Portland Salary Inquiry - What is a "good salary"? (Beaverton: sales, 2015)

[SAnderson1983]

Originally Posted by Leisesturm

Leisesturm, thank you. And Metlakatla does not know me well enough to make statements like that with any authority. The o.p. was in poor taste. Period. Someone earning $130K has either a financial planner or a tax accountant. It also is well known that in the U.S. with respect to COL there is NYC, HI and the rest of the country. A "good salary" in CA is also a "good salary" in OR and anywhere else in the country a COL of around 110 prevails. That would be nearly all of it.

Umm LeiseSTURM (sorry, we most definitely do not have a financial planner or anything like that, and we do our taxes through H&R block. And it is most definitely not "well-known" in the U.S. that a salary of 110k can support a family of 3.... 130k is not a great salary in the Bay Area, it is average (in fact, it is the exact median family income of our city). I am sorry you found it in poor taste to talk about money/salary on here, but I disagree, as this is an anonymous forum and I just wanted some opinions. You do not need to continue reading this thread if it bothers you so. Thanks and be well .

[Leisesturm]

Originally Posted by ccjarider

Personally, I would never go backwards in salary as you may never regain current position and it affects so much later (401K match, SS earnings, bonus tied to salary etc). I can only imagine the mental gymnastics one goes through later when a lowball offer is accepted.

I didn't even want to go there. Does this even make sense to you? Is it even possible to make an offer in the 90's to someone well over 100K? Where is that possible? Where do people (even online) reveal personal financial information for public comment? This forum has become a haven for trolls because they get so well fed here.

[Metlakatla]

This is primarily a relocation forum. Naturally, salaries and COL matter when people are considering a move. Those subjects are mentioned here quite often.

This must be a special treat for your, Leisestrum -- two posters in 24 hours for you to wag your finger at. Why aren't you working?

[SAnderson1983]

Originally Posted by ccjarider

Only you can decide on this.
No one knows your personal situation.

Personally, I would never go backwards in salary as you may never regain current position and it affects so much later (401K match, SS earnings, bonus tied to salary etc). I can only imagine the mental gymnastics one goes through later when a lowball offer is accepted.

In the end, the company has a range and either you will fit in the range or not.
First rule of negotiation is never provide a #. Let the company provide an offer.

Whenever I was asked this question, I always provide a "non answer" answer like "I expect to be fairly compensated for the position as I understand it based on the JD and this interview. I am sure your company HR understands local wage rates and will be fair in any offer."

Good luck

Thanks for the tips - I like your non-answer, I wish I would have read that earlier. HR asked for a "number that you feel comfortable with" so we just kind of panicked and gave one (can you tell that we are not the best at numbers and negotiations ?) . Husband's current base salary is actually 110k (bumped up to 130k by quarterly bonuses), so technically we didn't go backwards in it, even though the potential Portland company does not do any bonuses at all, so we will be taking a loss and we counted that into a cheaper rent/living expense. Thanks again for answering!

[SAnderson1983]

Originally Posted by Leisesturm

I didn't even want to go there. Does this even make sense to you? Is it even possible to make an offer in the 90's to someone well over 100K? Where is that possible? Where do people (even online) reveal personal financial information for public comment? This forum has become a haven for trolls because they get so well fed here.

Leisesturm, calm down, I am just revealing salary figures and asking for some opinions. I am not revealing any binding personal information, names, ect....I don't understand how anonymously sharing a current and potential salary is so shocking...? Regarding making an offer in the 90s to someone who makes over 100k, this has not happened yet - the final offer has not happened yet and again, this was a hypothetical scenario that I thought might occur and I wanted to be prepared if it did, that's all. As for the trolls, I'm not trying to be mean, but YOU seem like the only troll around here :/....

[PDXNative2Houston]

Originally Posted by Leisesturm

Leisesturm, thank you. And Metlakatla does not know me well enough to make statements like that with any authority. The o.p. was in poor taste. Period. Someone earning $130K has either a financial planner or a tax accountant. It also is well known that in the U.S. with respect to COL there is NYC, HI and the rest of the country. A "good salary" in CA is also a "good salary" in OR and anywhere else in the country a COL of around 110 prevails. That would be nearly all of it.

What are you talking about? The OP is curious what sort of lifestyle they could live on 110K given the size of their family in a part of the country they don't know.

What good would anyone get out bragging about how much they make on an internet forum? People need to put away their insecurities...it's ok not everyone gets out of the bottom bracket of income but the best things in life are free

[Yankeemama]

I am from San Francisco and live in Portland, Oregon so I am pretty familiar with COL on both areas. My family still lives in S.F. and other parts of the Bay Area and yes, it is so expensive. An income of $80,000.+ for s family of three will be so much relaxing for you and comfortable here in Portland compared to S.F. or L.A. The lifestyle is quite different as well, so you wil naturally spend less money as people tend to be less into the materialistic vibe IMO. You can and will find materialistic neighborhoods and pockets here, of course, but it's way more laid back. My family is very happy here and we moved from NYC over five years ago.

[patches403]

Yes, you should be able to live comfortably in the Portland metro on $110,000 a year. It wouldn't be considered a rich lifestyle here and you would be priced out of the more upscale neighborhoods in the metro, but $110,000 should be able to easily get you a home in an area with good schools.

The biggest piece of advice is to buy a home close to wherever your husband will be working; at the very least buy on the same side of the Willamette; the traffic here is much much worse than it was when you lived here and having to cross the river and/or the West Hills will give him a significant commute. I'm assuming your husband probably works in Tech? If so, most of the cities on the West side of the metro have good to great schools although they aren't all good so check school ratings before you rent or buy. Don't look in Oregon City if he will be working downtown or on the West side.

I seem to remember seeing an article linked on this board in the last few months on how much household salary it takes in certain cities to live an average middle class lifestyle and for Portland the income amount was around $77,000.

[58rhodes]

2mill a year would be pretty good

[Nell Plotts]

If you have given a quote less than your husband's current salary I wouldn't go lower than that.