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SO and I are both about to graduate college and I often feel like we're behind the average in what we'll probably be earning. Even though I don't really know what the average is!
So I'm curious...what were you earning at your first job right out of college? If you already shared finances with a partner, what was the combined income? Also, tell me what job(s) you were/are working!
I'm a web designer and I currently work part time as an in-house designer at a local web-based company, and I do freelance on the side. I'd say that my yearly salary would be in the $10,000 - $15,000 range (pre-tax). SO works as a software dev at another local company, and he probably makes around $25,000 pre-tax. So I guess that would put us at $35,000 - $40,000 combined. However we're both hoping for/planning on raises upon graduation.
What about you?
We're lawyers, so I voted on our first jobs out of law school. We both went straight from college to law school. The income may be higher, but the debt is higher too.
The National average is a lot higher than I earn now, 11 years after being in the workforce following college graduation with my bachelor's. I started out at 6.50 an hour with benefits, which was more than minimum wage at the time, just barely, and got a 'raise' to 7.00 an hour after completeing my 3 month probabtion period. I worked at the job for 7.5 years, had to pay more each year for my benefits and left for aother job while only making 19K a year (9.27/hour). My SO had yet to finish school and there are not a lot of FT jobs here, AND we share one vehicle so commuting was not an option (One of us could get to work, but if he had to drive 45 mins to the nearest large city to work, I'd be walking or vice versa) and we'd lose lot in gas, so it was all me for a while.
My current job pays more fairly, but it's still under 30K a year, even with 11 years expereince in the same field and a college degree. Granted, I live in an area of the country where a lot of people don't make much more, but I have also found that as a woman I will statistically be paid about 10K less than a man doing the same job with comperable education and expereince. My BF found a FT job 4 years ago (he heard about the opening for the one I've got now through HIS work), and without finishing his degree started at 20K, and has now has a salary adjustment of 24K per year. He stil has to finish his degree, and might get an increase based on that, but I'm not sure my department can raise my salalry - we're grant funded, and the recession is just starting to hit pretty hard in our region.
P.S. - I have a Bachelor's of Fine Arts and work as a graphic designer. (They didn't offer web or computer based-graphic design when I was in school, so I'm self taught). BF is doing a similar ob, and is also self taught. He's working towards the same degree I have. I would like to one day get my Master's, which would mean I could teach undergrad college leve if there was an opening and I had time for extra cash - I take freelance when it comes, but it's not often around here, and I'm frankly exhausted from 40+ hour weeks that I hate working when I get home.
Right out of college I worked as a vocational counselor for adults with mental illness. I was essentially a social worker. I managed a case load of 18 adults ranging from 20-65 with severe depression, bipolar and schizophrenia. I worked really hard and even worked unpaid overtime and went in with my clients to their new jobs on weekends or nights.
I was making $27,500 when I first got hired. At my yearly review I got a raise to $30,000. However this is extremely low for the DC area. Had I not been living with DH at the time I would have struggled supporting myself.
My second job out of college (after being with the first company for 13.5 months) I was making $38,000 plus stipends for my car and phone/internet. I was essentially a pharmaceutical rep. Total I made about $42,000.
Right out of college I was making $62,500. FI was making the same. Combined about $125,000. We are both Computer Scientists. I don't consider our circumstances typical considering that we are 22/21.
I was a reporter and was thrilled when I was offered $25K. (Don't laugh, I was young!) That's pretty paltry for the DC area and made life quite difficult. But, like anything, it depends on where you live.
I didn't go to college, but during high school I worked at McDonald's, and by the time I graduated I was making $27,000/year. Now I work as an office manager and I make $39,000/year.
I also live in the DC area, so my salary is pretty high for a right out of college. Also I work in IT at a major corporation, so the salary and benefits are very competitive. My starting salary was $62,000 and after 3 years I haven't received a raise so it's the same. FI started at $62,000 as well, and after changing jobs now makes $70,000.
Kant, I'm actually surprised there's such a discrpency between IT jobs in DC and Pittsburgh!
And BTW, you have my dream job! I've been working on taking free-lance jobs to build my portforlio, and hope to find a job at an in-house marketing and web-design firm (probably after the wedding).
I have an Arts degree (psych major) and my first FT job right out of school was in sales with a base salary of 32K and I brought in about 10K in commissions. I was there for a 1.5 years and then moved into HR and my first job paid 50K.
