What's a well paying job?
 

What do you consider being "well paid?"

Depends on your situation
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well paid for what?

I consider making over $75K a non-slug job.

I said 55-75, as it is significantly better than average. 75+ is better than well-paid.

It also depends on where you live.

$75,000 a year will buy a pretty nice house in Meagher County Montana, but only buy you a parking space and coffee in Manhattan New York.

Between 150-200K

Interesting. Is this income based on an average skilled professional?

In Kansas City, you can get by on about $27-30,000 and not live paycheck to paycheck (as long as you aren't already paying off a lot of debt)..... for this area, I'd say about $50-60,000 is a good paying job. You could have a mortgage payment, car payment, take a decent vacation or two every year, and generally not worry about how much you spend on entertainment, eating out, etc.

Without trying to be a jerk, there are too many variables to answer this. Well paid to be an insurance salesman would be considerably underpaid to a brain surgeon. Someone making x$ in the midwest may be well paid where someone making the same money living in California could be underpaid.

Yep, location is a going to be a huge factor in people's answers.

That's ridiculous. 150-200K is top 2-3% of the country. That is beyond well-paying.

If I had a friend that I was trying to set up with a girl, and she asked me if he had a job that paid well, I would certainly say yes if he made 55k-75k. If he made 130k, I'd say he made great money.

I went with 75k+, but that depends on people who depend on you for financial support.

If it were just me, 40k would be great.

Huh. In the Peoples Republic of Taxachusetts, 27-30k gets you a rundown appt in a drug building with people shooting at you. And there's no money left for food.

50-60K gets you an ok appt in a safe neighborhood with ok schools and a decent used car. You want to own a home? You are making over 100k or fuggetaboutit.

Of course, 75k isnt shit if you live near either coast.

If your single/no kids etc you can easily get by (comfortably) on a $40,000/yr job

My bad. Add 20% to the high expense areas. Adjust to Dane's income.

Not in SF, where a 1000 sq ft apartment can cost you 600k.

There are about 150,000,000 wage earners in the US. 100,000,000 of them earn under $40,000 per year. Less than 10,000,000 earn over $100,000.

The median family income is $81,136 per year in SF. That's the entire family, so the average person makes significantly less than that.

The median HOUSEHOLD income in MA is $50,502.

Massachusetts Income & Jobs
$0-10,000 6,604
$10,000 - $14,999 137,187
$15,000 - $24,999 248,208
$25,000 - $34,999 253,125
$35,000 - $49,999 355,195
$50,000 - $74,999 490,998
$75,000 - $99,999 312,741
$100,000 - $149,999 267,300
$150,000 - $199,999 80,640
Over $200,000 84,494

That's no shit. I was there a while back and my taxi driver and his wife both worked two jobs, pulling in 250k a year and still struggled. I told him he was high for living there. Then he said, "Hey, you live in Omaha."
I shut the hell up after that.
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It always amazes me at how much people think other people earn. It goes to show how well class warfare propaganda has been ingrained into our collective psyche.

And you better not forget that either!

I think it's about, "I contribute... and I'm not a gov't flunkie!!!

Welcome to living in a city or a general high cost area. Start at 150K Take 40% off the top for taxes You now have 90K left. Buying a median priced house is likely to run you between 5-6K per month that's 60-72K chopped. call it 20K left. Use 10K of that 20K to max your 401K and you now have 10K left for expenses/vacations/utilities/additional retirement savings/investments. Sure you'll get some additional money back from mortgage interest deduction(well probably) but still you'll find living in high cost ares things get eaten substantivity faster than in other areas.

100K+ salary in a city is middle class. The big things that kill you are taxes that don't adjust for cost of living and real estate pricing. Can you get by with alot less. Sure. But the question is what would a well paying job be. Well paying to me means the ability to buy a house where you live/work, the ability to save for retirement, the ability to build a nest egg that allows you to tolerate unexpected events in the future. That would be a rate of $150k+ in a high cost area, and NYC is likely even worse.

