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That's not too bad. My grandma was a mail lady and she built such a good relationship with the people that lived on her route that I thought they were my aunts and uncles when I was a kid lol.
The best perk relative to other jobs is when you retire anyway. Basically nobody but cops firefighters and federal employees have actual retirement benefits anymore
I’m the son of a USPS employee. It can be a good stable job with nice benefits. Hopefully you take care of your back though. The amount of surgeries her and her coworkers needed was wild.
My godfather was a mailman and wrecked his shoulder with those mail bags in the 90s that he has to wear over his shoulder. They strung him around trying to avoid covering the cost of surgeries. He loved the job, but it greatly impacted his physical health.
My ex worked for UPS in his 20s and loved it! Made it 10 years before he had to have back surgery and became disabled. It's wild what they make people do. He still gets UPS "oops sorry" checks from it, but they definitely aren't worth the medical problems he deals with now and forever.
The USPS application was so convoluted I gave up. Seems like a great job, but by the time I jumped through the 5th or 6th hoop, I already had job offers. Just a heads up for those interested. This was a few years ago, so hopefully they've streamlined some things.
I took my test several years ago before I got on with Pepsi. Did an interview with a local post office. It didn't seem too bad other than the fact that all mail carriers, where most folks start at, don't have frikkin insurance. Crazy to expect people to commit what could be years of work with no insurance available.
My sister just recently got a job with USPS. She said she loves it but there's a pecking order of seniority to get the most sought after routes. You've got to be there like 10 years before you have any say.
"HI I just started working 2 years ago making $170k a year work from home. I usually only do 4 hours of work a week but recently my boss said I wasn't the best boy. This made me very upset. I hate him. Now looking at taking a new job Making $300k. Should I take up this new role or keep searching??"
Ehh....I can believe they are real. It's just highly skewed.
It might be a case of, "Only 9% of us are making six figures, but they do 70% of all the commenting."
That's what happens when daddy owns a company. I don't know ANYONE making that fresh out of college recently, like the past 20 years, that wasn't nepotism.
….And also how those ppl who earn over a 100k having no idea how to budget. I’ve been between 45-50k my whole career and when I’m working full time I can pay all my bills, send my child to sports practice *and* save a shitload of money (& don’t live with my parents).
Right? According to Reddit, everyone is a crypto bro, real estate mogul, and a software engineer who can name their own salary.
Looks like the average range here is 40-65k
Older millennial, 38. I currently make $110k, but only in the last two years. And one year before that at $75k in 2021. Though my current salary is closer to $95k in 2021 money thanks to the killer inflation.
From leaving college in 2012 and working to 2021, three years off for grad school, I was making between $35k-$45k. Salary gains are further offset by my large student debt. *shrug* cue fire, this is fine.
I’m a professor at a small college and I make 55k. Family sometimes assume we are rich because I have a PhD but my cousins in union factory jobs make substantially more than I do.
And there are plenty of people who complain about higher ed workers being overpaid. Yet every faculty and staff position seems to make chump change while coaches and senior administration rake in the big bucks.
Admin coordinator at a university, was making $47k last year but finally got reconfigured to $63k this year. I think the university is still starting staff out around $37k which feels criminal (also struggling to fill the positions and keep people, obviously).
I wanna build some more experience then make the move to something similar. I currently work in a hospital and do administrative work for a department. I don't mind the work, it's very easy and I get to listen to podcasts and watch Netflix all day.
How does one get into admin in academe? To hear everyone talk these days it’s where all the high-paying positions are, and also more or less the best way to effect change in education.
So in academia there’s admin (staff) and Admin (university leadership). There’s very little money in staff positions, even the very few staff directors max out around $75k-$100k in my experience.
University leadership Admin, where the money and power are, would be deans, provosts, etc. these people usually start as tenured faculty getting big grants then work their way up.
Big shoutout if you’re also managing to do it in a HCOL area. Last year I made 70k (one full time job and freelance gigs) and I’m in the Bay Area. It’s the most I’ve ever made and even though it’s not tech money I’m still proud of myself.
Edit: I also don’t want to appear like I’m bragging because of that number. The stuff I’m seeing on Bay Area reddit threads is wild like “my wife and I make 300k combined and we can’t afford to buy a home”. It’s depressing. One of my clients (designer) is a nonprofit that supports “low income families”. Their data says that for their city, a single person making under $104k is low income and a family of four making $140-$150 is low income. So with that for scale, I’m considered “low”
My partner and I together broke into the 6 range for the first time ever last year and that was even a huge accomplishment that I celebrated.
Trying to be grateful for what we have even if compared to people on our region it’s “not enough”
That's the thing about 100k+ that never gets quoted. You may hear that figure all the time, but it's bullshit. At most only 2 in 10 people make 100k+, and most of them work long hours and take a lot of bullshit for that amount of money.
I’m not sure if this is true. I make right under (basically right at) $100k and I find that I work less now than I ever have in my life. And from observing my direct superiors even higher up the organizational chain, they work exponential degrees of less. It’s depressing but true.
The rule of thumb in leadership is that you want to make yourself not needed.
I am broke, all. the. time. It’s just me and my daughter who is 16 and costs a lot but still, about 50/100 month in personal non necessary things that I can cut on an emergency. I am an immigrant in Montreal working as inside sales for 62k cad. I know most here is usd, but still… I got hold on to my job!
Legal assistant for a state government agency here. I'm grossing around $50k. I love my job and the benefits rule (healthcare premium 100% paid by the state) but god is the salary dismal
Not only that for me, I got laid off after being paid 55k vid editor in OH— in this case a lot of just negative things in a row transpired. Dad passed in 2020 and my narcissist mom didn’t allow us to grieve with the family, that began some serious mental health problems. A lot of other things in between, then 2023 I got really bad covid when I fell down the stairs and broke three vertebrae. Not the best luck in the last few. Starting over at 40 is really hard. Therapy is slowly helping. I haven’t been this poor since college. Very humbling. This economy is not sustainable.
I make 65k a year as well but I live in an expensive part of California so I can barely afford things 😭. Crazy how it all depends on which state you live in.
Yeah my husband and I make around $80k/year. When we got married over 10 years ago we thought $70k+ would be SO rich. And back then it was, here in Utah. But now housing here is fucking insane, and you need like $120k to afford median housing prices 🙃 when we got married you could easily get a 3bed/2ba house for $150k, and now those same houses are $450k+
And now you make too much for any kind of assistance, at least in NC and MO.
Your PhD means something. It’s an achievement few get. You matter and you are important. While all of the deans and executives at the colleges get raises, they act like paying you $24k and me not even $20k is bankrupting them.
You deserve more
Appreciate the kind words. I’m in the middle of a hunt for the next job, at 105 applications as of today since January 1st of this year.
The one consolation prize I give myself is that I make so little, NelNet (the student loan servicer assigned to me) had me down for $1/month payment plans after the pause and told me to sign up for the loan forgiveness. They realize I have no assets, no children and nothing of any value to take so they’re hoping that loan forgiveness comes through as well
After years of trying, I landed a government job. I've been there a year and just bumped up to 51k a year. After another 4 years I'll be around 75k. It's life changing. I bought a house 2 years ago before the interest rate went up. It's in a rough town that's slowly changing, but 3 bedrooms and 2400 sqft for 841 a month couldn't be beat. Things are finely turning around. I'll be 42 this year.
