[brettgriffin]

I was making $35/hr (~$70k) a year as a department manager in a grocery store while I still in college. And that was 20 years ago.

I just helped a friend's wife (late 20s) apply and interview for a general administration position in a tier 3 city. She didn't study anything important and sort of just floundered for a few years after college doing various temp jobs. She ended up getting the job makes about $90k now. They thought I did some sort of a magic trick or something.

That seems great until you realize that fast food and grocery stores are paying new hires $22-27/hr (so 45-54k). Again, if you have any degree of professionalism and work ethic you can move into some low ranking managerial position that is closer to $30-45/hr.

In short, $75k-100 is not a lot of money anymore and is pretty easy to get. It requires ignoring this learned helplessness and working hard.

[t-3]

Talking numbers doesn't sense without specifying the geography. Here in a Midwestern suburb, grocery stores are generally paying 13-16. Managers get low 20s. 100k is a great job here, most people can't get that even with a degree.

[brettgriffin]

It's all relative. Those areas have significantly lower costs of living.

[wryoak]

Having lived on the west coast, east coast, and all over the in between, you’re not right. But you’re not wrong either. The truth is far more complex. Consider the fact that most food in the Midwest is shipped from the coasts - everything the Midwest grows goes into either cars or cows. A west coast housing budget goes further in the Midwest, but a west coast grocery budget will come up short.