I think being well paid is anytime you spend less than you make and are saving money.
I think being Blessed is when you have all of the above and you and your family are in good health.
As far as being "Rich" if you eat once per day and have a roof over your head, you have more than 75% of the people in this world.

Like others have said, it depends on where you live.

Making $60k in St. Joseph is great. Making $60k in Overland Park may not be so good.

http://www.trulia.com/home_prices/

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_d...cost_in_the_US

average sale price over $300k. Still think you can buy a house on $50k?

average apt price for ONE bedroom 1600/month.

Thats 400/wk for a ONE bedroom. Thats $20k take home pay just to pay the rent in a one bedroom.

You asked what good pay was. Two income earners in Mass who are not legally married but live like they are, are popular here for financial and tax reasons.

I doubt there'd be much difference.

How the hell do you struggle if you're making a quarter mil a year? Unless you're making it rain every night, in no city do you NEED a quarter mil to live.
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Which just tells us that the average wage earning household in Mass can't afford to buy a house.

You don't. Either Gonzo or the driver was full of shit.

Not true. Latrell Sprewell could barely afford to feed his family out on the coast ;)

No, like I said in an earlier post, many people are living together but are claiming separate households for economic and tax porposes. Like someone else pointed out correctly, taxes can hammer an income badly here.

And to the point the question was what is considered "good pay"? Not what the average person makes. Good pay in Mass is a real collective household income over $100k.

See let me explain to you how the system works out here. There are two factors in play, first is a good fraction of people rent because they could never afford to buy. Additional if the apartment that you live in was built before 1979(most were), then that apartment is subject to a form of rent control. This form of rent control allows for a landlord to only raise rent a maximum percentage, based upon inflation, per year. For instance for 2011 the maximum rent increase was 0.1%. This rent control only applies when you have been living in a place. If an apartment is empty a landlord can set the price to market rates. So in effect you will have a large number of people that if they have lived in a location for say 10+ years, they will not be able to afford to move any place else because they could not afford the rent increase. You have people that may be paying a couple hundred dollars a month in rent in the same building as people who are paying 2-3K per month for a similar apartment. Rent control sounds nice because it prevents people from being evicted for being unable to pay market rates. BUT it also traps people in their current apartments and reduces available supply driving up the rates for what ever is left.

A similar issue happens in the housing market. In CA when you buy a place you are assessed property tax based upon the sales price + a maximum increase per year of 1-2% in assessed value. The intent is to prevent the little old lady from being forced to sell her house based upon being unable to pay the property taxes because the value of her property has appreciated too much. Again you will have people who are living in houses that are assessed at 100-200K that are actually worth 1million+. If they were to sell those houses they likely could not afford to buy a nearby house even with the proceeds because they could not afford the property taxes. Again you trap people(and families, because a house can be passed to a family member without triggering a reassessment) in their houses. Again all this does is remove potential housing inventory from the market and raises prices for what it left since supply is reduced.

Look these plans are great things if you already live their or already own property because you will pay below market rates for what you have. However if you are a recent transplant you are going to subsidize all of those old residents because you have to pay more for your housing because of artificially reduced supply. All of these policies really punish new residents which is part of the reason that housing/pricing is so high and yes if you are new you need every bit of that 'huge' income to be on an equal footing as someone who's been here 20+ years.

Whoa there. Are you familiar with St Joe or OP?
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not gonna matter when the world ends in a year and a half

I quit a job making 120k a year to risk it all and live on scraps. It looks like it just might be finally coming together too. That being said if I had to go back and work for somebody I would at least want the chance to make a 6 digit income.

Here in NW Oklahoma and a majority of OK regions. A married couple with no kids could get buy on $25-30K a year. A single person can get buy on 20-25K a year.

We only pay $400/month in rent for a 2 bedroom CH/A fenced yard, finished basement, garage in a nice neighborhood.

ROFL ROFL
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I would like an income of at least $63K, and I would consider that well-paying.

That's just freaking crazy man, my apartment in KC costs $780/mo + $90 for 2 spots in the garage.