Right out of college, I went to grad school where I had a teaching assistantship and so earned a stipend. It was only $10k, and I made ends meet by living with my parents.
When I finished that program, I got a job that was only part time where I made about $16k.
After that year, I got a full-time teaching job that paid about $36k. (Two years experience and a second Masters will push that up to over 40k this year, woohoo!)
I voted for me personally because I feel like combining our incomes would've given a false number? My first job out of law school I started at 54. But I also had 80k in debt. DH's first job out of college he started at 40 I think (this was before I knew him). He was/is a corporate accountant. When I graduated he was making around 50 i think? This is a few years ago now so its kind of hard to remember.
I was a bio major in school and was hired as part of a "class" into a start up retail company near NYC.
Starting salary was $40k (which honestly does not go very far when you are living in Brooklyn and driving 50 miles round trip each day). I have changed jobs (and industries) in the past 5 years and my salary has gone up considerably.
FI was a Comp Sci major and his starting salary was around $65k.
ETA: I only voted for me. FI and I still haven't combined finances and won't until after we are married.
@PitBulLover: Your first job sounds pretty much like what I do :) I'm a case manager for adults with mental illnesses. I make about 41k. I think a lot of it has to do with 1) I have a master's degree and 2) NYC cost of living is very high, and I think salaries tend to be higher here as well.
my first job right out of college was an academic year-length "fellowship," ie basically a glorified internship. i made around $22k + health benefits, at a research firm in dc. after that year i got a "real" job at a similar organization, making $38, and was promoted a year later. by the time i left that job--i was there 3 years--i was making almost $50k. now i'm in a phd program with a stipend that's $23k. when i finish, in like 6-7 years, the assistant professor jobs i'll hope to get will probably pay close to what i made when i left my last job. kinda sad when i think of it like that :P
I am a teacher, and FI is studying to be a chartered accountant. I graduated last May and am making 44k. FI makes a bit less than that, but his will jump in september when he gets his CA. Everyone always goes on and on about how he'll make so much money...but really, I'll be making more than he will for awhile, unless he really decided he wants to climb up there and be a manager or partner. It's funny the concepts people have about certain jobs.
I think it depends on your location and what year it was too. In 1993 I started out making $20./hr. and if still working would be at $44./hr, averaged a 27-35 hour week. I averaged between $30,000.-$50,000, but again, depended on how often I worked. Dental hygienist in NJ.
I started out making 35 base with bonus it was about 50 my first year. My husbad started out making 65 out of college. Interesting enough we both make well over six figures but now I make significantly more.
I think I was making just under 50,000 and FI was making just over 50,000 when we both started working right out of college, so I would say we were making about 100,000 combined. I was a programmer analyst, he was a software developer. It has been a little over 4 years now, we are both software developers now and both are making quite a bit more.
@toshella: Heh, well, I think it's less of a discrepancy in average pay, and more the fact that SO and I are both technically still billed as interns, which is set to change for both of us upon graduation. That's why we're both hoping/counting on a pay raise, because our titles will change. Pittsburgh's cost of living is not as high as DC's overall, but living in the area of Pittsburgh we ideally want to settle is fairly expensive for rent (think $1000/mo for a barely-liveable 2br).
Right out of college it was less than 20k. I was an assistant director at a daycare (a job you needed a college degree for). Now about 3 years out I make 40k as a secretaty but I just got a raise on Monday, woot! I was at 33k. So basically I doubled my salary by quitting a job you needed a degree for and taking one that you did not :/ FH makes a little less than 40k right now as an admissions advisor.
My first year out of law school, I barely made 50K...and also high in school debt. :( Wish I went the corporate route. LOL! :)
@Mrs.H2B: Heh, yeah, people keep telling SO and I that we're going to be rolling in the cash when we graduate because they imagine us to both have these high-powered yuppie careers...when that's so not the case at all. It's possible in our fields, but we both work for small local companies, so not likely in our current situation.
My first job out of college paid $45k. I got my bachelors degree in psychology. DH and I weren't engaged when we graduated so that number is just for me. I did notice at least in my area that the suburbs surrouning Boston paid a lot more than working in Boston itself. I do know someone in the same field that got their first job in downtown Boston and made $15k less than I did. I'm not sure if this is the case in other states, but I thought it was interesting. Also while I was still in college I made $11 an hour so I def got an increase with having a degree.
my first job out of school paid $45,000 and his paid $60,000. I have a business degree and a job in my specialty and he is an engineer. That said, we graduated back when the market was good.
