# Salary expectations (or hopes)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salary-expectations-or-hopes/278327>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 6, 2004, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salary-expectations-or-hopes/278327 "2004-12-06T05:30:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salary-expectations-or-hopes/278327/1 "2004-12-06T05:30:39Z")

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What do you expect as a starting salary when just entering the professional data pool post college these days?

As an Honors BA I took a job that paid (in today dollars) $29K (in then bucks it was $12K)

Within a year they’d raised me to, in today dollars, ~$43K. Not phat, but OK. Enough to get myself in trouble, which I promptly did, by starting a business and taking over another one.

When you go independent for a bit, you tend to lose track of what working people are really making. So, what are current college graduates’ expectations of offered salaries?