Comments on: From MSN: 30 Jobs That Pay at Least $80,000 Per Year

By: Kris

Kris — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 01:18:12 +0000

I just graduated from MecE, working in the petroleum industry, started at $75000 CAD (excluding bonus, etc.). Trouble is I have $25000 loans, which I am making $1000/mth on…yuck.

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:34:37 +0000

Just graduated as a chem E and I’m at 60K, a little below average. I need to get up to that 89K figure.

By: GE Miller

GE Miller — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:08:14 +0000

Wow, management analyst sounds like a cushy job! Let me research best practices and tell you what to do and rake in over $80K. I can handle that one.

By: Shaun

Shaun — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:15:05 +0000

@ Financial Samurai

Your statement is too general (it implies that a fast food worker with 5 years of experience will make 80k), and your example is too specific…

It really has a lot of factors, such as the field you are in, the city you live in, your highest education level, and of course your ability to do a good job.

@Credit Card Chaser

The only way I would agree is if you are only talking about jobs in large cities, and people with a least a graduate level degree.

By: Credit Card Chaser

Credit Card Chaser — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:13:16 +0000

@ Financial Samurai

I think that you are exactly right. Anyone that went to a halfway decent school with 5 years of work experience in any of those professions should definitely be making at least $80k otherwise there has been some poor choices made along the way.

By: Financial Samurai

Financial Samurai — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:59:03 +0000

Is it just me, or am I wrong to believe that most every who’s working after 5 years is making at least $80,000/yr?

28 year old MBA students out of Top 25 schools are all making $90-$140K/yr for example.

What are your thoughts?

By: Shaun

Shaun — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:45:12 +0000

These are defintely averaged salaries. I started working in the engineering field about 4.5 years ago. There is no way an engineer with just a bachelor’s degree can expect to make more than 80k starting (unless they went to M.I.T. or CalTech, but even that is a stretch…)

I just had a friend who recently earned his Electrical Engineering PhD from USC (a highly respected engineering school in Southern California) and his starting salary is a little over 90k (and this is in California, where salaries are about 10% than national average to try to account for cost of living).

@ladam8518: Do you live in an area with an extremely low cost of living? If not, that seems like a pretty low salary. If you consistently are getting good performance reviews, you should talk to your boss about your salary. If you are willing to try somewhere new, start applying for new jobs. If you get an offer, you can either take it or use it as a bargaining chip for a higher salary. Of course, be sure that you are willing to leave, before looking down that path! Good Luck

By: JB

JB — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:35:19 +0000

Your wife is a chemical engineer? I’m a ChE with 4 years of experience, making around $125k now.

By: Z

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:25:03 +0000

I don’t know where they get these numbers but none of these salary report articles reflect real life….

By: ladam8518

ladam8518 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:04:10 +0000

I must be doing something wrong… 5 years in the field as a chemical engineer and $60k salary is all I can show for it.