I’m 25 and make around 55k but the gas and cost of living make this number small. If I’m hurting my body and mind I should be able to chill and relax when I’m off. I would need 80-100 to do this

If you want to know how much someone with a professional degree would potentially make, you need to know what the degree is in, if there is a specialization (pediatrician vs anesthesiologist), where they would be living (urban, suburban, small town, and what state), and what town the job is in.

This is a tricky question to answer because of several factors. First off, there is a massive difference between median and average household income (median means in the middle, so half of all household would make more than the median, and the other half would make less). The average household income is around 87k, but the median is around 45k. Average single income is around 65k. Salaries can vary greatly by what degree you or do not have. Business, tech related, and engineering degrees tend to earn closet to the average. What town you work in can also have a huge impact on your salary. Where you live also makes a tremendous impact on your purchasing power. California's average household income is over 100k, but if you compare that to a family in Mississippi that also makes 100k, the difference is astounding. There are also a lot of other factors. For example, the level of taxation. The takehome pay for a Californian that makes 100k vs a Texan that makes 100k will be wildly different. This is because California has a state income tax while Texas does not.

It varies widely from state to state, and even from city to city within a state. In my city, the average annual salary is about $60,000 before taxes, but a studio apartment is about $1800-2300/month. The average home price is almost $600,000. Groceries and utilities for a single person run around $500/month. It does sound like a lot of purchasing power, but everything adds up. Most Americans are one major accident or illness away from losing everything they have and being homeless. We don’t have the social safety nets that a lot of other countries have. It’s a trade off.

It varies substantially by profession. Some professions have average wages near to 3k a month or less. Others may have average wages exceeding 10k a month. IT professionals almost always make more in the US than any other country

@Paul Jaramillo They also get zero benefits and claim nothing on taxes which hurt them

What kind of professional are you? Professional bartender? $4k per month is less than a middle school teacher makes in Florida.

Americans are only exceptional in bullshit and mass shootings.

The whole thing is a pyramid scheme based on a white supremacist caste structure, and is merely sold as anything else by Madison Avenue.

Most American families are a paycheck away from homelessness, which can be a death sentence.