U.S. Salary 3

[lordkaos]

Hello,
I'm posting from italy.
My question regards u.s. salary.
I cannot understand what an u.s. 50k-60k entry level enginner salary means.
Is it a gross salary?
What is the net salary?
I mean, How much does an 50k-60k entry level engineer make a mounth, at the net of all?
Here in italy, on the average, an entry level engineer gains 1k euro at net.

 

[ivymike]

So the average entry-level engineer MONTHLY NET pay is $2500 - $3500 USD, depending on location, tax status, etc.

Wow, I wish I made that much. Probably shouldn't tip my hand too much, but I work in the automotive industry (design), have more than 6 years experience, and my net pay is in the lower/middle of the "entry level" range above.

 

[HgTX]

My starting gross was toward the bottom of that net range. Government job, civil engineering. I was making probably 2/3 to 3/4 of what my classmates were getting who went to private industry.

 

[YoungTurk]

I have to second ivymike. I'm a recent graduate in mechanics. My college recruiters liked to throw around those 50-60k numbers, but I took what I could after 6 months employed as a liquor clerk after graduation (with good GPA). My federal job salary is slightly more than half of what the recruiters referred to as "average starting salary" for my field. The benefits are nice, but I'd much rather take home the advertised salary!

Part of it was bad timing... but I don't think they average in the zeros when they figure out this "average starting salary"! So my advice is- don't believe salary figures unless they are coming from somebody who's hiring!

 

[NickelMet]

Have to agree with what everyone else has said. Don't trust those "industry average" numbers. I worked in the metals industry for almost 12 years, both with steels and alloys. I have several certifications and was really among an elite crowd of melting/casting metallurgical engineers. Still didn't mean squat for take-home pay. When I left the metals industry over 2 years ago, the so-called average for supposedly "similar" positions in that industry was 25-35% higher than what I was making. From what I saw (through interviews and such), typically, the metal industry has depressed salaries for engineers (while giving them heavy responsibility and work load).

~NiM

 

[plasgears]

When you make the move, plan on a large metropolitan area. Some of the yokels in small towns still don't accept foreign nationals. It's a fact of life in the US.

Buon viaggio e' buon auguri!

 

[pmkPE]

I calculate that my net take-home is ~75% of my gross. After that it all depends on what the local cost of living and a person's standard of living requirements are.

 

[Tobalcane]

I just wanted to report that a two-bedroom Brookline ranch house (out side Boston) was just sold for a million-dollars.

Go Mechanical Engineering
Tobalcane

 

[Maui]

The housing prices in some parts of the US are outrageous. Last year I bought a beautiful 4 bedroom colonial with an attached two car garage, large inground pool, and 1+ acres of property with a truely stunning view in upstate New York for less than 150K. If this property were located in California or Florida, you couldn't touch it for less than 1 million dollars.

 

[davidinindy]

Wow! I just bought a beutifull 1876 historic home just outside of Indianapolis for $155k. I'm not a PE, but am working as a product engineer. I have 11 years experiance and a 2 year degree. I have taken a major pay cut from my 50-60 hour/week job, but work little overtime and am on salary now. Overall, except for not having the excess income to party with, I'm happier with more time with my family.
I also work for a Swiss-based company, who has different work ethics than the U.S. comapnies who tend to work you to death when times are good, then lay you off when times aren't. I also have great benifits, including 4 weeks vacation from the start.
I feel pain for anyone trying to find a job in the U.S. right now. There are so many out of work engineers that will work for peanuts just to get back into the job market.

 

[buzzp]

Just wanted to share my experience. I have had jobs in the reported salary range from the graduation. Maybe I am an exception or maybe because its in EE, I don't know.
Don't think you need to live in a metro area to make this wage either. I have been always employed in rural areas (South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana) where the pay is average (according to the polls) and the cost of living is cheap. I own a rather small house (1700sq ft with several out buildings and a half acre). It goes for around $125,000. All this in a state with no sales tax (yes they have an income tax). Of the three states mentioned above, Wyoming and South Dakota are better than Montana as far as costs are concerned.

 

[BSSgrunt]

I can attest to the idiocy of SoCal home prices. I live in a "fringe" neighborhood a couple miles from LAX. It's not the ghetto, but it's close to it; much closer than to the nicer, upscale beach communities. I may have the smallest house here: a bit under 800 square feet. 2 BR, 1 BA. It's over 60 years old and definitely a fixer. Based on what homes have been selling for in the past few months, this house right now is worth about $400k. A similar house up the street, with a non-permitted in-law quarters garage conversion, just sold this week for nearly $500k.
I strongly believe prices will come down a good 20% or more around here, as hot markets did back in '91-92. Who the heck can afford a 30-year, $2500/month mortgage for a 2 bedroom house? Certainly not us engineers! From reading posts like this I get the feeling that my salary is in line with national averages considering I have 6 years experience, which isn't a good thing when you look at the cost of living around here. If my house cost $150k and I had 2 more bedrooms, I'd be much better off obviously. Just wanted to throw in my $.02

PS It's an interesting mix in this neighboorhood of mine. It has become one of the nicer communities that professionals like myself can still "afford" to buy into, while there are quite a few older families here from more "blue collar" backgrounds that have been here for years. The middle-class is slowly moving in and some of the less privileged folks are slowly moving out, cashing in on the housing market.