Well while I agree there is no way he should be struggling, I wouldn't have been surprised to see that he was.

First big question is his 250K per year pre or post expenses? I know people who run cab companies and I believe that every cab is leased to the driver so if hat was pre expense, his take home pay could be alot less when you factor in lease costs, fuel costs etc.

Plus if he and his wife work two jobs do they have kids? If they do the child care costs could be extreme. Plus if they send their kids to private school instead of public(because the public schools blow), that would be another huge cost.

But the biggest reason I could see them struggling is if they did something dumb like too many people did. When the housing market was blowing up I knew too many people who felt like, hey I can be a real estate investor how can I lose money. If I buy these properties in the boonies and rent them out I can make crazy money. Well if they still own these properties and have had them foreclosed they could be paying quite a bit of money on worthless land.

So yes he shouldn't be struggling, but I can easily see how people would feel like they would be struggling. They are struggling because they choose to make their life so.

The sad thing is if you live in Manhattan that's a whole different set of insanity.

So in other words, you're saying "you don't need $250k to live in SF."

Do you consider the quality/cost of medical benefits a factor in being "well paid"?

Yes

Sure you can get by on a whole lot less. But if you're a recent transplant and you want to have the 'trappings of an america dream' here, you'd need 150k+ to be 'comfortable'. Remember the question wasn't what salary do you need to get buy, it was what was a 'good' salary. In major cities you'll find that a salary to be comfortable is a whole lot higher than that in low cost areas. Taxes and housing kill you.

Way, way above $75K

"Comfortable" is a very subjective term, which is the point of thread, I guess. My point, however, was that Gonzo was full of shit with the story about a guy HAVING to work 4 jobs to make $250,000/year just to survive. lulz

EDIT: Or maybe the Taxi driver was full of shit, either way, the point stands.

"Well paid" doesn't mean being able to buy a house in one of the most expensive markets in the world."

Point.
And auto insurance too. We recently had one return to the nest. Between her and her fiance they are making well over 40k, and they couldn't hack it in a small apartment in not the best neighborhood. Granted both were stupid enough to get a car loan. But when rent, food, utilities, car loans, health insurance (mandatory in Mass. We've already been Obamacized here)and car insurance (over 200/month each and both good drivers), they couldn't hack it.

if you're happy doing it.
you're paying your cost of living bills.
able to rat-hole a little back for emergencies.

you got a well paying job, imo.
sec

Why not? Well paid to most people means able to live comfortably. What does living comfortably mean to you? Owning your own home(note I don't necessarily say a house), able to afford vacations, investing in your future and providing and nest egg for emergencies. Basic trappings of what people would call the american dream. Why should it matter where you live? The metric is subjective but the cost to have similar basic things everywhere is going to vary widely based upon where you live.

Besides SF isn't even in the top 20 most expensive real estate markets in the world.

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08...g/source/1.htm

Holy shit, I pay annually what they pay in 4 months.

Auto insurance here is brutal to begin with. But 18-25 year olds get HAMMERED. Carrying full comprehensive costs them both over $2K a year. Good news is next year they turn 26 and it drops. Alot.

You can live very comfortably in most of the country for $75k. You can't live in all of them, though.

Judging by this poll, half of the people here think that 80% of Americans aren't well paid.

Of course, they are all banging supermodels, too.

I've never banged a supermodel. Unless you count Paris Hilton. But she's served more than McDonalds, so there's that.

Doesn't matter what you make. I think I make a lot of money, but i am extremely unhappy. I am self employed and the wife stays home, but I want somthing more.

Yeah...that same apartment here...I'm assuming (1-2 bedrooms) would be 300-400 all bills paid except cable and internet.

My last house was a 2 bedroom for $300. It wasn't as nice as my current house though.

You find a 2-3 bdrm house over 400-500 here in town it better be super nice.

First, Massachusetts is now below average for teh USA in terms of total tax burden. The concept of Taxachusetts is about 20 years out of date.

The rest of what you say is true for the 128 belt. Remember that Western Mass is rural so cost of living is MUCH cheaper.

