Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 18:32     Subject: Big city starting salary for non-STEM majors?
My kid is starting at 60k in Houston. Bf starting at 140k big consulting group.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 18:31     Subject: Re:Big city starting salary for non-STEM majors?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I started at $19k in the 90s. Lots of roommates. Cheap happy hours. Inexpensive wardrobe. No fancy coffees, etc. the lifestyle stuff today makes kids think they need to spend and have all of this stuff right away and get a prime missing middle new condo right above a metro stop.


I started at 35k as an ICU RN BSN at Hopkins in 1998. Now this job would start at 75k.


I don’t know what it is today, but I remember being thrilled in the mid 1990’s making low-mid 30’s out of college. I remember thinking that if I can make at least as much as it cost per year for the private college, I’m doing well!
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 18:29     Subject: Big city starting salary for non-STEM majors?
Anonymous wrote:I’m in Boston. We start new entry level hires at $72,500.



What industry?
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 18:27     Subject: Big city starting salary for non-STEM majors?
I’m in Boston. We start new entry level hires at $72,500.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 18:24     Subject: Big city starting salary for non-STEM majors?
Anonymous wrote:DC graduates soon with a political science major, starting this summer at a law firm job in NYC for $63K.


I'm assuming doing an internship before going to law school?
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 18:22     Subject: Big city starting salary for non-STEM majors?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Ivy law school to BigLaw NYC pays a lot.


Any law school to BigLaw NYC (or other major cities) pays a lot, so if you went to a T25 school on a scholarship and graduated in the top 10% of your class with no debt, you still make the same amount as the Ivy graduate to BigLaw peer in your class, and it's sure nice to have a BigLaw paycheck with no student loans. Or at least, it set me up well for life.


I agree. I was more thinking about how it's frequently easier to get into BigLaw NYC from an Ivy. (Harvard/Yale, then Princeton/Columbia in NYC seems the biggest draws.) But definitely agree on T25 as well. To be in early to mid 20s making 275K out of the gate is almost shocking, especially, as you note, if you don't have student loans.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 18:19     Subject: Big city starting salary for non-STEM majors?
DC graduates soon with a political science major, starting this summer at a law firm job in NYC for $63K.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 18:16     Subject: Big city starting salary for non-STEM majors?
Anonymous wrote:Ivy law school to BigLaw NYC pays a lot.


Any law school to BigLaw NYC (or other major cities) pays a lot, so if you went to a T25 school on a scholarship and graduated in the top 10% of your class with no debt, you still make the same amount as the Ivy graduate to BigLaw peer in your class, and it's sure nice to have a BigLaw paycheck with no student loans. Or at least, it set me up well for life.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 18:11     Subject: Re:Big city starting salary for non-STEM majors?
Anonymous wrote:I started at $19k in the 90s. Lots of roommates. Cheap happy hours. Inexpensive wardrobe. No fancy coffees, etc. the lifestyle stuff today makes kids think they need to spend and have all of this stuff right away and get a prime missing middle new condo right above a metro stop.


I started at 35k as an ICU RN BSN at Hopkins in 1998. Now this job would start at 75k.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 18:03     Subject: Big city starting salary for non-STEM majors?
Ivy law school to BigLaw NYC pays a lot.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 18:02     Subject: Re:Big city starting salary for non-STEM majors?
Anonymous wrote:I started at $19k in the 90s. Lots of roommates. Cheap happy hours. Inexpensive wardrobe. No fancy coffees, etc. the lifestyle stuff today makes kids think they need to spend and have all of this stuff right away and get a prime missing middle new condo right above a metro stop.


Add in their parents buy them makeup and skincare from Sephora starting at age 10, Starbucks breakfast on the way to school multiple days per week, get them expensive clothes, let them order DoorDash whenever the feel like- then continue funding this through college. Yea- reality of what living on 50-75K in NYC/LA DC, any major east/west coast city will be harsh
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 16:36     Subject: Big city starting salary for non-STEM majors?
75k in LA depends a lot in the industry
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 16:33     Subject: Re:Big city starting salary for non-STEM majors?
I started at $19k in the 90s. Lots of roommates. Cheap happy hours. Inexpensive wardrobe. No fancy coffees, etc. the lifestyle stuff today makes kids think they need to spend and have all of this stuff right away and get a prime missing middle new condo right above a metro stop.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 16:25     Subject: Big city starting salary for non-STEM majors?
My Fortune 500 in the DC area pays about 50-70k for entry level college grad jobs.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 13:24     Subject: Big city starting salary for non-STEM majors?
Not much…and then figure in cost of living in big cities and they will be broke.