall. (sad but true)

[mysavy]

Thanks all for your input. It's always good to hear about real experiences rather than simply relying on web sites like payscale.com or salary.com.

[MissDaisy]

Originally Posted by Supermac34

Try for an IT position at one of the oil and gas companies. They are paying very well right now and you might even make a raise.

Most people make more money when they change jobs...that might be wiped out a little by moving to Houston, but I bet you can actual increase yourself unless you are making a killing right now.

How long has it been since you have changed jobs or renegotiated your salary? Usually the longer you stay at a position, the further behind the market you fall. (sad but true)

Catagorically true!! I have been at my job 8 years, lots of prior experience, but it took me an amazing amount of time to bring things "up to snuff" when inequities were apparant, and still they are a little off kilter, but I have to ride the wave til we can work our plan...

[Supermac34]

Also, don't forget that HP has their largest office in the world in NW Houston when looking for IT jobs.

[Beto]

Look into the energy sector as they are doing a lot of hiring at the moment.