IYO,what amount of $$$ = a high paying job?

[Dancing Fire]

13.2% of PSer are in the $100K + bracket..

How did you come up with this?

He makes it up. All of his "statistics" are made up.

if that were true then...how come no one has proven me wrong yet?...

 

[Skippy123]

13.2% of PSer are in the $100K + bracket..

How did you come up with this?

He makes it up. All of his "statistics" are made up.

if that were true then...how come no one has proven me wrong yet?...

LOL, you are too funny!

 

[mrs taylor]

team depends on where you live.

around here a lot of people who are in single income families are making around $100k. That's the average joe. I have a few friends in their 30's who are likely up around $200k. To me, that's a lot of money.

I would be very happy if we were bringing in $125k. We're not.

 

[ZahraLeyla]

Where I live (Western Australia), $200K would be the bare minimum to be considered a high paying job. I've no doubt that my perspective is skewed by all the oil and gas engineers that I'm friends with, but Western Australia is going through a real mining boom at the moment and fly-in, fly-out tradespeople tend to earn $150K+ as a minimum. Everything is expensive here now as a result. For instance, going to an average local, suburban pub for a substandard meal will cost at least $40 for a steak and chips. Utterly ridiculous.

So, with that in mind, I'd say that a high paying job for a single person would be $250K+, and a family could live very comfortably here on $500K.

Most of my social group (late 20s/early 30s, most married, none with children) have combined household incomes of $300K+, and yet, for some reason, none of us feel particularly wealthy!

 

[lulu]

$300,000+

 

[Laila619]

I think "high-paying" definitions would differ regionally, too, because how high one's pay is definitely depends on how high one's expenses are. A $50K salary may be high paying in the heartland, but wouldn't even scratch the surface in NYC or Silicon Valley, for example.

Agree. 50k where I live would probably be plenty comfortable. In L.A.? Ha!

 

[armywife13]

Depends on how much the bills are in that area, + how many dependents you have.

If I can pocket 1k for savings/ month
3k for bills/ month
+ pay 1k towards student loans per month
And still have 1k/month for spending money?
I'd feel stable.

This. Hopefully after I finish school next year, we will be close to this....fingers crossed.

With regards to the original question....In my opinion, once you hit 6 figures you have a high paying job. That being said, I do understand that in certain places like LA and NYC it wouldn't go far.

 

[peasypeas]

I think a high paying job is $200K + I guess, I have no clue.
but I don't think that matters too much, cost of living (like are you in DC/NYC area or are you in Alabama) do you have kids? etc

 

[armywife13]

I think a high paying job is $200K + I guess, I have no clue.
but I don't think that matters too much, cost of living (like are you in DC/NYC area or are you in Alabama) do you have kids? etc

This made me laugh....unfortunately we are stationed in AL.

 

[peasypeas]

I think a high paying job is $200K + I guess, I have no clue.
but I don't think that matters too much, cost of living (like are you in DC/NYC area or are you in Alabama) do you have kids? etc

This made me laugh....unfortunately we are stationed in AL.

LOL that's awesome we moved from the panhandle to the DC/VA area, can you say HOLY COST OF LIVING??!

 

[FancyDiamond]

I find it surprisingly easy to put numbers to this question -

"High paying job" = 200+
"High earning" combined income (w/ expenses for kids) = 400+
"Very comfortable, no-worries" combined income (w/ kids) = 300+

DH says my sense of finances is not based in reality. That may be true.

I agree with these figures for US, and add that the pay is salary only. The loaded salary is actually more, because there are benefits such as medical benefits, bonuses, employee savings match, employee stock purchase (discounts), stock options, and etc..

 

[FancyDiamond]

Where I live (Western Australia), $200K would be the bare minimum to be considered a high paying job. I've no doubt that my perspective is skewed by all the oil and gas engineers that I'm friends with, but Western Australia is going through a real mining boom at the moment and fly-in, fly-out tradespeople tend to earn $150K+ as a minimum. Everything is expensive here now as a result. For instance, going to an average local, suburban pub for a substandard meal will cost at least $40 for a steak and chips. Utterly ridiculous.

