The Pittsburgh Apartment Rent Bubble (McKeesport, Washington: sales, 2014, rentals)

[robrobrob]

My twenties and my thirties are behind me but my guess is that some of these apartments are rented by couples. So, you may not need to make 75,000 to afford them. Much easier to live large with two incomes and no kids.

Also, I have always thought if you landed a decent job out of college these days (at one of the bigger companies you are making around 50) so after a few years and a promotion or two you are doing pretty good by the time you are 30. The problem is that not everyone has one of these jobs.

[gortonator]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

Do you have any stats on how many people are making that money locally? I am genuinely curious.

Suspect its hard to get that level of fidelity of salary info. If you have a Glassdoor account, you can see what the reported salaries are for companies/positions through that. At least these are indicative. I just browsed a few 'scientific software' companies I know here, medium size, and not known as 'Google style' big payers, and all reported salaries are over $70K, in many cases well over, except for one entry level testing position - $65K.

I'd be genuinely interested to hear who is approaching you with such low salaries. Look 'em up on Glassdoor, see how things compare?

[theta_sigma]

Depends on your industry. If you work in higher education in Pittsburgh (and many, many people are) you are probably not making anywhere near that much. The higher ed jobs here are good, the benefits are excellent and they are generally stable and provide good security, but well-paying they are not. (Hilariously, everyone at Pitt seems to think that CMU was paying me waaaaay more than they actually were. Pitt, in fact, pays me quite a bit more than CMU ever did.)

The notion of someone making $50k right out of college and then $75k in their thirties is.... I literally do not know anyone who has ever lived that life.

[WhoIsStanwix?]

Originally Posted by theta_sigma

The notion of someone making $50k right out of college and then $75k in their thirties is.... I literally do not know anyone who has ever lived that life.

As you said, it very much depends on industry. Everyone I know in my field is in this boat, some making substantially more in their 30's. But I am in a very niche field.

[ProFiction]

Originally Posted by theta_sigma

The notion of someone making $50k right out of college and then $75k in their thirties is.... I literally do not know anyone who has ever lived that life.

Everyone my age that I work with falls under this category. We're software developers.

[theta_sigma]

Originally Posted by ProFiction

Everyone my age that I work with falls under this category. We're software developers.

A few industries are very lucrative.

Most aren't.

[gortonator]

Originally Posted by ProFiction

Everyone my age that I work with falls under this category. We're software developers.

ditto on all fronts ... someone must be able to find the average salary for a computer science graduate nowadays? $75K is not a big salary in software development.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by gortonator

I'd be genuinely interested to hear who is approaching you with such low salaries. Look 'em up on Glassdoor, see how things compare?

Mostly "consulting" companies which plague this city. To be fair, I would never accept an offer from those places unless I was incredibly desperate but just knowing that there are a bunch of jobs out there paying in the $40's for engineers is really crazy. What really is crappy is that since people are slapped with "contractor" or "consultant" and not their real title the occupational employment statistics don't even properly capture their data.

I have noticed an odd trend though: those much lauded tech companies are actually paying people lower than huge corporations these days. I have gone to a few networking events and rubbed elbows with some guys from two very respected and hip tech firms here.... and they're paying people less than the big banks in some cases.

Odd times we live in.

[friendsheep]

Originally Posted by ProFiction

Everyone my age that I work with falls under this category. We're software developers.

Same, except we're not software developers but work for a large Fortune 500 based here. Entry level out of college pay is right around 50 for the department I am in and the ones I work closely with.

It's fairly easy to be well into 6 figure pay by your late 20's/30's if you can stick it out.

[gortonator]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

Mostly "consulting" companies which plague this city. To be fair, I would never accept an offer from those places unless I was incredibly desperate but just knowing that there are a bunch of jobs out there paying in the $40's for engineers is really crazy. What really is crappy is that since people are slapped with "contractor" or "consultant" and not their real title the occupational employment statistics don't even properly capture their data.

I have noticed an odd trend though: those much lauded tech companies are actually paying people lower than huge corporations these days. I have gone to a few networking events and rubbed elbows with some guys from two very respected and hip tech firms here.... and they're paying people less than the big banks in some cases.

Odd times we live in.

Consulting companies 'plague' many towns. They also typically pay over $70K ....

You'll have to be specific with your tech companies/huge corps comparison. Google salaries on Glassdoor aren't too shabby. Not massive, but not too shabby, and there's perks ...