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Do you get paid the same as in NYC? I get recruited by companies in the midwest who tout that the cost of living is half of NYC. But, they also pay half as muc
by rdouble 15y ago
Do you get paid the same as in NYC?
I get recruited by companies in the midwest who tout that the cost of living is half of NYC. But, they also pay half as much as NYC, no relo package available. Whenever I do the math I still come out ahead in NYC.
The other downside I have found is that there are usually only one or two interesting companies and the rest is enterprise software.
- bretthoerner 15y ago> The other downside I found is that there are usually only one or two interesting companies and the rest is enterprise software. I moved from SF to Austin last year and have found this to be true.
- joe-mccann 15y agoI don't necessarily agree with this. I used to work at frog design and am now 100% independent (doing consulting/contract work). There are loads of companies from startups like Gowalla and Whaleshark to more established companies like Facebook and BazaarVoice. On top of that, there are some what I would consider "serious" startups with quality founders and funding, like Spacecraft and Mass Relevance.
- bretthoerner 15y agoThis is just proof that "interesting" is very subjective. :)
- joe-mccann 15y agogood point.
- ktsmith 15y agoI was under the impression that the Facebook presence in Austin was a sales office. Do they have engineering there now?
- joe-mccann 15y agoMy net income was significantly higher after leaving NYC. Let's put it that way =)
- rdouble 15y agoWhich I take to mean no, but you pay less in rent or mortgage.
- joe-mccann 15y agoSo if you make $140k in NYC, but only take home say $95k. Or you make $120k, but take home $95k. Then it's about the same. Now factor in cost of living. The $$ in your pocket is higher. If you more concerned with the nominal/gross dollar amount as opposed to net income, I feel you are looking at the wrong metric.
- rdouble 15y agoThanks. I was just asking because I have a program I use to calculate the actual net pay. Most of the time when people propose these sorts of moves to me, they either did not do the math, or their math is factoring in other CoL adjustments I don't care about, or they are actually lying. It's almost never been a decision between $120K in the Midwest vs. $140K in NYC. More like $75K in the Midwest. FWIW it looks like $120K in Austin is indeed almost exactly the same take-home as $140K in NYC. Austin you would make about 20 more dollars per week.
- joe-mccann 15y agoAre you asking me to share my specific income? That's not gonna happen. Let's do some hypotheticals. $140k in NYC (this is a common salary/comp) $120k in Austin (this is a common salary/comp) Nominal dollar amounts, yes, $20k is dollar for dollar, less. But now, factor in your taxes (NY State tax, Kings County, etc.) That $140k is now significantly less. Factor in cost of living being TWICE as much (literally, my rent per sq ft was more than twice what it was in Austin). You now are TAKING HOME less money. So when I said net income, that's what I meant. If you're more concerned with a higher salary and less net income, then, well good luck to ya. I prefer to have more $$ in my pocket after it's all said and done.