So, with that in mind, I'd say that a high paying job for a single person would be $250K+, and a family could live very comfortably here on $500K.

Most of my social group (late 20s/early 30s, most married, none with children) have combined household incomes of $300K+, and yet, for some reason, none of us feel particularly wealthy!

Everything is expensive in Australia. Wonder how "middle class" survives?

 

[Dancing Fire]

So, with that in mind, I'd say that a high paying job for a single person would be $250K+, and a family could live very comfortably here on $500K.

Most of my social group (late 20s/early 30s, most married, none with children) have combined household incomes of $300K+, and yet, for some reason, none of us feel particularly wealthy!

or any other place on earth...

 

[ZahraLeyla]

Where I live (Western Australia), $200K would be the bare minimum to be considered a high paying job. I've no doubt that my perspective is skewed by all the oil and gas engineers that I'm friends with, but Western Australia is going through a real mining boom at the moment and fly-in, fly-out tradespeople tend to earn $150K+ as a minimum. Everything is expensive here now as a result. For instance, going to an average local, suburban pub for a substandard meal will cost at least $40 for a steak and chips. Utterly ridiculous.

So, with that in mind, I'd say that a high paying job for a single person would be $250K+, and a family could live very comfortably here on $500K.

Most of my social group (late 20s/early 30s, most married, none with children) have combined household incomes of $300K+, and yet, for some reason, none of us feel particularly wealthy!

Everything is expensive in Australia. Wonder how "middle class" survives?

I think one of the reasons that things are more expensive in Australia (relatively speaking), is that we have a much higher minimum wage than the US, and better protection of worker's rights. Of course there are many other factors that affect pricing, but cost of labour is a significant input.

 

[princesss]

Actually, this reminds me of a conversation I had with my BF. We have been floating around the idea of me moving out there if I can find a job, and talking about salary expectations and everything. So he asked what I made now, and I thought he was going to have a heart attack! "Baby, you make SO MUCH MONEY! Are you sure you want to come out here? You're going to have to take a pay cut." I had never considered my salary very high, but he thought I was making an absurd amount of money.

 

[Astra]

High paying job in Croatia...hm...I'd say around $50 000 per year...

Average salary in Croatia - around $14 000 per year.

Cost of living in my country... let's just say everything is 50% more expensive comparing to US prices... right now gas prices are $7,62 per gallon and I live in our capital city (Zagreb), in a small 1 bedroom apartment on not so fancy location where I have to pay around $500 just for a rent... without all other costs

Anyone needs a RN in USA?

 

[Efe]

We live in the DC area, so I would consider $250K with benefits to be a high paying job.

 

[ame]

You have to factor in where you are living.

I am in Sweden where salary differences are much smaller and thus high paying jobs pay a lot less than those in the US. '

However that does not mean that living standards are lower. Apart from purchase power parity (things are a lot more expensive over here ), you have to factor in that we don't have to pay for medical insurance, childcare has a cap of $180 for the first child, less for the next, you are expected and paid to take at least one year off with each child, collage tuition is free (in most cases), etc. Student debt only amounts to the state provided loans for living expenses which have incredible cheap interest rates (it is set as the average of the last 3 years of what the state pays in interest rate).

A high salary over here is above $70 000 per year, but to have the same living standards in the US you would probably need to add another $40 000.

Since education is a lot less biased towards those from higher levels of society this system also has a great effect on social mobility. (Trying to find info on what a high wage is, since I don't always live in reality, I found this type of info ).

Damn, my husband's push to move to Sweden and this post are not helping my resolve.

 

[ame]

Anyone needs a RN in USA?

Uh YES. We do. Apparently there is quite a shortage here. I live in St. Louis, and we have a HUGE Croatian and Bosnian population here. You'd have familiar faces and languages!

 

[Astra]

Anyone needs a RN in USA?

Uh YES. We do. Apparently there is quite a shortage here. I live in St. Louis, and we have a HUGE Croatian and Bosnian population here. You'd have familiar faces and languages!

I've heard that too but - green card, green card, green card...

 

[stargurl78]

I think in my area, $100K or higher per person is high-paying.

 

[aljdewey]

13.2% of PSer are in the $100K + bracket..

How did you come up with this?

