Entry Level Starting Salary Questions

[Eagle]

A. What is the average entry-level starting salary in your field?

B. Do you remember what the entrey-level starting salary was when you first started in your field?

C. Do you know of any good resources for looking up the U.S. national entry level starting salaries?

[TheCudder]

A. I suppose this would vary by location.

B. I personally started at $25K (Alabama).

C. Indeed.com is a good source for looking up average salaries by job title. Glassdoor.com is a good way to see by company/title.

[ua_guy]

Indeed and Glassdoor mentioned above are good resources.

It's really going to depend on location, skill, field, job title and responsibilities, the company itself, and about a zillion other factors. In reality, the market generally sets a general salary range, and then you negotiate into that.

To answer the questions:

a) Entry level is about $35k/year in my field
b) It was maybe slightly less than that when I started about 7-8 years ago (see also: wage stagnation).
c) See explanation above.

[corn18]

Ensign in the Navy with flight pay and housing benefits:

1988: $21,411.60 / year (still have my pay stubs from then)
2013: $49,654.08 / year

The military publishes all pay charts to include benefits. You always know what the other person is making.

Tom

[Eagle]

Would've been good to consider these questions when I was younger. Might have helped some of my peers as well. This may be particularly useful for those contemplating or in college.

This was the latest source I found... Check out this link on May 2013 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates and the “Annual Mean Wage” column or click on a specific occupation title for more details. Didn't know if there was anything better or more recent out there that people found helpful. I'll check out Indeed or Glassdoor.

When I worked in retail sales and first started $25,370 was below what I made. Probably because I worked 55+ hours a week and this was before the 2008 bubble burst. Then as the economy slowed down and sales became tougher as prices came down I made closer the the annual mean median at 25.3k. I probably wouldn't have chosen to work in retail had I known this (average mean wage) going into the job market.

I probably would've considered getting a degree in finance or accounting instead of management too.

[Eagle]

A. Currently entry level in my industry is about 40k.
B. I've been in this industry for less than 5 years. So the same still applies.
C. provided link above on national wage estimates from May of 2013.

Another good resource would be payscale.com

[skip17py]

A) $50,000-$110,000 completely depending on location.
B) I haven't been working that long.

[TheMom]

A. What is the average entry-level starting salary in your field?

B. Do you remember what the entrey-level starting salary was when you first started in your field?

C. Do you know of any good resources for looking up the U.S. national entry level starting salaries?

A. Average is about $60k for automotive engineer
B. I started at $48k in 1996.
C. nope

[Singuy]

1. My first job (pharmacist): 108k (range: 90-140k)
2. Now I'm making 125k 5 years later
3. See above post

[dczech09]

A. What is the average entry-level starting salary in your field?

B. Do you remember what the entrey-level starting salary was when you first started in your field?

C. Do you know of any good resources for looking up the U.S. national entry level starting salaries?

Premium Auditor

A.) Average is about $55,000

B.) When I started (about 4 years ago) I was making $42,000 as entry-level. Now I make between $60,000 and $65,000 depending on bonuses

C.) Glassdoor, Indeed, Get Raised

[falboe]

A) I suppose this would vary by location.
B) I haven't been working that long.

[bigdaddybus]

A) 47500 (47500-132000 range currently) after 12 yrs I make 92K
B) 43000 in 2002 (43000-125000 range then)
C) no

Also my employer has locations with a 10% salary premium. (Dallas is one of them)

A. What is the average entry-level starting salary in your field?

B. Do you remember what the entrey-level starting salary was when you first started in your field?

C. Do you know of any good resources for looking up the U.S. national entry level starting salaries?

[normajean]

The Department of Labor Statistics gives you a range for each profession.