Also, the region where you live is significant. If you live in DC you're going to get paid more for the same job than if you live in Chattanooga.
with a BA in communications I made a whopping 26k a year as a tech writer.
My first job out of college paid $55,000 a year. I have a BS in engineering and work in Regulatory Affiars for a medical device company. I've been here for almost two years and with small raises each year am at about $60,000 now.
I voted for myself alone since DH and I didn't live together immeadiately following graduation but he also has a BS in engineering and made $58,000 right out of college as a healthcare consultant. He is also still in this position and makes in the low $60Ks now.
My first job out of school as a Librarian with a Master's degree paid 24,500. Granted that was in 1997. I currently make 71,000 with 14 years experience. I work in a large private law firm. Salaries have been flat for three years, many folks laid off in the law world and librarians elsewhere not really doing great either. It takes time, I hope my salary will be on the move again someday.
Well, I'm still in law school, so HOPEFULLY I'll be making gazillions of dollars. haha in reality, I'd *like* to be making $65,000+/year coming out of school (I plan on going the corporate route).
Mr. LR made between $55,000-$60,000 his first year out with bonuses. I can't remember the exact amount.
I'd personally LOVE to live on his income and part of mine. Then put the rest of my income in savings. That's ideally though. Porbably won't happen
I graduated 6 years ago with a BS and started at about $35K. I took a lower salary to get my foot in the door at a very large company.
I graduated with a BS in Recreation & Parks Managent 10 years ago. September 11th happened a month after I graduated and the economy tanked. All of my dream interviews cancelled. My first job offer was for $24,500 with full benefits. I said thanks, but no thanks. I then took a job that paid $26,500 with full benefits. I didn't even want to take that but I wasn't going to do much better.
I am a nurse and I think I was around $56,000 my first year out of school. I rotated shfts and worked weekends, both have pay differential.
@LaviniaRose2013: lol yea thats what we thought we'd do too. Live on my husband's salary now (he makes more than I do. and has half the debt. not fair. lol), and bank mine or put it towards paying off debts..... kinda didn't happen :) We put 35% of my salary (after taxes) into my retirement account and our savings (husband's retirement comes out before his paycheck but i have an IRA) and that is the best we can do for now.
ETA: Just for "fun" I decided to figure out what percentage of our salaries go to student loans. Turns out almost 20% of our after-tax income goes directly to the government for our loans. boo!
When I graduated I have my BA in Anthro/Environmental Studies, but thought I wanted to do law, so I worked for about $42k as a legal assistant/secretary right out of college. But I worked full time, went back to school and got my master in public policy and now make about $63k doing energy policy work.
I voted for myself alone as well because I wasn't with DH at the time. But actually DH and I had the exact same job out of college (undergrad only) with the same starting salary, $42K. Although he got a cost of living increase since he was in NYC (I was in Philly). The COL increase was a separate item, not part of his base salary and amounted to about $200/month after taxes.
We've both more than doubled our starting salaries, I'm getting close to tripling it now, wahoo! I'm one decent raise away from officially tripling it, not including bonus.
ETA: We graduated in 2004. I know starting salaries in our industry have gone way up since then, to around $50K.
I'm a scientist. I made about $75,000 my first year out of grad school. My husband made about $95,000 his first year out of school in Healthcare IT. So, combined, we made around $170,000.
Right out of college (I graduated in 1998), I was making $45.5K. That was 13 years ago, so I was "making bank" compared to a lot of my classmates who graduated the same time as me. Especially since I live in the South where the cost of living is a LOT less than places like NY, and CA.
I work in IT. Fresh out of college I was making $50,000/year and fi was already working at that point making $45,000/year (also in IT). But since then fi left his old job for a job that pays $67,000. For the area, I believe our salaries are above average for having just gotten out of college (undergrad only - neither of us have plans to go to grad school in the forseable future).
@Kant: Where in Pittsburgh are you hoping to live!?!?!?!?! Because I could point you in the direction of some amazing 2 bedrooms for less than $1,000 a month! Pittsburgh is known for having an obscenely low cost of living for a city setting!
@CorgiTales: ugh the things we do for our careers! Like I said, it is just my "ideal/dream" plan. I'm going to let myself live in happy world bc I think I would go crazy! LOL-- My parents still think I'll automitcally come out making over six figures JUST because I'll have a JD attached to my name. Negative parentals. Negative. The world doesn't work that way.
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