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One reason why I would rather stay in Philadelphia than move to New York after I finish college. My salary will stretch way farther, while still having access to similar things that NYC offers (urbanity, downtown experience, excellent public transportation, etc.). Philadelphia is flourishing at the moment and is set, in my opinion, to really climb upwards through the rest of the 2010s. Boston, NYC, and DC are all hyper-expensive, and Baltimore has nowhere near the population numbers Philly has. Philly has excellent public transportation, and is almost slightly centered between all the major cities in the Bos-Wash Corridor. More and more people are realizing this, hence our growing population numbers. Almost all of the growth in the Philly MSA has been in the City of Philadelphia.
If we could expand our subway system, fix the school district, and clean up parts of North and Southwest Philly, I could see sustained growth occurring for decades.
My relatives use to commute to NYC 5 times a week from North Philly suburbs in NJ because its cheaper so after visiting back in 2013 I was shock to see how so many millennials catching on to this. I don't blame us (millennials).
Even if you earn 100K now but you started low with a family, you may have some debt that you are still trying to get to and believe me it is not easy to catch up. I started with 2 kids and a girlfriend (now my wife) in 2000 and we earned 30K then. We did not get married right away because we needed food stamps to just get by. We had used cars went to goodwill. During the 5$ gallon gas prices years everything was double except our salary and we just never got out of the paycheck to paycheck until 2 years ago and I make over 110K today but just broke the barrier this year. I did force to save 10% and I got into a 15 yr mortgage and paying a bit more so clearing that in 2019 if I keep up with the aggressive payments.
We live simply but not too masochistic but we are still struggling and I have probably a year's tuition for my daughter who will go to college next year. Vacation mean roughing it camping hiking. Skiing we do 4 -5 times a year because I was once a ski bum but our kids can sleep out in the cold in the back of our truck instead of a ski lodge or we drive and drive home even if it is a 5 hour drive. No new cars.
Today the current salary means after taxes, insurance premiums, mortgage and CC debt servicing (trying hard to get this out of the way) means less than 4K/month to pay utilities, groceries, gas, kid's allowance and expenses related to their sport.
I remember when I can live on 4K a year.
I do not consider 100K comfortable and my mortgage payments are 14K a year. I cannot imagine 36K on PTI mortgage alone.But I am an orphan with zero inheritance zero parent to help me since I was 17. If I mess up - no one will help or bail me, so I am very financially conservative and it happened when I had kids. I won't buy a new car even though I qualify because in my mind, I should only pay 10% of my take home for a car and no new car will cost that. My coworker who earns more than me and he is single no girlfriend that stays with him, no dog and his dad gives him a wad of cash every time he visits still is leaving modestly. He bought his first new car when he turned 50.
Funny thing is it someone told me that to be well-off really mean 3M annual gross and the rest of us our delusional about our status while we slice the 5% the 1% have left us.If you are stupid or maybe just unfortunate you can go from a 150K middle management to homeless.
A buddy who just retired after 35 years and a 130K ending salary in 2012, thinks that the 1.2 million he has in stocks saving etc, may not even last 15 years even with his pension. I am scared myself because i started contributing to SS just in 2000 when I was 34 because I was working for NGOs volunteering prior. And companies including mine push people into early retirement as a cost saving measure and they are being generous if they do that rather than lay you off. 60 plus is a precarious time for the American worker unless you went to management. Sad
Japan is really an egalitarian society with their wealth ceiling etc. Of course if we talk about that or Scandinavian socialism, the commie eradication police will be up in arms.
My take there is no great salary until you are in the entry level wealthy club. Best you can do is find out how to be happy and not angry whatever bracket or city you maybe.
I live in Albuquerque, NM BTW where COL is high compared to what you get paid, I think TX pays twice while we charge twice for houses here. I think they based their cost thinking everyone is working at Los Alamos (one of the highest per capita salary county in the US)
PERSONAL INCOMES
Very Low Salary: Under 20k (Employers that pay this low most likely struggle to find enough employees)
Low Salary: $20k-30k (Some Fast Food, Retail, Office Jobs pay in this range)
Decent Salary: $30k-45k (most non-mgmt office workers and most skilled trade workers)
Good Salary: $45K-65K (most middle management jobs)
Great Salary: $65k-85k (most higher management and professional jobs)
Amazing Salary: 85k and higher (most directors/executives, doctorates and successful entrepreneurs)
HOUSEHOLD INCOMES (not including childless ppl who live alone)
Very Low HHI: Under $35k (poor households)
Low HHI: $35k-55k (working class households)
Decent HHI: $55k-75k (lower middle class households)
Good HHI: $75k-110k (solidly middle class households)
Great HHI: $110k-150k (upper middle class households)
Amazing HHI: 150k and higher (wealthy households)
Metropolitan Area: Rural Northwest Minnesota (Figures are for Grand Forks and Fargo, ND since the population is much higher)
What do you consider a good/bad Personal income and a good/bad Household Income? Please also state your Metropolitan area.