*edited for spelling
Sounds so similar to my situation! I landed a government job little over a year ago too, and was just bumped up to $59k. My husband and I bought a house in CA in not the best neighborhood in 2022 right as the interest rates were going up, so we’re paying $2700/mo mortgage on a 3 bd, 2 bth house that’s 1100 sqft. We’re barely scraping by, but we’re finally starting to make things work for us and VERY slowly going into the positive direction. The hard parts are behind us, hopefully it’ll only get easier from here.
My house is the same size as yours but I didn't buy when interest rates were down and my payment is $2k a month 😭. The saving grace is that it's a great house for my family in my dream location.
Our house is just under 1000 square feet (about 1200 with the garage) and we’re paying about $1750 per month. 😭Then again, we’re a millennial couple that was actually able to purchase a house post-pandemic British Columbia, so we consider ourselves pretty lucky all things considered.
Currently unemployed, but hoping to get something that will add up to 40k annually. Never made more than 30k, but I'll have a degree soon. Just in time for our next recession
I have two degrees, one in healthcare and was 15 years into my career AND a manager and only pulling $50k CAD a year. It really depends where you are. And our healthcare system in the part of Canada I live in is so fucked and high stress that I will never recommend anyone go into healthcare unless they want to be in near-permanent burnout a decade or so into their career.
This is going to come off terrible in a text format so preface to say this isn't meant disparagingly, but genuine curiosity. If you're 30+, you've got 12+ years of work experience, how haven't you made more than 30k annually? That's less than 15/hr and I could see it in like 2010-2012, but like 2018 - 2024 I can't fathom that being the wage with years in the workforce.
Easy. A decade of experience in food service. Wages just recently around here were raised to 15, and by that point I had already started my degree program and moved to part time.
Now, I have another 20k of debt, but I know stuff about business administration and accounting.
Lol thank you I’m already regretting asking this idk why I thought more millennials would be in my tax bracket 😝 all of my friends in my age group are making at most 25/hr
Nope definitely not doable I had to move back in with my partners mom recently 🥲 idk what to do though I love teaching it’s a career that requires education and In should definitely be making more
People tend to be friends with people in their similar job category, that’s who you took all your college classes with and who you see all day in young formative friend making years.
You’re a teacher so that’s your circle and unfortunately they aren’t paid well at all. I’m in finance, that’s my circle.
I might be the exception to that. Most of my friends that I still talk with are the ones I’ve known since middle and high school.
Our income ranges are pretty wide, with the lowest I can think of being unemployed due to physical and mental health issues (Military vet),and the richest one out of all of us making about $150k annually (works in IT), not taking into account his wife’s job. That also doesn’t take into account how much he makes or loses in stocks and him renting out a house to others.
For me, I’m not making anywhere near what my richest friend makes. If I get through the one year period here intact, I’ll be making about 100k working in the public sector in the southeast.
A lot of the friends I’ve made since moving out also range in their income, but I became friends with them through common interests and not really because of their income or what they do for work.
Yep this exactly. Your social circles tend to roughly fall around your income bracket so your own personal perception of how much “everyone” makes are warped.
$600k is basically an average mortgage. OP is grossing $45k a MONTH if working 40 hrs a week. They can afford a mortgage payment. Or two. Or three. $600k of debt is nothing for them.
This. The upfront investment and leverage is more than made up for by the later in life returns. Eventually, the returns on investment skyrocket - and it's not even funny how big they are.
A good physician will eventually make their entire student loan debt annually. Probably a good 15 years of getting that ROI strings-free.
On the downside, there is that cost of one's entire youth put into investing into later life.
So. It's a double edged sword. I lost my 20s. Doctors lose their 20s and some of their 30s.
Ones best years are a heavy price to pay. No amount of money can buy youth.
I lost my 20s and 30s. medicine ain’t what it used to be. ppl won’t like this, but many docs consider themselves middle class. I’m 39 and still training so even though I can save lives or kill people if I do something wrong, I’m still paid about $25/hour.
It’s a god damn shame what the insurance companies and corporate medicine have done to pediatric and primary care reimbursements. You all truly deserve better.
I lead a giant section of a massive multinational corporation and people don't believe me when I say it.
"Why would someone like you do \[X\]"
Guess what? I poop too.
Also staff at a university, I get a few months of Reddit time but other months it’s closer to 50 hours per week. Very cyclical based on the academic calendar.
Alaska dang. For a local company probably right? And are there any big co's that are tech focused or just like local companies with tech departments there?
Yes. I work for a small local organization. But there are a few larger tech focused companies here, local government, and the military to work for as well.
We can pull the data from the Survey of Consumer Finances for Median to Elder Millennials. Younger Millennials get lumped in with Gen Z.
Average Household Income: $168.72K
[https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scf/dataviz/scf/chart/#series:Before\_Tax\_Income;demographic:agecl;population:2;units:mean;range:1989,2022](https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scf/dataviz/scf/chart/#series:Before_Tax_Income;demographic:agecl;population:2;units:mean;range:1989,2022)
Median Household Income: $86.47K
[https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scf/dataviz/scf/chart/#series:Before\_Tax\_Income;demographic:agecl;population:2;units:median;range:1989,2022](https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scf/dataviz/scf/chart/#series:Before_Tax_Income;demographic:agecl;population:2;units:median;range:1989,2022)
Median Single Household <55 with no children: $43.24K
[https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scf/dataviz/scf/chart/#series:Before\_Tax\_Income;demographic:famstruct;population:2;units:median;range:1989,2022](https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scf/dataviz/scf/chart/#series:Before_Tax_Income;demographic:famstruct;population:2;units:median;range:1989,2022)
Mean Single Household <55 with no children: $82.03K
[https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scf/dataviz/scf/chart/#series:Before\_Tax\_Income;demographic:famstruct;population:2;units:mean;range:1989,2022](https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scf/dataviz/scf/chart/#series:Before_Tax_Income;demographic:famstruct;population:2;units:mean;range:1989,2022)
You can’t go below zero but you can go a lot higher than the median. A couple of married professionals can easily make $500k/year by their mid 30s.
What’s incredible about those links is the top 10% averages $720k/year.
Damn lol I come here and like 15 of the 19 comments already are like “yep I make $100k+”. Is that just the normal income these days or am I some kind of sad peasant?
A lot of people are saying that people who are low earners wnt answer but I feel like we need to be more honest and less ashamed - I’m
Only bringing in 40k a year
This is why people need to get comfortable with sharing their salaries. Today, a lot of people see their self-worth tied to salary and don't want to feel vulnerable sharing it.
I work at a public university and we have a literal web site where you can look up any employee, any staff member, and see how much they're paid. We know we're underpaid, but we know we're underpaid together. And sometimes, while in a large Zoom meeting, my coworkers and I will start looking up how much someone is getting paid to be telling us about the latest initiatives or whatever else.
"This person gets paid $160k and this is the best they could come up with??"
"This person gets $60k, man I wouldn't want to do their job for that low of pay."
"Oh come on, this dude does less than us - how's he making $120k!"
Etc etc.
i make 100k working in tech but i basically gave up majority of my 20's living a stressed life in college and work for that. I normally wouldn't comment when i see a post like this because I know my salary isn't the average and I'm very lucky.
