<p>For some reason I still don't know this..
I will be graduation from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, with a major of Computer Science and minor in Computer Engineering. I plan on staying in this area (close to Detroit) for my career. While I was looking at apartments, I noticed that I had no idea what my price range was.</p>
<p>My majors have a median pay of around $100,000 every year, but how much do I make during my first year? Once you answer how much I could make each year, give me a rough estimate on my budget for apartments.</p>
<p>You should <em>not</em> be budgeting for apartments until you actually have a job. You have no idea how much you’re going to make, nor where that job is - and location is everything when it comes to rental costs.</p>
<p>A good rule of thumb is that you should not spend more than 1/3 of your take-home pay on rent.</p>
<p>You already listed an average for your major.</p>
<p>Figure to knock off 25-33% for being first-year, if not more… it depends on the job market when you graduate. Based on your other posts, you haven’t even finished high school yet and nobody knows what the job market’s going to be like in 6-8 years.</p>
<p>Then take out taxes, remember to budget for student loans…</p>
<p>That should give you the information you need. Your intended major has a median salary of $80,000 with a range of $42,000 to $110,000, and your intended minor is irrelevant for salary purposes. Based on the geographic profile of where graduates went, that $80k figure is skewed upward by those who went to work in Silicon Valley. You could reasonably expect to start out at the lower end of that range - $50k-$60k - if you intend to stay in the region (realistically, $50k in Detroit is worth more than $80k in San Francisco).</p>
<p>Polarscribe is right, though. The market can shift dramatically in five years, so focus on doing well in school and getting a job, and once you get a job, figure out where to live; don’t do it the other way around.</p>