Why a middle-class lifestyle on the coasts costs $300,000

CNBC ^ | April 27, 2018 | Sam Dogen

[nwrep]

Who makes $300,000 a year?

•A Bay Area Rapid Transit janitor made $234,000 + $36,000 in benefits in 2016

•A Bay Area Rapid Transit elevator technician made $235,814 + $48,429 in benefits in 2016

•Starting salaries for 22 year old employees at Facebook, Google, and Apple range from ($80,000 – $120,000) + ($10,000 – $50,000) in annual equity grants.

•30 year old first year Associate in banking earns $150,000 in base salary + ($0 – $120,000) in bonus

•A 26 year old Airbnb employee shared he got a $250,000 total compensation package back in 2015

•A 26 year old first year law associate at a firm like Cravath make $180,000 base + $20,000 sign on bonus. By the end of their 6th year they are making over $300,000

•A 29 year old Director of Marketing at a startup makes between $120,000 – $180,000

•A personal finance blogger with 500,000 pageviews earns between $150,000 – $600,000

•A 42 year old college professor at Berkeley makes $235,000 on average and $279,000 at Columbia and NYU

•The average specialist doctor finishing his or her fellowship at 32 makes $300,000. The average salary for a primary care physician is $200,000

•A 26 year old middle school teacher making $55,000 a year plus her $250,000 a year VP of Marketing wife

•A 56 year old high school athletic director making $100,000 a year plus his $200,000 a year management consultant husband

[wrcase]

Not only that, but what the hell does a high school athletic director do to make 100K a year? Why does a high school need an AD for anyway?

[Ikeon]

Never begrudge what another person makes. jealousy is a gateway to hate..

[irishjuggler]

Well, my high school had an AD. They hired the coaches & assistants, coordinated which teams used which fields for practice, ordered uniforms, etc. Not the hardest gig in the world, but somewhat necessary for a school with a big sports program. Not worth a 100 large, though.

[crusher2013]

The public employee retirement packages are outrageous and its not hateful to point that out.

They are making slaves of everyone else.

At some point they are going to collapse and its going to hurt a lot of innocent people.

[i_robot73]

*Nothing* on the cost of govt? Taxes\fines\fees? OSHA\EPA\reg. red-tape?

1950’s it took a SINGLE bread-winner for accomplish:
- Owning home
- Owning car
- 2 TVs
- save for college
- take vacation
- etc

[Mears]

You must have been rich——I don’t know one person who had 2 TVs in the 50s.

.

[neverevergiveup]

"This is how capitalism works. You get a good education and you can make lots of money. Those jobs are private companies. Some here sound like liberals who complain about CEOs making to much. Instead of complaining, apply for ceo positions. Everyone has choices and if you don’t like the choices you made, change them!!!!!"

I understand your point, but not all those jobs listed are private sector, and as you know, the average salary these days (not to mention pension and benefits) is higher for the public sector than the private. In this particular story, they cite a Bay area transit janitor making close to $300,000/year in salary and benefits. You and I pay for public sector jobs, and there has to be some sanity involved or it is unsustainable.

[Thank You Rush]

Hey - that creepy “thing” at Fresno State bragged about making $100,000 annually all on the CA taxpayers. All Alumni should cut off their contributions to the university and pull their kids out except I guess they are all of a kind who would patronize a place that would hire someone like THAT!

[Thank You Rush]

What city is that? Nothing I can recognize..

[Thank You Rush]

Our first one was in 1959 - used for $50.00....

[US_MilitaryRules]

That’s what it take to live in commiefornia! Over 60% in taxes leaves you chump change.

[Mears]

“Our first one was in 1959 - used for $50.00....”

---

Huge pieces of furniture with a small screen and an antenna——those were the days.

.

[RegulatorCountry]

You’re replying to someone prone to patting himself on the back for his “wisdom” in having a gold-plated pension, used to poor-talk about the electric bills in his 6 bedroom house in DC, now retired to Florida and working on a second pension.

[Amish with an attitude]

“What will happen if (when) interest rates rise?”

Government debt will become impossible to service thus ushering in a sovereign debt crisis.

[Elsie]

Yes; but women STILL don’t get equal pay for equal work.

[Balding_Eagle]

That’s been debunked about a million times.

No educated person believes that, and you shouldn’t either

[nwrep]

NYC, view from so-called Brooklyn Bridge Park.

[SamAdams76]

What you are looking at is a tiny slice of lower Manhattan from Brooklyn, just across the East River.

By the way, much of Brooklyn is now very gentrified. It's right up there with the Upper East Side in terms of wealth.

[Ikeon]

The retirement benefits are what they are. Why wasn't this fixed before it got out of hand? otoh.. No use being outraged over someone Else's fiscal mismanagement of city funds. tell me honestly, you wouldn't accept a 60k a month retirement check? The man jumped thru all the hoops, worked 30 years and crossed his T's and dotted his I’s, did what the city/union asked of him to get that payday. Don't beat a man up because he legally milked the system. At least he didn't embezzle it..

[Ikeon]

i got on the wrong subject, thought this was the retirement thread where the retired fire chief was getting almost 1m a year at age 50.. Don't begrudge a man his right-full wages. If they could hire street sweepers for 10 bucks an hour don't you think they would? Its a union job and it will dry up as soon as san-fran goes broke.