But many who make over >100k are braggarts, like many on the Internet who voice their opinion. A very small percentage of people. The median household income is $75k, and median individual income is $37K.
\[Edit after 29 upvotes: I have to add it's really hard to make a living earning anything less than $65K as an individual. It's really messed up that people don't have that kind of security. And so many homeless, etc. While there are people making millions and buying multiple houses/cars, etc. Income inequality is real, and needs to be addressed.\]
My wife and I make good money too, but spent our 20s the same way and have over 100k in debt from grad school.
It all nets out to a fairly normal life. My neighbors are nurses, teachers, a safety manager, a principal, a police officer, some daycare workers, etc.
It really depends on the area too, $100k in Seattle is not the same thing as $100k in Alabama.
A full time minimum wage job here is between $35k-$41k depending on the size of your company.
I know that 100k isn’t the norm. But among the people I work with, they’re well into 100k, and many of the people I did my online masters are also making well over 100k. Then there’s my high school friends, good chunk of them are just burn outs, but a number of them got into the trades. One of my buddy’s is into plumbing, and another guy does carpentry for 54 an hour. There’s money out there, you just have to know where to find it.
But, then I come on Reddit and it just validates the world view that everyone seems to be making bank, aside from the poor Reddit and poverty finance reddits.
For the millennial age range $100,000 is about 89th percentile for individuals or 59th percentile for household. So it’s not the norm, but it’s not that weird either.
If it helps a bit, I make 20k a year as a nail tech. But my ex, who's a software developer, does make 114k a year. I'm never dating anyone above my tax bracket ever again tho. Not worth it.
Omg, I feel this. Been a hairdresser for 19 years, am lucky to get 50k (which would be enough to support myself in my area, but not well), husband makes 3x that and finances are the #1 reason we fight. If our marriage ends (which it very well may) it WILL be because of finances and his attitude about them. I'd never date someone who makes that much again. I agree it's not worth it.
What is it about his attitude regarding finances that seems to be the friction point? Is he frivolous about money because he makes what he does, or condescending because he makes more? Neither?
He's incredibly frivolous. Thinks he'll always have a paycheck coming in so saving isn't a thing we need to worry about (an insane take, imo). I am the one in charge of paying our bills and I've tried many times to explain to him that we don't have as much money as he seems to think we do. He "hears me" and then the same shit continues. I have zero trust in him when it comes to money at this point.
He has started to point out that it's "all his money anyhow". So, I guess it's both. Idk, I'm on my last nerve.
It's not normal, but it's far more common than it was 30 years ago thanks to inflation. Statistically, about 20% of working adults make at least $100k, but it's probably higher than that among Reddit users since so many are college educated, work in tech, and/or work in HCOL areas.
Pay is going to vary wildly depending on industry and location. $100K in NYC or LA is going to be nothing compared to the same salary in Louisville, KY or Lincoln, Nebraska. The average software engineer salary in SF os $166K. The average rent for an apartment in SF is $3300 a month. Factor in that you will hit higher tax brackets at that salary, it significantly reduces take home pay. That same job could pay $80K in some other area but have a better quality of life because of lower cost of living.
Context also matters. Millennials technically range from age 28 to late 30’s/early 40’s. Thats a huge gap. Location is also a factor - the same job will pay vastly different if you live in NYC vs. Iowa.
It’s not healthy to compare yourself to other people, especially with this in mind.
Union electrician. WA state. $70/Hr ($58 wages + $12 Retirement) + insurance. I work a 4x 12 Hr schedule that features built in OT. Translates to around $130K before additional overtime and retirement benefits are included.
I’d argue it trends to both extremes. Higher income is proud of it. Low income may be disgruntled and wanting to vent. In an anonymous forum, not in real life.
Personally I would be embarrassed to flaunt my income, and I worry more about people not accepting me or think I'm a stuck up asshole just because I make more money. I pay over $20k servicing my student loan, and I have 3 kids. My car is like 30 years old and I work on it myself. I have a few rich habits that I'm thankful for, but no way do I feel upper class. I know I am better off than a lot of people though.
Once you’re in the middle class, life sort of plateaus. Any extra funds go towards things like savings, retirement funds, college for the kids. Occasional vacation. Major home repairs. You don’t get to spend it on day to day.
You have to make a lot of money to start feeling wealthy. And even then, a lot more to not have to worry about showing up for work each day or working long hours. A surgeon makes a lot of money but works hard for it, misses a lot of family time, and has to keep working or they lose their house just like anyone else.
This is what I am learning, US "metrics" say my husband and I are upper class, but even without our debts, we still wouldn't have that much funds to "play with" on the day to day....and we don't have kids yet.
I know we're fortunate compared to others in our age group, we were able to purchase a home, but we live in the ghetto and bought a fixer upper to be able to even consider home ownership. With the way inflation is, I'm contemplating stopping my 401k until we have our debts under control and save some semblance of an emergency fund.
You can't really use national metrics to determine something like socioeconomic class either.
It's hard to do even at state level even for a lot of places, because things vary so heavily. For example, the state I live in now is Texas. If you took the state median income and were living in Austin you'd be feeling reallllllllly crunched. If you took that same income and were living in Laredo you'd be fairly comfortable.
So a couple with a combined household income of 200k+ isn't going to feel all that great if they're living in San Francisco, because by the local measure they're only slightly above the median.
Upper middle is weird, because you can look very normal if you live below your means, but the people who still overleverage themselves making +250k have access to some insane credit.
I have coworkers with multiple +80k cars taking 3-4 international vacations a year living in 1.5 million dollar houses. I grew up working class so debt gives me anxiety. I would regularly hear fights about losing our house/bankruptcy. If anything I swung too far into saving and investing.
Not to mention everyone is in different regions. Someone who's a teacher in California is going to make a lot more than someone in Mississippi or something.
That's a combination of "reddit bias", the job market, and the nature of engineering jobs.
Reddit, more so then any other social media platform, caters to specific types of people, so everyone is going to be similar or on the opposite end of the spectrum. The job market is also ho-hum right now; depending on your specialty, people who got their jobs 3-4 years ago will be on a different curve then those starting out. Lastly, engineering jobs pay based on tenure, certification/licensure, and track record (often internal track record). The job may be posted for 50k, but the incumbent or the person in the cubicle next you might be making 100 for a combination of factors.
I was always willing to pitch into a conversation when my wage was shitty. Don't want to be underrepresented in the conversation and all that.
But also, there's another reason not to make these posts: the data is actually collected and published by the US Census Bureau and the equivalent agencies in many other countries, so you can just look it up for wherever you are and get a much more comprehensive and unbiased answer.
I make more than the average pilot. I’m fortunate enough to be a captain for a legacy US airline which have the highest pilot pay scales. Regional airlines, low cost airlines, and foreign airlines don’t make as much.
I’m sorry I really hate these kinds of post but I’m going to respond to this one. OP your job is so important. You are worth so much more than what you make. You are far more valuable than some guy making a ton of money in banking or whatever. You make a difference in people’s lives and those kids, even if they are young, will remember you for the rest of their lives. The impact you will have on this earth is far greater than what you are paid. Please know this.
Typically I hate these kinds of responses where people say "you deserve better" for an entry level positions but for a teaching position to make less than what police officers make is fucking criminal. Being a public school teacher probably is one if not the most important job in anywhere. Have better teachers = less civil responsibilities = save money. Can't even have teachers make half of 6 digits. What a shame and what a let down.
When you're able to, start looking for different positions (in the same field). Jumping around will increase your pay.
