Think before you answer.

What would a $200,000 salary get you in New York, and what in Cleveland? Well, let's strip it down:

• What would be your purchasing power after accounting for the cost of living? New York's cost of living, for example, is double the national average.
• What about effective tax rates? The tax rate in New York is 25.4% for the $200K salary vs. a tax rate of 20.4% in Cleveland for the $100K salary.
• Different inflation rates? May annual inflation rate in New York metropolitan area was 4.8%, in Cleveland, the rate was 3%.

All these should be considered before deciding. So, have you changed your answer?

Let's start by saying that if you have that choice (of making a six figure salary), then congratulations are in order. You are part of the 5% of Americans who do (according to 2004 census reports). But the real question is - where do you live?

CNNMoney.com used data from 6FigureJobs.com and TheLadders.com to figure out the equivalent of $100,000 after adjusting for the cost of living in the top cities that have the largest numbers of six figures jobs listings. In New York, a $100,000 equivalent salary would require a salary of over $205,000, in Boston more than $137,000, about $101,000 in Cleveland and less than $89,000 in Houston.

So while many six figure jobs are indeed offered in higher cost of living areas, there are still many cities such as Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Cleveland and Denver as well as a few others that also have relatively high numbers of six figures jobs to offer. And as if that isn't enough to convince you, sometimes, just to attract talent, companies in those "lesser" cities would offer the same high salaries as in, say, New York.

Would you rather make $200K in NY, or $100K in Cleveland? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 15 Sep 2006 13:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Wal-Mart employs nearly as many people as the U.S. government, and its 1.3 million "associates" are so often the source of pity to the nation's economists. They make so little, it's said, they often can't afford to shop in their own low-priced employer's stores.

That makes news that starting pay will rise at about a third of Wal-Mart's U.S. stores, big. Wal-Mart says the range of starting hourly wages will increase an average of 6% but gave no details such as example starting pay. Additionally, the retail chain is instituting new wage caps on each type of job.

Interestingly, the Wal-Mart spokesperson responsible for this news spun the caps as a positive (paraphrase thanks to the AP): "the wage caps give current associates an incentive to move up to higher positions if they want to make more money." Umm... sure. Now employees must get more responsibility if they want more money, I suppose. In the abstract, it's a good thing, but having managed lots of people I've learned that not everyone is cut out for responsibility; the new caps will limit the lifetime earnings potential of thousands upon thousands of employees.

The Wal-Mart wage has new min and max originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 07 Aug 2006 15:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.