But yeah, Eastern Mass, it's 100k plus to be "well paid" or whatever.

Just as a frame of reference, there are no cities in the US with a population of 10,000 or more that have ever had a median household income of $200,000+.

There is only one city in with a population of 3,500 or more that has ever had a median household income of $200,000+.

There are currently no cities in the US with populations of 3,000 or more that have a median household income of $200,000+.

Number of states with a Per Capita income of >$50,000: 1
Number of states with a Per Capita income of >$40,000: 13
Number of states with a Per Capita income of <$30,000: 2

Well, ok, we will talk taxes elsewhere.

As far as Western Mass being cheaper, that is 10 years out of date. New Yorkers have inflated housing costs in the Bershires to the same levels as the 128 belt. I live on a lake here, and the only neighbors I have are seasonal or retired New Yorkers from Lonk Eyeland or a couple of doctors from Boston. Also seasonal. These are year round homes, but my neighborhood is empty all winter except for the families that ski. No way the locals can afford a home here. I only did because I transplanted from Eastern Mass.

Further, food costs, etc are much HIGHER than eastern Mass. because this is considered a "resort area".

The average American earns about 26 gallons of gasoline per day, or about 20 gallons after taxes.

You will for about a year, then you will get used to it and it won't seem like it is that much.

Yep. When you make $63K, you're sure that you'd have it all if you could just make $80K.

Location, location, location.

There are places where you could live pretty damn good on 50K. Hell, you could go to Costa Rica and live like a freaking king on 50K. But move to San Francisco and you better be prepared to struggle on those wages.

Where I live, I'd say 75K+ would qualify as upper middle. Maybe 125K as joint income.

I will say that when I graduated from college 10 years ago, I made $32K. I had a paid-for car, no debt, and I split an $800/mo apartment with a roommate. I felt like I was a f***ing millionaire.

It cracks me up that half the people here act like they would look at a job that pays $70,000 and think "that job doesn't pay well."

I'm guessing that, in reality, 80% of the people on here would crawl on their hands and knees for a job paying $70,000. I can pretty much guarantee that a strong majority of the people on here would be getting a nice raise if their pay changed to $54,000 tomorrow yet fewer than one in six have categorized that as a job that pays well.

I think that has a lot to do with the interpretation of the question. Myself, I'm not sure how to interpret it so I didn't fill in the poll. It's safe to say though, that a job paying 50K annually is a job that pays more than what most Americans earn.

For me, up to $55k would be paying well. Whatever allows me to pay my bills and live the way I would like.

I just did a few K less than what I think my dad makes, which would be fine for me, because my parents lifestyle, income-wise, is what I would be comfortable with.

Is that per wage earner or per capita?

26 gallons * $3.50 per gal = $91 per day

$91 per day / 8 hrs worked per day = $11.375 per hr

52 wks per year * 40 hrs worked per wk = 2,080 hrs worked per year

2,080 hrs worked * $11.375 =

$23,660 a year, seems a little low to me?

I'd say that's the average around here.

That's per calendar day, not per work day.

National average for gas is $3.70. $3.70 x 26 x 365 = $35,113

This isn't even close to accurate.

Your earnings aren't taxed at your highest marginal bracket from dollar one. If you earn $150,000 and don't claim any deductions, your total Federal burden is 20.16% or $30,244 (assuming married, filing jointly). You would be left with $120,000 not counting state and local taxes. Even after factoring in state and local, you are still left with over $100,000. Again, that is without taking ANY deductions.

This thread has put some things in perspective for me...

and i am seriously considering moving somewhere where my money can go farther... i think its possible i'll enjoy my job more....

open to suggestions for places - lets keep it in the Continental US

That's what I was getting paid as an E-7 back in 1999.

Luckily, I'm doing a tad better than that now.

Considering CoL here in Maryland, a damn good thing too.

The other side of the state line? :shrug:

I guess it depends on the industry, but I know my paycheck would go down at least as much as the cost of living would if I moved to a smaller city.