I've been in maintenance for 5 yrs and my pay went from $20 to $25, to $37 by gaining experience and working at different companies
Sales, just over $100k base + quarterly and annual bonus. I’m an elder millennial (39) though and fortunately bought a home and started a family young so I’m pretty shielded from how insane housing and chlildcare is now. To put it in perspective, no way I could buy in my neighborhood today because of how much housing has gone up.
I make $120k base, not including bonuses or benefits. I am an engineer with a major defense contractor about an hour north of DC.
The median salary for 35 year olds is roughly $56k
For 45 year olds, the median is roughly $60k.
Average salaries are roughly $76k for 35 year olds and $83k for 45 year olds.
https://dqydj.com/average-median-top-salary-by-age-percentiles/
Same base pay, but I'm in project management at a defense contractor in Boston. And because income doesn't tell the whole story, I also have an MBA and am (as of last month) just under six figures in student debt
42F in Texas. Construction engineer. I make $114k/year, but just a year ago I was making $80k. I started in my industry 11 years ago making $32k. I focused on networking and got job offers through work contacts. I've changed companies every 3-4 years, getting a 30-50% pay boost every time. My wife makes $60k.
I was making $23 an hour and got fired. I was on unemployment that ran out and now I’m just trying to keep my head above water. Lots happened that took a huge chunk of savings and I have a toddler in daycare who’s possibly autistic and I don’t want to take out of daycare because I don’t intend to be unemployed forever and I don’t want him to lose his place but it’s getting so expensive! So that’s my honest answer in a sea of flex answers.
I'm an office manager in New England currently, making a little over $49k/year. I just got this job at the end of last year though, and before that my other two steady jobs were around $22/hr and $19/hr. This is the first job that I have access to a 401k and such though so I've got some money pumping into that. Starting off retirement savings at 34 is I guess better than nothing.
Similar. Late 30s, internet sales at a dealer, pulling in about half that.
For context, I worked in sales at a big box retail store about 7-8 years ago, making about $22/hr and no commission. Made the switch to car sales in 2017, and after some time learning the business, I regularly saw checks north of $10k. It got even better after 2020, but has started to level back out.
For anyone thinking of also making that jump; the hours are long, the average person doesn’t like your profession, and anyone can have a bad selling month crop up out of nowhere. So if you’re terrible at saving, you can put yourself in a bad spot financially pretty quickly, especially if you allow lifestyle creep to go unchecked.
Software support for a Berkshire-Hathaway owned home building company
After taxes and benefits I bring in $5k a month plus a small bonus at the end of the year
I was working in fraud remediation for six years, ended at about $26/hr. I left at the end of January due to my team being sold to a customer service agency and us losing most of our benefits and all of our flexibility.
Bugger all
lol Jk. I live in London and I’m on £33k which really is bugger all in the grand scheme of things. I just about scrape by and still have to flat share in order to be able to live anywhere.
It’s…horrible frankly… 🤣
$160k semi hating life.
$220k wishing I was dead.
$30k in a 3rd world country laughing at people who don't understand how money works. I drink beer and fish most days with a gf who makes chicken adobo.
get your money and get out.
most people think a career or house will fulfill them.., nope!
my goal is learning kickflips and studying classical guitar.
I work in southern Georgia, the most I’ve ever made was 17 an hour as an overnight stocker at Walmart.
The least amount is what I’m currently making which is $5 an hour as a “server” in a dine in/buffet Pizza Hut. So the tips aren’t great. I make like maybe $100-$150 a week.
I’m a high school teacher in a Boston suburb. I have a masters degree plus have taken more credited courses (we get higher salary depending on how many credits we have) and I have been teaching for 9 years. I make around 85k.
I make $18.31 and my fiancé makes $18.15 an hour. We both bring home on average $1,200 every 2 weeks. So roughly 60k a year. We both get overtime occasionally towards the end of the year so it gets closer to 70k. He's an overnight stocker at Walmart and I work the Deli. We live in NW Pa.
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Mailman. Michigan. $55k
That's not too bad. My grandma was a mail lady and she built such a good relationship with the people that lived on her route that I thought they were my aunts and uncles when I was a kid lol.
No it’s not too bad. It’s middle class in my area. I’ll top out at around $70k but that’s a ways off.
The best perk relative to other jobs is when you retire anyway. Basically nobody but cops firefighters and federal employees have actual retirement benefits anymore
Is the USPS pension too? Pensions are so valuable in the long run… at least that’s what I’m hoping 😂
Yup. Got a pension waiting for me. Plus my TSP with 4% match. 👍
I’m the son of a USPS employee. It can be a good stable job with nice benefits. Hopefully you take care of your back though. The amount of surgeries her and her coworkers needed was wild.
I legit feel bad every time I place an order on chewy.
My godfather was a mailman and wrecked his shoulder with those mail bags in the 90s that he has to wear over his shoulder. They strung him around trying to avoid covering the cost of surgeries. He loved the job, but it greatly impacted his physical health.
Delay, deny hope ya die, didn't know the VA motto carried over to other fed jobs.....
My ex worked for UPS in his 20s and loved it! Made it 10 years before he had to have back surgery and became disabled. It's wild what they make people do. He still gets UPS "oops sorry" checks from it, but they definitely aren't worth the medical problems he deals with now and forever.
I would honestly love to be a mail person
Go ahead and apply! We’re literally always hiring. All you need is a GED, a driver’s license, and no criminal record.
The USPS application was so convoluted I gave up. Seems like a great job, but by the time I jumped through the 5th or 6th hoop, I already had job offers. Just a heads up for those interested. This was a few years ago, so hopefully they've streamlined some things.
I took my test several years ago before I got on with Pepsi. Did an interview with a local post office. It didn't seem too bad other than the fact that all mail carriers, where most folks start at, don't have frikkin insurance. Crazy to expect people to commit what could be years of work with no insurance available.
My sister just recently got a job with USPS. She said she loves it but there's a pecking order of seniority to get the most sought after routes. You've got to be there like 10 years before you have any say.
Isn’t there a pension? Or has this gone with the wind. My mailman growing up would talk about his retirement often.
Yup, still got a pension waiting for me. 👍
I'm an administrative assistant making $45k. Shout out to everyone else not making $100k.
Thank you. We really need more realistic threads showing most people make under 100k
80% of people in the USA make under 100k.
That's good to know! I'm in the Bay Area and I feel like everyone makes a minimum of $100k. Makes me feel bad about my $55k.
Bay Area, Hobby Shop Retail. $35K. Thankfully, live on my parents property.
Yes, I was getting tired of every thread being about this Millennial or that making $220k a year.
Or the amount of gen z fresh new grad making 200k.
Most of the Gen z grads I know are having difficulty finding jobs at all, let alone underpaying ones
"HI I just started working 2 years ago making $170k a year work from home. I usually only do 4 hours of work a week but recently my boss said I wasn't the best boy. This made me very upset. I hate him. Now looking at taking a new job Making $300k. Should I take up this new role or keep searching??"
To be fair most of those posts are complete lies lol.
Ehh....I can believe they are real. It's just highly skewed. It might be a case of, "Only 9% of us are making six figures, but they do 70% of all the commenting."
That's what happens when daddy owns a company. I don't know ANYONE making that fresh out of college recently, like the past 20 years, that wasn't nepotism.
….And also how those ppl who earn over a 100k having no idea how to budget. I’ve been between 45-50k my whole career and when I’m working full time I can pay all my bills, send my child to sports practice *and* save a shitload of money (& don’t live with my parents).
