Two days ago, a Redditor asked New York City residents what they do for a living and what they earn for it. We combed through the entire thread to pull out more than 130 salaries and occupations, and listed them below in ascending order. The result, though not perfectly representative of the city as a whole, is still pretty interesting — you can see the disparities between fields (EMT earns $31,000, mobile-app writer earns $150,000) and even within fields (one paralegal makes $37,000, another makes $120,000).
Warning: There’s a good chance you’re going to feel bad about yourself when you get down to the bottom.
$155/day: “Substitute teacher for NYC public schools”
$9,000: “part time in retail”
$10,000ish: “Stay-at-home-dad, occasional writer”
$19,000: “Development Assistant at a nonprofit”
$25,000: “grad student”
$26,000: “various kinds of dog care”
$27,000: “Server at a small restaurant in West Village”
$30,000: “Graphic designer for an arts / education non-profit”
$31,000: “FDNY EMT”
$32,000: “Non profit work”
$32,000: “Grad student in the sciences”
$33,000: “Medical student”
$33,000: “Receptionist/Administrative Assistant at boutique accounting firm”
$34,000: “Ebook maker at one of the Big Six”
$34,000: “FT hospital clerk”
$34,000: “Administrative Assistant with a slightly fancier title”
$35,000: “Grant writer at a nonprofit”
$37,000: “Paralegal “
$38,000: “Account Manager/sales/marketing at a small IT firm”
$38,000: “IT Systems tech person at a University”
$40,000: “Part time tech … work 6 days a month”
$40,000: “Media Relations/PR”
$40,000: “I work in recruiting”
$40,00 (plus bonus): “Fraud Manager at a tech company”
$40,000: “Expediter for a big restaurant in Williamsburg”
$40,000: “Church music director” (part-time)
$40,000: “Marketing Coordinator”
$40,000 to $47,000: “inside sales at a Training Company”
$40,000 (plus bonus): “graphic artist for a fashion company”
$40,000: “Staffer in the video department of a newspaper”
$42,000: “Quant Trading Desk(finance)”
$42,000: “television”
$42,000: “journalist/editor”
$42,000: “LPN”
$42,000: “Office Admin”
$43,000: “Assistant Construction Manager”
$44,000: “Cargo handler for an airline”
$45,000: “sculpture fabricator”
$45,000: “Administrative Assistant at small real estate management company”
$45,000: “45k, UX Designer”
$45,000: “uneducated labor”
$47,000: “anti-hunger nonprofit”
$48,000: “Genius at the Apple store”
$49,000: “Archivist for local gov’t agency”
$50,000ish: “E-commerce analyst”
$50,000: “Medical resident”
$50,000 (plus bonus): “Manage a small contemporary fashion showroom”
$50,000: “I run a gym full-time and teach yoga on the side”
$52,000: “sales for an IT recruiting agency”
$52,000: “Operations Supervisor”
$53,000: Permalance “for a Marketing/Communications agency
$54,000: “scientist”
$55,000: “IT help desk”
$55,000: “Geotechnical instrumentation engineer”
$55,000 (plus benefits): “IT consultant … at a major investment bank”
$57,000 to $60,000: “Executive Assistant to the CEO”
$59,000: “Sharepoint / C# ASP.NET Developer”
$60,000: “3D graphic designer”
$60,000: “Research Associate/Program Coordinator at a large hospital”
$62,000: “public school teacher”
$63,000: “Web Analyst”
$65,000: “Bone marrow technologist”
$65,000 to $90,000: “R&D research consultant”
$65,000 to $70,000: “Research librarian in BigLaw”
$65,000: “Front end dev at a tech company”
$67,000: “Journalist”
$69,000: “Civil Engineer”
$69,000: “Digital Producer for an advertising agency”
$70,000: “Media buyer”
$70,000: “freelance writer/editor”
$70,000: “mechanical engineer - consulting in hvac/cx/sustainability”
$70,000: “semi-freelance print graphic designer/production at a big publisher”
$70,000 (plus bonus): “marketing and research for a boutique consulting firm”
$71,000: “Web Dev … in a pretty small company”
$72,000: “I create visuals from logos to animation”
$72,000 (plus bonus): “Mechanical engineer”
$74000: “Market research”
$75,000 (plus commission):”Account guy at ad agency”
$75,000: “Sommelier”
$79,000 (after taxes): “Freelance and FT at a famous fashion brand”
$80,000: “Middle office at a top tier IB”
$80,000 (plus bonus): “UX Designer”
$80,000: “Digital Advertising Operations for Tech Start-Up”
$80,000: “Cartographer”
$82,000: “Market research in the B2B technology world”
$82,000 (plus bonus): “Office manager at private fund”
$85,000: “Film Electric”
$85,000 (plus bonus): “Consultant so not salaried”
$89,000: “graphic designer”
$90,000: “magazine researcher/fact checker”
$90,000: “Copywriter for digital agency”
$92,000: “In-House Print Production Specialist at big fashion retailer”
$92,000: “Business Analyst (specializing in salesforce.com)”
$95,000 (plus bonus): “Online Advertising”
$98,000: “Sr. Systems and Storage Administrator”
$100,000 (plus bonus): “IT Business Analyst”
$100,000 to $120,000: “Paralegal at BigLaw firm”
$100,000: “Assistant costume designer TV/film”
$110,000 to $115,000: “Web Developer”
$110,000 to $120,000 (plus bonus): “Mobile application engineer”
$120,000: “Software Engineer. Roughly $120k”
$120,000: “Data Scientist”
$120,000: “IT Consultant”
$130,000: “Product Manager at a tech startup”
$140,000: “video editor/producer, freelance”
$140,000: “TV Editor”
$140,000: “I work for an Amazon subsidiary”
$140,000: “mobile software developer”
$145,000: “Advertising”
$150,000: “I write mobile apps (not freelance)”
$160,000 (plus bonus): “Lawyer ”
$180,000: “banking accountant”
$185,000: “Risk Analyst at a bank”
$200,000: “writer in advertising”
$200,000: “mortgage bond trader”
$250,000: “blogs, SEO, and internet marketing”
$350,000: “executive at a software company”
$426,000: “I own a 3 businesses, and 4 apartment buildings”
