“Salary Transparent Street”: People Are Revealing How Much They Get Paid And What Job They Do

It's all relative. I don't know where in UK you are but you have to compare your salary to your expenses. In NY making 100k a year is a minimum wage because after taxes (fed, state and city) and your 4k a month rent you barely have enough to eat.

Lets not forget to factor in the human element. Not everyone is honest. Some may have inflated their salaries when asked so they dont look "broke" or unsuccessful. People do all the time. The average salary in the US is around $55K a year...so some of these folks are most likely simply being dishonest.

How much is your rent and how much do you pay in taxes? Also, in the US many people have to buy their own insurance, which can be several thousand a month.

When I was offered a 32k job in London I thought I was doing really well. Then I realized I couldn't even afford to use heating in my apartment. I am not reckless with money, I just had a small child in nursery.

This is two specific cities that both have a high cost of living. The US is a big country, cost of living can vary widely.

One thing I'm curious about with UK (and any other non-US Pandas that wish to chime in), how is retirement handled there? You hear a lot of us in the US talking about how much we pay for our healthcare and student loans. Another large factor in my budget is retirement savings. We have a pension system called Social Security, but it doesn't pay enough to live on. 6.2% of our paycheck is withheld to contribute to it, another few percent for Medicare. The same amount comes from the employer. Different rules apply for high incomes, but this is how it is for most people. Self employed people are on the hook for the whole 15.4%. Despite paying all this, the amount we will receive when we are older is not enough to live on, especially since Medicare doesn't cover 100% of our medical and nothing for general old age care. Many of us contribute to separate retirement plans (401K, IRA) which offer tax-deferred savings. All in all, about a quarter of my gross pay goes into retirement savings.

I'm not sure about this comparison but these answers might be more akin to people that live in London. They're much higher than normal. Also in the US we say how much we make before taxes are taken out, not sure if that makes a difference. Where I live, you can cut those numbers by1/2 to 2/3rds if you want an average. Here $12 an hour is minimum. $15 an hour is survival. $18 is decent and $20+ is generally good. Some people make a much higher amount.

That area is super expensive. We also pay a pretty decent tax rate. Dc housing is in the millions. We have brutal health care cost

this is not typical for the southern US. Believe me.... we make much less.

You know jn thr US you have to pay for everything out of pocket? Not like there are many subsidised services they can choose from

DC in front of an upscale shopping area, this is not normal for the US.