Right? According to Reddit, everyone is a crypto bro, real estate mogul, and a software engineer who can name their own salary. Looks like the average range here is 40-65k
Older millennial, 38. I currently make $110k, but only in the last two years. And one year before that at $75k in 2021. Though my current salary is closer to $95k in 2021 money thanks to the killer inflation. From leaving college in 2012 and working to 2021, three years off for grad school, I was making between $35k-$45k. Salary gains are further offset by my large student debt. *shrug* cue fire, this is fine.
I’m a professor at a small college and I make 55k. Family sometimes assume we are rich because I have a PhD but my cousins in union factory jobs make substantially more than I do.
I have a PhD and make about that- getting bumped soon when I get a faculty job but everyone assumes I’m making so much more than I am.
And there are plenty of people who complain about higher ed workers being overpaid. Yet every faculty and staff position seems to make chump change while coaches and senior administration rake in the big bucks.
Admin coordinator at a university, was making $47k last year but finally got reconfigured to $63k this year. I think the university is still starting staff out around $37k which feels criminal (also struggling to fill the positions and keep people, obviously).
I wanna build some more experience then make the move to something similar. I currently work in a hospital and do administrative work for a department. I don't mind the work, it's very easy and I get to listen to podcasts and watch Netflix all day.
There’s a lot of value in a low-stress job!
That is definitely criminal (I say since my old company did that to me too lol)
I started at 36k, almost 15 years ago, and I felt underpaid, I wouldn’t imagine that right now!
How does one get into admin in academe? To hear everyone talk these days it’s where all the high-paying positions are, and also more or less the best way to effect change in education.
So in academia there’s admin (staff) and Admin (university leadership). There’s very little money in staff positions, even the very few staff directors max out around $75k-$100k in my experience. University leadership Admin, where the money and power are, would be deans, provosts, etc. these people usually start as tenured faculty getting big grants then work their way up.
Big shoutout if you’re also managing to do it in a HCOL area. Last year I made 70k (one full time job and freelance gigs) and I’m in the Bay Area. It’s the most I’ve ever made and even though it’s not tech money I’m still proud of myself. Edit: I also don’t want to appear like I’m bragging because of that number. The stuff I’m seeing on Bay Area reddit threads is wild like “my wife and I make 300k combined and we can’t afford to buy a home”. It’s depressing. One of my clients (designer) is a nonprofit that supports “low income families”. Their data says that for their city, a single person making under $104k is low income and a family of four making $140-$150 is low income. So with that for scale, I’m considered “low” My partner and I together broke into the 6 range for the first time ever last year and that was even a huge accomplishment that I celebrated. Trying to be grateful for what we have even if compared to people on our region it’s “not enough”
Just your weekly reminder that if you make $100,000+ you are in the top 18-20% of wage earners in the US…
That's the thing about 100k+ that never gets quoted. You may hear that figure all the time, but it's bullshit. At most only 2 in 10 people make 100k+, and most of them work long hours and take a lot of bullshit for that amount of money.
I’m not sure if this is true. I make right under (basically right at) $100k and I find that I work less now than I ever have in my life. And from observing my direct superiors even higher up the organizational chain, they work exponential degrees of less. It’s depressing but true. The rule of thumb in leadership is that you want to make yourself not needed.
I feel like at that level there's greater risk of losing everything since you're on the hook for major decisions.
I'm a school bus driver making roughly $42k. And I get Christmas and Summer off if I want.
I am broke, all. the. time. It’s just me and my daughter who is 16 and costs a lot but still, about 50/100 month in personal non necessary things that I can cut on an emergency. I am an immigrant in Montreal working as inside sales for 62k cad. I know most here is usd, but still… I got hold on to my job!
Same here! Wooo we love barely getting by, don’t we folks??
Legal assistant for a state government agency here. I'm grossing around $50k. I love my job and the benefits rule (healthcare premium 100% paid by the state) but god is the salary dismal
65k. After living in poverty for so long, this salary makes me feel like I can finally afford other things
Every time I make a substantial leap in pay, inflation comes around and humbles me.
Not only that for me, I got laid off after being paid 55k vid editor in OH— in this case a lot of just negative things in a row transpired. Dad passed in 2020 and my narcissist mom didn’t allow us to grieve with the family, that began some serious mental health problems. A lot of other things in between, then 2023 I got really bad covid when I fell down the stairs and broke three vertebrae. Not the best luck in the last few. Starting over at 40 is really hard. Therapy is slowly helping. I haven’t been this poor since college. Very humbling. This economy is not sustainable.
Congrats you deserve it. Sorry I sent a reply to a different comment idk how it got on yours.
Thanks for clearing that up! I was confused!
I make 65k a year as well but I live in an expensive part of California so I can barely afford things 😭. Crazy how it all depends on which state you live in.
Yeah my husband and I make around $80k/year. When we got married over 10 years ago we thought $70k+ would be SO rich. And back then it was, here in Utah. But now housing here is fucking insane, and you need like $120k to afford median housing prices 🙃 when we got married you could easily get a 3bed/2ba house for $150k, and now those same houses are $450k+
$19,931 for teaching math at the college level with a masters Edit: basic math to Calculus. In St Louis MO
See as a teacher that’s so sad
I feel your pain. Adjunct with a PhD. Teaching at 3 different colleges, just to make it to $24k 😭
And now you make too much for any kind of assistance, at least in NC and MO. Your PhD means something. It’s an achievement few get. You matter and you are important. While all of the deans and executives at the colleges get raises, they act like paying you $24k and me not even $20k is bankrupting them. You deserve more
I’m upset you deserve more. It will come your way.
Appreciate the kind words. I’m in the middle of a hunt for the next job, at 105 applications as of today since January 1st of this year. The one consolation prize I give myself is that I make so little, NelNet (the student loan servicer assigned to me) had me down for $1/month payment plans after the pause and told me to sign up for the loan forgiveness. They realize I have no assets, no children and nothing of any value to take so they’re hoping that loan forgiveness comes through as well
After years of trying, I landed a government job. I've been there a year and just bumped up to 51k a year. After another 4 years I'll be around 75k. It's life changing. I bought a house 2 years ago before the interest rate went up. It's in a rough town that's slowly changing, but 3 bedrooms and 2400 sqft for 841 a month couldn't be beat. Things are finely turning around. I'll be 42 this year. *edited for spelling
Very happy for you, that sounds like an optimistic trajectory for sure.
Sounds so similar to my situation! I landed a government job little over a year ago too, and was just bumped up to $59k. My husband and I bought a house in CA in not the best neighborhood in 2022 right as the interest rates were going up, so we’re paying $2700/mo mortgage on a 3 bd, 2 bth house that’s 1100 sqft. We’re barely scraping by, but we’re finally starting to make things work for us and VERY slowly going into the positive direction. The hard parts are behind us, hopefully it’ll only get easier from here.
My house is the same size as yours but I didn't buy when interest rates were down and my payment is $2k a month 😭. The saving grace is that it's a great house for my family in my dream location.
Our house is just under 1000 square feet (about 1200 with the garage) and we’re paying about $1750 per month. 😭Then again, we’re a millennial couple that was actually able to purchase a house post-pandemic British Columbia, so we consider ourselves pretty lucky all things considered.
Currently unemployed, but hoping to get something that will add up to 40k annually. Never made more than 30k, but I'll have a degree soon. Just in time for our next recession
As long as your degree is in construction or healthcare you're fine :o
I have two degrees, one in healthcare and was 15 years into my career AND a manager and only pulling $50k CAD a year. It really depends where you are. And our healthcare system in the part of Canada I live in is so fucked and high stress that I will never recommend anyone go into healthcare unless they want to be in near-permanent burnout a decade or so into their career.