Where he usually comes up with it.

SO TRUE.

 

[bem3231]

I think that the number that constitutes a 'high paying job' is something of a moving target...

In my first 'professional' job during a grad school internship I remember finding out that one of my colleagues who was doing a similar job but had been with the organization for several years was making $52,000. This seemed like an absurd amount of money to me.

In the job that became my 'career' I started at around $50k and ten years later my salary was over $100k. Strangely, over the course of that decade I did not feel that my standard of living improved 100% along with my salary!

Now that I'm married, my husband and I have a combined income that would be considered very generous by most. While we certainly live well and recognize that we are extremely fortunate (particularly in this economy), we by no means feel as if we are living large. That said, we also have a daughter now, which changes your lifestyle. Still, we have no mortgage, don't pay for child care (as I'm at home most of the time - my current income comes from scholarships and very part-time consulting work), and live in Canada where a lot of our social care system is funded. We also do not live in a large city, so our cost of living is relatively low.

I remember coming across a piece of research about a year ago that demonstrated that the majority of people, regardless of their level of wealth, considered the parameters of 'wealthy' to be more than they make, regardless of whether they were living below the poverty line, or multi-millionaires... Everything is relative, as they say!

 

[mogster]

I remember coming across a piece of research about a year ago that demonstrated that the majority of people, regardless of their level of wealth, considered the parameters of 'wealthy' to be more than they make, regardless of whether they were living below the poverty line, or multi-millionaires... Everything is relative, as they say!

Reminds me of this article: http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/201207/amber-waves-of-green-jon-ronson-gq-july-2012

Guess what, compatriots? The gap between the richest and the poorest among us is now wider than it has been since we all nose-dived into the Great Depression. So GQ sent Jon Ronson on a journey into the secret financial lives of six different people on the ladder, from a guy washing dishes for 200 bucks a week in Miami to a self-storage gazillionaire. What he found are some surprising truths about class, money, and making it in America.

 

[armywife13]

I think a high paying job is $200K + I guess, I have no clue.
but I don't think that matters too much, cost of living (like are you in DC/NYC area or are you in Alabama) do you have kids? etc

This made me laugh....unfortunately we are stationed in AL.

LOL that's awesome we moved from the panhandle to the DC/VA area, can you say HOLY COST OF LIVING??!

I bet! Next year we are moving about an hour north of Nashville, hopefully it won't be too bad up there.

 

[peasypeas]

I think a high paying job is $200K + I guess, I have no clue.
but I don't think that matters too much, cost of living (like are you in DC/NYC area or are you in Alabama) do you have kids? etc

This made me laugh....unfortunately we are stationed in AL.

LOL that's awesome we moved from the panhandle to the DC/VA area, can you say HOLY COST OF LIVING??!

I bet! Next year we are moving about an hour north of Nashville, hopefully it won't be too bad up there.

I haven't checked cost of living there, I hope you love it though
we were in the panhandle 9 years and should be here a total of at least 7 so I'm not good with locations and pcsing

 

[jaysonsmom]

Where I live in so Cal, and among my peers, I'd say 100K (single income) is average and 200K(single income) would be high paying.

 

[Kaleigh]

My refrerence is towards kids just graduating college. DD has worked for a well know investment firm, high net wealth is their focuss. She's the anaylyst for the team. She works very long hours but also gets 4 weeks of vacation. Her salary is as much as the swanky suits on Wall Street. She went to London school of Economics, minored in Urban studies and was a leaderfor fundraising for the senior class to give back to Penn. She found this job on Penn's website and got it. She loves it. I live close by so we can seak off for a quick lunch.

 

[packrat]

Here in the Land of Corn, JD left what we thought of as a nicely paying job and turned down a VERY well paying job, for a not too bad paying job. I'll be working full time now tho, and that will put us back in the nicely paying job category. High paying here would be 70+, nice paying here would be about 50+.

 

[HollyS]

Here in central Texas, 75K would be a good job. Not a "high" paying job, but much more than average. I make a bit less, but still have what is considered a good salary - - especially for a woman without a degree in accounting (my field).

HIgh paying jobs here would be 100K and up. But that same salary would not be considered "high" in Dallas or Houston.