Those nurse salaries are median though, right? It's a terrible comparison. How many nurses get 120k plus shares? My wife is in health care (Physical Therapy)

Those nurse salaries are median though, right? It's a terrible comparison. How many nurses get 120k plus shares? My wife is in health care (Physical Therapy) and makes 80k+ which is a bit higher than my own salary, but that's it. No benefits (such as stock, etc), and no chance of higher pay. 80k is about it (she's a clinic director with a large company). I can get half again her salary by commuting 1+ hour a day instead of my 20 minute commute, but she doesn't have that option. The pay in Seattle is pretty much the pay in Tacoma. In fact, she works outside of Tacoma in a small town, so her pay is actually higher than in Seattle, where in web development, that's not the case. Tacoma hires "ninja javascript developers" as low as 35k (according to listings in craigslist that I've seen, and in fact, my first job out of college in the immediate Tacoma area - Gig Harbor - started at 15/hr with a "promise" of 20/hr after 90 days; which turned into 17/hr) So, I don't disagree with your points, but nurses and PTs have a lower ceiling than software engineers. By far.