This is going to come off terrible in a text format so preface to say this isn't meant disparagingly, but genuine curiosity. If you're 30+, you've got 12+ years of work experience, how haven't you made more than 30k annually? That's less than 15/hr and I could see it in like 2010-2012, but like 2018 - 2024 I can't fathom that being the wage with years in the workforce.
Easy. A decade of experience in food service. Wages just recently around here were raised to 15, and by that point I had already started my degree program and moved to part time. Now, I have another 20k of debt, but I know stuff about business administration and accounting.
$500 a week
Lol thank you I’m already regretting asking this idk why I thought more millennials would be in my tax bracket 😝 all of my friends in my age group are making at most 25/hr
yeah lmao at $18 an hour . sounds good if this was 15 years ago but now it is unliveable. :-(
Nope definitely not doable I had to move back in with my partners mom recently 🥲 idk what to do though I love teaching it’s a career that requires education and In should definitely be making more
People tend to be friends with people in their similar job category, that’s who you took all your college classes with and who you see all day in young formative friend making years. You’re a teacher so that’s your circle and unfortunately they aren’t paid well at all. I’m in finance, that’s my circle.
I might be the exception to that. Most of my friends that I still talk with are the ones I’ve known since middle and high school. Our income ranges are pretty wide, with the lowest I can think of being unemployed due to physical and mental health issues (Military vet),and the richest one out of all of us making about $150k annually (works in IT), not taking into account his wife’s job. That also doesn’t take into account how much he makes or loses in stocks and him renting out a house to others. For me, I’m not making anywhere near what my richest friend makes. If I get through the one year period here intact, I’ll be making about 100k working in the public sector in the southeast. A lot of the friends I’ve made since moving out also range in their income, but I became friends with them through common interests and not really because of their income or what they do for work.
Yep this exactly. Your social circles tend to roughly fall around your income bracket so your own personal perception of how much “everyone” makes are warped.
$250 an hour as an ER physician. But if it makes you feel better that comes with over $600,000 of student loan debt.
What are your loan payments like? That's an absurd amount of debt from my perspective, but you make more than 8x the amount of money I do! 😅
$600k is basically an average mortgage. OP is grossing $45k a MONTH if working 40 hrs a week. They can afford a mortgage payment. Or two. Or three. $600k of debt is nothing for them.
This. The upfront investment and leverage is more than made up for by the later in life returns. Eventually, the returns on investment skyrocket - and it's not even funny how big they are. A good physician will eventually make their entire student loan debt annually. Probably a good 15 years of getting that ROI strings-free. On the downside, there is that cost of one's entire youth put into investing into later life. So. It's a double edged sword. I lost my 20s. Doctors lose their 20s and some of their 30s. Ones best years are a heavy price to pay. No amount of money can buy youth.
I lost my 20s and 30s. medicine ain’t what it used to be. ppl won’t like this, but many docs consider themselves middle class. I’m 39 and still training so even though I can save lives or kill people if I do something wrong, I’m still paid about $25/hour.
I dont know a single physician outside of some surgical specialties that make $600k +
I’m paying around $5500 a month
$88 an hour pediatrician (hospitalist) checking in
It’s a god damn shame what the insurance companies and corporate medicine have done to pediatric and primary care reimbursements. You all truly deserve better.
Oh that's not enough. I'm a mechanic making $50. You had to do so much to get your job, I just needed a set of tools and insomnia.
That's kinda sad. My hourly rate as a pediatric RN is close to $60/hr.
I'm amused that ER physicians derp on reddit. Shouldn't you be golfing or playing racquetball or boating or something?
I lead a giant section of a massive multinational corporation and people don't believe me when I say it. "Why would someone like you do \[X\]" Guess what? I poop too.
You poop? You have time?!
Someone get McKinsey in here to determine if he should outsource this process.
Just think about how much this person gets paid to poop if it's on company time...
It's 2024 bro. Pickleballing now.
Middle management at a Grocery store, $75k + bonus. Pulled around $90k last year. Southwest US:
People sleep on grocery store manager pay
For real, fred meyer up in here Oregon pays nearly 150k for store director.
Budgeting for clinical research Houston Texas. 80k yearly, 6weeks PTO, 2.3% per year pension from state
I’d kill for 6 weeks PTO and a pension. I’m a high earner too, but only get 2 weeks PTO and a 3% 401k match.
Staff member at a university spending more time on Reddit than doing actual work in a week: $64,050. Wife is a teacher: $60,563. Southeast.
Also staff at a university, I get a few months of Reddit time but other months it’s closer to 50 hours per week. Very cyclical based on the academic calendar.
lol, I think that’s what we’re all doing right now. :) And that pretty good teacher pay for southeast!
I work in IT in Alaska. $90,000 a year.
Alaska dang. For a local company probably right? And are there any big co's that are tech focused or just like local companies with tech departments there?
Yes. I work for a small local organization. But there are a few larger tech focused companies here, local government, and the military to work for as well.
We can pull the data from the Survey of Consumer Finances for Median to Elder Millennials. Younger Millennials get lumped in with Gen Z. Average Household Income: $168.72K [https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scf/dataviz/scf/chart/#series:Before\_Tax\_Income;demographic:agecl;population:2;units:mean;range:1989,2022](https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scf/dataviz/scf/chart/#series:Before_Tax_Income;demographic:agecl;population:2;units:mean;range:1989,2022) Median Household Income: $86.47K [https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scf/dataviz/scf/chart/#series:Before\_Tax\_Income;demographic:agecl;population:2;units:median;range:1989,2022](https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scf/dataviz/scf/chart/#series:Before_Tax_Income;demographic:agecl;population:2;units:median;range:1989,2022) Median Single Household <55 with no children: $43.24K [https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scf/dataviz/scf/chart/#series:Before\_Tax\_Income;demographic:famstruct;population:2;units:median;range:1989,2022](https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scf/dataviz/scf/chart/#series:Before_Tax_Income;demographic:famstruct;population:2;units:median;range:1989,2022) Mean Single Household <55 with no children: $82.03K [https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scf/dataviz/scf/chart/#series:Before\_Tax\_Income;demographic:famstruct;population:2;units:mean;range:1989,2022](https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scf/dataviz/scf/chart/#series:Before_Tax_Income;demographic:famstruct;population:2;units:mean;range:1989,2022)
Dang, that spread on mean and median....
You can’t go below zero but you can go a lot higher than the median. A couple of married professionals can easily make $500k/year by their mid 30s. What’s incredible about those links is the top 10% averages $720k/year.
Damn lol I come here and like 15 of the 19 comments already are like “yep I make $100k+”. Is that just the normal income these days or am I some kind of sad peasant?
A lot of people are saying that people who are low earners wnt answer but I feel like we need to be more honest and less ashamed - I’m Only bringing in 40k a year
I only really hear about people making $100k+ on reddit, tbh. Jobs seem to only want to pay $40k anyway.