 

[pavlik]

Guys,

I live in Queens, New York. A 2-bedroom/1-bath apt in Manhattan starts at $ 1,500,000. On top of mortgage you also pay a building maintenance fee (around $1,000 per month).
A 3,000 SF Townhouse would probably sell for $ 6,000,000.

Engineering salaries- probably in line with national averages. Now try and have a family in this city.

adios

 

[sms]

I received the following from Langer regarding their pay survey of ASME members. Based on this it appears that at least mechanical engineers that are members of the ASME are doing pretty well! Junior engineer has a median salary of $50000. That has got to be better than a cell phone salesman.....

This unique, 576-page publication reports the base salaries, other cash compensation, and total cash compensation of 8,963 members of ASME.

Nationwide, the median income of survey participants is $83,236.
The median income of some of the benchmark jobs investigated
were:

Research Director/Vice President ... $135,000
"Distinguished" Researcher ... $131,000
College/University Dept. Heads (11-12 mo. appt.) ...$125,000 Engineering Director/Vice President ... $123,100 Professor (11-12 month appointment) ... $120,000 Chief Marketing & Sales Executive ... $113,700 Environmental Manager ... $110,000 Consulting Branch Manager ... $103,500 Principal Consultant ... $102,000 Project Manager ... $95,000 Senior Engineer ... $84,000 Sales Representative ... $77,775 Intermediate Researcher ... $70,000 Project Engineer ... $63,775 Junior Researcher ... $50,047 Junior Engineer ... $50,000 Junior Consultant ... $42,700

 

[johnwiss]

All lordkaos wants to know is what Gross and/or net pay is--Gross means before taxes and net means after taxes. Gross means the same thing no matter where you are--all salaries are always quoted as "gross" quantities. figure your true net pay is about 60-65% of the gross value on the average. Home ownership is the best investment these days since the interest on a loan is typically a lot less than the appreciation of a home--and you get to keep all the appreciation tax-free (up to over a million dollars of profit thru the sale of the home).

Least affordable places I know of with lots of high-tech jobs: SF Bay area, Orange County CA, San Diego CA, New York City, Los Angeles suburbs.

 

[NickelMet]

Good point Johnwiss. The thread did seem to get off track, but I think it is very good information, so I'll add my 2-cents.

NSPE released the 2004 salary survey earlier this week. It made me feel really good. For the first time in a 14 year career, I was a little over average. Here's the link to the website:

http://nspe.salaries.com

(You have to purchase the survey.)

For me, my job (plant engineer) is considered a Level 4 (GS11) engineer. (See the website for details.) The average salary for the southeast area of the country is ~$57000/yr (gross) with ~$4800/yr bonus pay (again gross). For this area of the country, as long as you're not living within a large metro area, that's a decent salary. (But as always, could be better...) And, health/company benefits can always make or break you.

As far as housing, I've been looking to build a new house and may have hit a gold mine. A 3000+ square foot home (new construction) and 30 acres of woodland (hills, a stream, and some flat land) is probably going to run me less than $200k to get built (including a long paved driveway). Typical houses in the area start around $40/sq ft to build and can run to $150/sq ft if you get fancy. I'd say the average is somewhere around $50-75/sq ft. Land is another story. I just happened to get very lucky. Typical 1 acre lot in a nice subdivision is ~$25000 to $40000. Sometimes living in a rural area has its privileges.

Again, my 2-cents...

~NiM

 

[RGS1]

Salaries / Housing......Salaries / Housing......Where to live?......Where to Work?.....Work in the city....bigger salary.....higher cost of living (smaller house).....Work in the burbs....people from the city move to the burbs......housing costs rise......cannot afford the burbs.....move out of the burbs and into the country......lower paying job in the country.....housing affordable till burb people move to the country (country becomes burbs)......have to commute to the city for higher paying job......transportation costs rise.....travel time increases......NO LEASURE TIME......not getting ahead...just staying even....BETTER JUST TO STAY WHERE YOU ARE MOST TIMES....The grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence………Oh yeah……..2 income family a plus. Just sold our farm in PA for $185,000 (3000 sq/ft 5 bdrm house with 2 large barns on 2 acres) major $$$$ for upkeep and 4hrs/week mowing grass.....purchased 2200 sq/ft townhouse for $125,000 (maintenance free...whoopie)........Oh sorry.......got away from the origianl question.

 

[mshimko]

Another, perhaps better source for salary information is

http://www.salary.com.

This is a free service (a limited number of queries per day limit, though) that I found very useful when my daughter was searching and finally evaluating job offers after graduation. You enter the field, level of experience, and the geographic area.

The NSPE survey, which I obtained once a decade ago, is (or was) limited to those members of NSPE who responded to the survey, and hence is probably biased somewhat toward the higher earners.