PERSONAL INCOMES
Very Low Salary: Under 25k (most service and unskilled jobs)
Low Salary: $25k-35k (most entry level college grad jobs & experienced unskilled jobs)
Decent Salary: $35k-49k (most non-mgmt office workers and most skilled trade workers)
Good Salary: $50K-79K (most middle management jobs)
Great Salary: 80k-99k (most higher management and professional jobs)
Amazing Salary: 100k and higher (most directors/executives, doctorates and successful entrepreneurs)
HOUSEHOLD INCOMES (not including childless ppl who live alone)
Very Low HHI: Under $50k (poor households)
Low HHI: $50k-74k (working class households)
Decent HHI: $75k-89k (lower middle class households)
Good HHI: $90k-129k (solidly middle class households)
Great HHI: $130k-199k (upper middle class households)
Amazing HHI: 200k and higher (wealthy households)
Metropolitan Area: NYC area/suburbs (yeah, I know in many parts of the country, things are completely different, lol)
I currently live in the DC metro area and make a low six figure salary. I don't believe it's an "amazing salary," because I pay a lot in rent and I'm still paying off student loans.
Wow according to this chart I should be making at LEAST 50K a year but I'm totally not. I work in a professional job for a tech company that keeps me as a permatemp at a dismal pay but I love the job itself. So I guess it's my own fault that I let them get away with that, eh? No benefits, no raises. But also take note that this is not the only tech company pulling this. I know of at least 2 others who do the same and one pays their professionals 7.50 an hour and has been since 2004 at least. (I know someone who has worked for them since then.) This is most definitely not unskilled by any stretch. The companies are very into wage theft and with the recession people have been afraid to jump ship into the waters of companies who will still refuse to hire on and pay the wage commensurate with the job and experience.
Wow according to this chart I should be making at LEAST 50K a year but I'm totally not. I work in a professional job for a tech company that keeps me as a permatemp at a dismal pay but I love the job itself. So I guess it's my own fault that I let them get away with that, eh? No benefits, no raises. But also take note that this is not the only tech company pulling this. I know of at least 2 others who do the same and one pays their professionals 7.50 an hour and has been since 2004 at least. (I know someone who has worked for them since then.) This is most definitely not unskilled by any stretch. The companies are very into wage theft and with the recession people have been afraid to jump ship into the waters of companies who will still refuse to hire on and pay the wage commensurate with the job and experience.
I know what you going through. My profession chemistry, pharmacetuical and chemical companies use staffing agencies to hire temps and pay pathetic wages for required education level ($15-20 an hour). My current company where I work there are temps working as chemists for 1-2 years with no benefits (no sick days, vacation time, holiday pay, and sometimes no decent health insurance or insurance that costs an arm and a leg from the staffing agency).
I worked for this company as a temp for 8+ months before I was converted to full time and I had to switch research groups with different management and I had to apply to this position myself and jump through all the hoops like I was going through the hiring process as an outside candidate competing against other candidates for the job.
I don't understand why companies hire individuals as temps and keep them as temps for years and act like they don't have an open position for them it's really annoying. I make $45k now which is decent money for the Atlanta area but not a great salary but I am greatful any full time job in my profession right now.
South Georgia
Very low salary $15k or less
Low salary $25k
Decent salary $40k
Good salary $60k
Great salary $80k
Amazing salary $100k+
Cost of living here is low.
A $50,000 salary in South Georgia is equivalent to $78,864 in San Jose. A good salary of $60,000 is equivalent to $94,637.
A higher household income here of $80,000 is equivalent to $126,183 in San Jose.
In Santa Clara County 45.4 percent of the households have a median income of $100,000.
It isn't what you make but where you live.
No, it is what you make. That is a bull**** cop out companies use to justify paying you less than what you are worth.
Whether you live in Mississippi or Manhattan, $100,0000 buys $100,000 worth of stocks / bonds / real estate. That is why people in Metro-NYC retire so much better than pretty much everywhere else in the country.
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ill simplify it for ya