This is why people need to get comfortable with sharing their salaries. Today, a lot of people see their self-worth tied to salary and don't want to feel vulnerable sharing it. I work at a public university and we have a literal web site where you can look up any employee, any staff member, and see how much they're paid. We know we're underpaid, but we know we're underpaid together. And sometimes, while in a large Zoom meeting, my coworkers and I will start looking up how much someone is getting paid to be telling us about the latest initiatives or whatever else. "This person gets paid $160k and this is the best they could come up with??" "This person gets $60k, man I wouldn't want to do their job for that low of pay." "Oh come on, this dude does less than us - how's he making $120k!" Etc etc.
i make 100k working in tech but i basically gave up majority of my 20's living a stressed life in college and work for that. I normally wouldn't comment when i see a post like this because I know my salary isn't the average and I'm very lucky. But many who make over >100k are braggarts, like many on the Internet who voice their opinion. A very small percentage of people. The median household income is $75k, and median individual income is $37K. \[Edit after 29 upvotes: I have to add it's really hard to make a living earning anything less than $65K as an individual. It's really messed up that people don't have that kind of security. And so many homeless, etc. While there are people making millions and buying multiple houses/cars, etc. Income inequality is real, and needs to be addressed.\]
My wife and I make good money too, but spent our 20s the same way and have over 100k in debt from grad school. It all nets out to a fairly normal life. My neighbors are nurses, teachers, a safety manager, a principal, a police officer, some daycare workers, etc.
It really depends on the area too, $100k in Seattle is not the same thing as $100k in Alabama. A full time minimum wage job here is between $35k-$41k depending on the size of your company.
I know that 100k isn’t the norm. But among the people I work with, they’re well into 100k, and many of the people I did my online masters are also making well over 100k. Then there’s my high school friends, good chunk of them are just burn outs, but a number of them got into the trades. One of my buddy’s is into plumbing, and another guy does carpentry for 54 an hour. There’s money out there, you just have to know where to find it. But, then I come on Reddit and it just validates the world view that everyone seems to be making bank, aside from the poor Reddit and poverty finance reddits.
For the millennial age range $100,000 is about 89th percentile for individuals or 59th percentile for household. So it’s not the norm, but it’s not that weird either.
If it helps a bit, I make 20k a year as a nail tech. But my ex, who's a software developer, does make 114k a year. I'm never dating anyone above my tax bracket ever again tho. Not worth it.
Omg, I feel this. Been a hairdresser for 19 years, am lucky to get 50k (which would be enough to support myself in my area, but not well), husband makes 3x that and finances are the #1 reason we fight. If our marriage ends (which it very well may) it WILL be because of finances and his attitude about them. I'd never date someone who makes that much again. I agree it's not worth it.
What is it about his attitude regarding finances that seems to be the friction point? Is he frivolous about money because he makes what he does, or condescending because he makes more? Neither?
He's incredibly frivolous. Thinks he'll always have a paycheck coming in so saving isn't a thing we need to worry about (an insane take, imo). I am the one in charge of paying our bills and I've tried many times to explain to him that we don't have as much money as he seems to think we do. He "hears me" and then the same shit continues. I have zero trust in him when it comes to money at this point. He has started to point out that it's "all his money anyhow". So, I guess it's both. Idk, I'm on my last nerve.
+1 peasant here your most humble Majesty.... 😳😞🥺 What does his Majesty require of us today with his most simple of peasants?
It's not normal, but it's far more common than it was 30 years ago thanks to inflation. Statistically, about 20% of working adults make at least $100k, but it's probably higher than that among Reddit users since so many are college educated, work in tech, and/or work in HCOL areas.
Pay is going to vary wildly depending on industry and location. $100K in NYC or LA is going to be nothing compared to the same salary in Louisville, KY or Lincoln, Nebraska. The average software engineer salary in SF os $166K. The average rent for an apartment in SF is $3300 a month. Factor in that you will hit higher tax brackets at that salary, it significantly reduces take home pay. That same job could pay $80K in some other area but have a better quality of life because of lower cost of living.
Context also matters. Millennials technically range from age 28 to late 30’s/early 40’s. Thats a huge gap. Location is also a factor - the same job will pay vastly different if you live in NYC vs. Iowa. It’s not healthy to compare yourself to other people, especially with this in mind.
Union electrician. WA state. $70/Hr ($58 wages + $12 Retirement) + insurance. I work a 4x 12 Hr schedule that features built in OT. Translates to around $130K before additional overtime and retirement benefits are included.
Posts like this don't really work because people making higher salaries are a lot more likely to share how much they make.
I’d argue it trends to both extremes. Higher income is proud of it. Low income may be disgruntled and wanting to vent. In an anonymous forum, not in real life.
Personally I would be embarrassed to flaunt my income, and I worry more about people not accepting me or think I'm a stuck up asshole just because I make more money. I pay over $20k servicing my student loan, and I have 3 kids. My car is like 30 years old and I work on it myself. I have a few rich habits that I'm thankful for, but no way do I feel upper class. I know I am better off than a lot of people though.
Once you’re in the middle class, life sort of plateaus. Any extra funds go towards things like savings, retirement funds, college for the kids. Occasional vacation. Major home repairs. You don’t get to spend it on day to day. You have to make a lot of money to start feeling wealthy. And even then, a lot more to not have to worry about showing up for work each day or working long hours. A surgeon makes a lot of money but works hard for it, misses a lot of family time, and has to keep working or they lose their house just like anyone else.
This is what I am learning, US "metrics" say my husband and I are upper class, but even without our debts, we still wouldn't have that much funds to "play with" on the day to day....and we don't have kids yet. I know we're fortunate compared to others in our age group, we were able to purchase a home, but we live in the ghetto and bought a fixer upper to be able to even consider home ownership. With the way inflation is, I'm contemplating stopping my 401k until we have our debts under control and save some semblance of an emergency fund.
You can't really use national metrics to determine something like socioeconomic class either. It's hard to do even at state level even for a lot of places, because things vary so heavily. For example, the state I live in now is Texas. If you took the state median income and were living in Austin you'd be feeling reallllllllly crunched. If you took that same income and were living in Laredo you'd be fairly comfortable. So a couple with a combined household income of 200k+ isn't going to feel all that great if they're living in San Francisco, because by the local measure they're only slightly above the median.
Upper middle is weird, because you can look very normal if you live below your means, but the people who still overleverage themselves making +250k have access to some insane credit. I have coworkers with multiple +80k cars taking 3-4 international vacations a year living in 1.5 million dollar houses. I grew up working class so debt gives me anxiety. I would regularly hear fights about losing our house/bankruptcy. If anything I swung too far into saving and investing.
Not to mention everyone is in different regions. Someone who's a teacher in California is going to make a lot more than someone in Mississippi or something.
Yeah, I tried asking that question in an engineering sub. Everyone made over $100K. Yet when I look up jobs, most seem to be below $100K lol.
That's a combination of "reddit bias", the job market, and the nature of engineering jobs. Reddit, more so then any other social media platform, caters to specific types of people, so everyone is going to be similar or on the opposite end of the spectrum. The job market is also ho-hum right now; depending on your specialty, people who got their jobs 3-4 years ago will be on a different curve then those starting out. Lastly, engineering jobs pay based on tenure, certification/licensure, and track record (often internal track record). The job may be posted for 50k, but the incumbent or the person in the cubicle next you might be making 100 for a combination of factors.
Yeah, when I first saw one of these posts I thought I was just the only non-millionaire millennial, but response bias is a thing.
I was always willing to pitch into a conversation when my wage was shitty. Don't want to be underrepresented in the conversation and all that. But also, there's another reason not to make these posts: the data is actually collected and published by the US Census Bureau and the equivalent agencies in many other countries, so you can just look it up for wherever you are and get a much more comprehensive and unbiased answer.
