$25k is close to what international students in the US get paid on average. Postdoctoral fellows get $50k on average. All of them get by, many with families.

I think I'm out of touch then. I thought US had high cost of living everywhere and that people would struggle financially unless they made about $100k per year. At least that's the impression I got while reading salary discussions here.

Is this only true in big cities? Is this true at all?

I live in Florida. Miami, Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville are our largest cities, with Jacksonville being the most populous (though it's only #20 nationally.)

Median household income in Florida is $62k/yr. This includes the 13% of our population of 22 million who are in poverty and the about 7% on government food assistance (SNAP). I have personally lived on less than $20k/year as a younger, single man with low cost housing.

Florida is in the bottom third of states by median household income. DC, Maryland, and some of the northeastern states have median household income in the high-80s to just over $90k, but no state in the US is at $100k median. California is at $85k/yr.

To answer your question, HN has a higher than average population of young, childless, city-dwelling people with good education, well-paying careers, and relatively expensive tastes ($8+ cups of coffee, etc.) If they suddenly made the median salary for their state, they would likely struggle financially for a bit.

I don’t live in an expensive area but the general move towards $15/hr minimum has either caused or been a really strong indicative symptom of something like a collapse in the value of wages. A lot of people doubled their wages nearly overnight here, while myself making $25 did not see a raise at all.

I was an account manager at a MSP making $25 and I remember seeing a sign for a rural bar “line cook wanted $25/hour”. Tried to use that as a bargaining chip to show him how bad it was and he told me to go work at the bar if I wanted the same money for less work. No, I’d like to be gain experience and be treated like a professional, please.

Point being, $50K ain’t shit. Even in rural areas.

> Tried to use that as a bargaining chip to show him how bad it was and he told me to go work at the bar if I wanted the same money for less work. No, I’d like to be gain experience and be treated like a professional, please.

That should’ve been your hint to start looking for a new role asap. If negotiation fails, bounce as fast as you can.