Please use this thread to continue the discussion of rental prices for young grads.
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Ivy grads may or may not be interested in being in law enforcement, military, prison system or the fire brigade. The reason I specifically state these professions is because they can be quite lucrative even without a college degree. Also,these jobs seem to plateau in the $80-110K range. Many of these professions additionally require dealing with violent people or volatile situations and likely the ones pulling in >$100K are doing a lot of overtime or holding down two jobs. I come from a pretty blue collar background and am well aware of the pros and cons.
Trades are also similar. One can make a lot of money if they are disciplined/resourced enough to start their own business. But physically demanding jobs take a huge toll on people too. Once again, have several family members in their early 60s that have completely broken bodies.
One might argue that a white collar job has its own challenges and that is indeed true.
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Salary of public funded jobs often varies widely by state, but in general I think your estimates are high . For example, you mentioned the prison system. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics lists the median salary for corrections officers as $45k. This includes employees of all experiences and levels. Among new grads without experience, the median would be lower. Even in the highest paying states, earnings would be unlikely to reach much above $50k as a new grad. $100k salaries are unlikely in all states, regardless of experience. For example, prison wardens have a median below $100k.
There are also numerous negative effects of these jobs. One study found the median age at death of persons having previously worked as correction officers was only 59 years, partially due to stressful effects of the job (also partially due to self selection of persons with pre-existing bad traits). Many report both psychological and physical effects. Itās not something Iād recommend for a new grad if they had other good options they may enjoy, Ivy or not. My comments partially relate to experience with family members working in corrections and having met/known various employees
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The $100k salary may include a lot of overtime.
I couldnāt agree more, those jobs are not Monday-Friday, nor do they adhere to normal business hours. They most certainly can be physically demanding, and dangerous. The mental toll of the job may in fact be the more challenging issue.
Here is what each 2 week work period will look like for my son:
2 days on, 2 days off, 3 days on, 2 days off, 2 days on, 3 days off (7 days on + 7 days off)
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Correct, the ability to work longer hours and be paid overtime will bring my son above $100k after he finishes training. His agency actually limits overtime to keep people from burning out, so no one can work more than 60 hours per week(120 hours per pay period). This is not for corrections, he will be on patrol. He will also have a take home police cruiser. The job pays for gas and maintenance obviously. The apartment complex he lives in also gives a discount on rent if he parks the cruiser in the parking lot outside his apartment.
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Seems like part of the mental toll could be repeatedly being called to solve (neglected social work) problems that they really are not equipped to solve (homelessness, addiction, mental health, domestic disputes, ā¦).
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Presumably in exchange for being an obvious deterrent against crime, in that criminals may not want to commit a crime if there is a police officer somewhere nearby (as indicated by a police car in the parking lot).
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Also the ivys and elite school salaries tend to be skewed toward east/west coast schools with a higher cost of living. Thatās very true with computer related fields, where most hiring is done locally or regionally. If you deflate the salaries to a baseline, theyāre strikingly identical.
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Good luck to your son, and thanks for your information.
College students overestimate their starting salaries by $50k, according to this recent study:
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Hmmā¦ that may explain willingness to take on high student loans not easily affordable at lower salaries.
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When is the survey done? A year out to graduation? Or when they are entering undergrad?
I found this article interesting looking at median household incomes by state:
No state reaches 100K for median household income. MD comes the closest.
Further down it talks about minimum wage and how much various income earners have gained since 1980.
Not as many earn 100K as want to right out of college or thereafter, Iām sure.
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I believe this is a survey of students still in college (but close to graduation).
Iām sure it has been mentioned upthread, but cost of living is such a big factor in what that $100k can buy. $100k in San Fran or Boston is probably the equivalent of $60k in Iowa, for instance ā so if youāre making $100k in Iowa, you have as much local purchasing power as someone making like $160k in the Bay Area.
How much can you buy with the money you have? That is the question.
(online store purchases, of course, mitigate this a bitā¦)
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https://livingwage.mit.edu/ is probably helpful in estimating a cost of living in various locations.
It also distinguishes whether one has a spouse/SO and kids. Kids significantly increase the cost of living.
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I used the link to check for my area. Including in the living wage is 11k of tax estimation. I then used Turbo Tax and used the living wage of $51k, with no deductions, no retirement, single, and the tax came out -$4000. So something is off with that calculator.
Are they adding property and sales/gas taxes? Income tax is not the only one out there.
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I assume they rent, they donāt pay property tax, itās for 22 year old. Sales and Gas taxes shouldnāt be that high, consider $3999 for food shopping. Thatās about $320 at most.