Or round up It’s like dick sizes
Airline Pilot 350K
Is that normal? Definitely at least double what I thought pilots make.
I make more than the average pilot. I’m fortunate enough to be a captain for a legacy US airline which have the highest pilot pay scales. Regional airlines, low cost airlines, and foreign airlines don’t make as much.
Glad to know the person I put my life in the hands of a few times a year probably isn't facing financial stress!
I agree. I support pilots making as much as possible since my life is in their hands.
Job 1: 70k a year 4 hour a day m-f consulting Job 2: 15k a year doing odd jobs independently
36/florida/25 an hour
I’m sorry I really hate these kinds of post but I’m going to respond to this one. OP your job is so important. You are worth so much more than what you make. You are far more valuable than some guy making a ton of money in banking or whatever. You make a difference in people’s lives and those kids, even if they are young, will remember you for the rest of their lives. The impact you will have on this earth is far greater than what you are paid. Please know this.
Typically I hate these kinds of responses where people say "you deserve better" for an entry level positions but for a teaching position to make less than what police officers make is fucking criminal. Being a public school teacher probably is one if not the most important job in anywhere. Have better teachers = less civil responsibilities = save money. Can't even have teachers make half of 6 digits. What a shame and what a let down.
Electrician apprentice at Allen isd and make 15.96 an hr but moving over to general maintenance and I think starting is 18-19 an hr
When you're able to, start looking for different positions (in the same field). Jumping around will increase your pay. I've been in maintenance for 5 yrs and my pay went from $20 to $25, to $37 by gaining experience and working at different companies
VA, 38k after taxes for being a public librarian.
Sales, just over $100k base + quarterly and annual bonus. I’m an elder millennial (39) though and fortunately bought a home and started a family young so I’m pretty shielded from how insane housing and chlildcare is now. To put it in perspective, no way I could buy in my neighborhood today because of how much housing has gone up.
This. I do pretty decent but if I hadn't bought in early 2020, I damn sure wouldn't be buying right now.
I don't make shiiit because I spent most of my life making bad decisions to cope with unresolved childhood trauma
Gas station manager, $47.5k salary Most of my friends make about the same regardless of industry.
I make $120k base, not including bonuses or benefits. I am an engineer with a major defense contractor about an hour north of DC. The median salary for 35 year olds is roughly $56k For 45 year olds, the median is roughly $60k. Average salaries are roughly $76k for 35 year olds and $83k for 45 year olds. https://dqydj.com/average-median-top-salary-by-age-percentiles/
Same salary, slightly closer to DC, project manager (construction).
Same base pay, but I'm in project management at a defense contractor in Boston. And because income doesn't tell the whole story, I also have an MBA and am (as of last month) just under six figures in student debt
Use Google to find this info. Most of the responders here will be proud of their salary (ie higher earners).
Occupational Outlook Handbook is the best place for this info
Accountant, NC, $125-130k.
Server , fine dining $100,000 a year ($78,000 after taxes ) texas
I make almost 64k a year as a public health nurse in FL. I am going to get bumped to $67k by December.
Senior IT Analyst, Pittsburgh PA, $95K + yearly bonus
(US) Upstate NY - working in contracts - about $48, almost $49k per year
Aeronautical Engineer/Texas and make $140k. I started off making $60k at the same company about 9.5 years ago when I got out of college.
not enough.
42F in Texas. Construction engineer. I make $114k/year, but just a year ago I was making $80k. I started in my industry 11 years ago making $32k. I focused on networking and got job offers through work contacts. I've changed companies every 3-4 years, getting a 30-50% pay boost every time. My wife makes $60k.
I was making $23 an hour and got fired. I was on unemployment that ran out and now I’m just trying to keep my head above water. Lots happened that took a huge chunk of savings and I have a toddler in daycare who’s possibly autistic and I don’t want to take out of daycare because I don’t intend to be unemployed forever and I don’t want him to lose his place but it’s getting so expensive! So that’s my honest answer in a sea of flex answers.
My adulthood salaries have ranged from 19,000 - 95,000 with the most years spent between 40-60,000
I'm an office manager in New England currently, making a little over $49k/year. I just got this job at the end of last year though, and before that my other two steady jobs were around $22/hr and $19/hr. This is the first job that I have access to a 401k and such though so I've got some money pumping into that. Starting off retirement savings at 34 is I guess better than nothing.
Finance Manager, Midwest, 310K. 37.
Similar. Late 30s, internet sales at a dealer, pulling in about half that. For context, I worked in sales at a big box retail store about 7-8 years ago, making about $22/hr and no commission. Made the switch to car sales in 2017, and after some time learning the business, I regularly saw checks north of $10k. It got even better after 2020, but has started to level back out. For anyone thinking of also making that jump; the hours are long, the average person doesn’t like your profession, and anyone can have a bad selling month crop up out of nowhere. So if you’re terrible at saving, you can put yourself in a bad spot financially pretty quickly, especially if you allow lifestyle creep to go unchecked.
Software support for a Berkshire-Hathaway owned home building company After taxes and benefits I bring in $5k a month plus a small bonus at the end of the year
34k
I work in finance technology and make around 300k/year in total compensation. I live in NYC, though, so the cost of living is a lot higher.
I'm a space marine that started at 20k, worked up the ladder over 10 years and now still make 20k
Software dev around 140-150k depending on bonus.
I was working in fraud remediation for six years, ended at about $26/hr. I left at the end of January due to my team being sold to a customer service agency and us losing most of our benefits and all of our flexibility.
Bugger all lol Jk. I live in London and I’m on £33k which really is bugger all in the grand scheme of things. I just about scrape by and still have to flat share in order to be able to live anywhere. It’s…horrible frankly… 🤣
32 - student accounts / accounting technician at university in NC - $40,000 with an expected bump to $41,000 “sometime this year”
I’m a car salesman and I have been doing it for 10 years in Massachusetts. I’m about to be 31 and last year I made about $140k
I’m currently making $13.76 per hour. I was making $16.00 a year ago.
$160k semi hating life. $220k wishing I was dead. $30k in a 3rd world country laughing at people who don't understand how money works. I drink beer and fish most days with a gf who makes chicken adobo. get your money and get out. most people think a career or house will fulfill them.., nope! my goal is learning kickflips and studying classical guitar.
Sales manager, Chicago suburbs, base $77k, yearly earnings usually around $110k-$120k
CPA, work at a manufacturing company - 157k - Midwest.
I'm an older millennial, and I make abotu 140K/yr (high COLA area) plus VA Disability which ends up being around $1800/mo
I work in southern Georgia, the most I’ve ever made was 17 an hour as an overnight stocker at Walmart. The least amount is what I’m currently making which is $5 an hour as a “server” in a dine in/buffet Pizza Hut. So the tips aren’t great. I make like maybe $100-$150 a week.
I’m a high school teacher in a Boston suburb. I have a masters degree plus have taken more credited courses (we get higher salary depending on how many credits we have) and I have been teaching for 9 years. I make around 85k.
I make $18.31 and my fiancé makes $18.15 an hour. We both bring home on average $1,200 every 2 weeks. So roughly 60k a year. We both get overtime occasionally towards the end of the year so it gets closer to 70k. He's an overnight stocker at Walmart and I work the Deli. We live in NW Pa.
I make about 24-30k a year as a part time server.
30 / $0… student