# Who knows how much you make? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 31, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-how-much-you-make/548683 "2010-07-31T14:47:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-how-much-you-make/548683/21 "2010-08-01T04:13:44Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Anybody who knows my name IRL can know how much I make, and it makes me sick to think of it. For reasons I don’t fully understand, my employer is included in a database maintained by the local newspaper of city and county employees. > > I say I don’t understand why because we are neither city nor county employees. The library gets the vast majority of its funding from the county, but we are a separate entity run by our own board. > > More specifically, my ex-wife has a real good idea of how much I make because I haven’t had a raise since before we divorced. My girlfriend should have a pretty good idea, as I’ve mentioned it before. That’s about it. Me too, but you have to make over 50 grand to make it into those databases. So, you know, I’m safe. 🙂 My parents know how much I make, and my boyfriend (although he probably doesn’t pay attention when I talk about it.) I’m not shy about it, but money makes people uncomfortable so I wouldn’t bring it up at work even though I know roughly what people make since I know what their titles are and how long they’ve worked there. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-how-much-you-make/548683/22 "2010-08-01T04:29:11Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > My husband and daughter know. As a federal employee, if I told you my grade and step and if you knew where I work, you’d know exactly what I make. > > I was brought up to consider income to be personal information - not for general consumption. I don’t want to be judged by my W-2. Nor do I feel it’s anyone’s business what I make and what I do with it. As a federal employee, your official title, GS series (or equivalent) grade and step are all public information. You have no say. Is someone asks officially, that info must be freely given out. Just be thankful you don’t live where I do. Some crackpot has made it their life’s work to track down every local, state and federal employee in this state, and post all of their public info on a web site. ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-how-much-you-make/548683/23 "2010-08-01T04:58:12Z")
Boss - absolutely. He _knows_ he should pay me more :rolleyes: Parents - definitely (my dad does my taxes) Brother - probably. I’ve told him in the past. Had a few predictable small raises since then, but he can probably do the math. Nobody else. ---
**Author:** ![moejoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@moejoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejoe)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-how-much-you-make/548683/24 "2010-08-01T05:00:11Z")
Back when I was a temp at IBM someone told me you could actually get fired there for discussing your salary, don’t know if that was true. As far as my current income my employer knows and I know, my kids can kind of guess based on current budget, but that’s about it. I was also raised to think sharing this kind of information was the height of arrogance and rude behavior…so there’s that. ---
**Author:** ![TurboNuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f19dbf/32.png) [@TurboNuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TurboNuke)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-how-much-you-make/548683/25 "2010-08-01T07:16:28Z")
I never understood how it was rude, although maybe I talk about it because I’m bragging. And bragging would be rude. I was in the Navy for 12 years. You don’t make much money in the military for the amount of hours required. But I stuck with it, made some decent decisions and with some hard work I now make over $100k a year. To me it’s an interesting story although maybe that’s because it’s about me. 🙂 I think anyone could do it. My parents aren’t rich so I didn’t have any serious advantages. I didn’t do drugs, therefore I could join the Navy. The Navy sucked because it took me away from my family but I did it anyway. And I stayed in long after I hated it, because I thought it was good for me financially. When I got out of the Navy, I went to where the work was, not back home to me family. I now live in NY where $100k isn’t really that great a salary. Anyway, I make about $43/hr. Thats about $90k annually but there’s mandatory shift work in there so it’s hard to make under $100k. I plan on working every bit of overtime offered… I’ll probably make $140k this year. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-how-much-you-make/548683/26 "2010-08-01T16:24:41Z")
Last year the \*Charlotte Observer \*ran a series of articles listing the salary of every state employee making over $50k. Lots of interesting surprises. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-how-much-you-make/548683/27 "2010-08-01T16:26:49Z")
As an employee of the state, my salary is public record. The local papers generally publish links to looking up all state employee salaries at least once a year, engendering many letters to the editor decrying how overpaid we all are. My wife, I, and our accountant have a rough idea of our net worth. But that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-how-much-you-make/548683/28 "2010-08-01T16:30:26Z")
Federal salaries are published online (OPM tables) and it’s not too hard to figure out what the people in my division are making because the career track and grade increases for my profession are also online. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-how-much-you-make/548683/29 "2010-08-01T16:33:39Z")
I’m the only one who knows how much I make. I can’t recall ever being asked, though. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-how-much-you-make/548683/30 "2010-08-01T16:39:17Z")
My three bosses know how much I make. My parents have a rough idea how much I make. That’s it. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-how-much-you-make/548683/31 "2010-08-01T16:54:33Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Me too, but you have to make over 50 grand to make it into those databases. So, you know, I’m safe. 🙂 Just to avoid confusion, there is no lower limit here. Before the daily paper began keeping the database accessible on their website, a local conservative weekly published a list every year of those salaries over $60K. ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-how-much-you-make/548683/32 "2010-08-01T17:11:36Z")
As a teacher in a state school, anyone can look up my basic salary on the internet, and that’s what I say when my students ask. I neglect to mention that they would need to know which section and point of the pay scale I was on and whether I had any bonuses or extra points (e.g. for responsibility or retention). However it is relatively simple to find out the minimum I could be earning. Only my partner and I know what I’m actually on, and maybe my dad - I know I’ve mentioned it, I don’t know if he was taking notes. Oh, and various official bodies, like my employer, the Inland Revenue, the Teachers’ Pension scheme people, etc., but they don’t count. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-how-much-you-make/548683/33 "2010-08-01T18:00:28Z")
You can look up individual Federal salaries [here](http://php.app.com/fed_employees10/search.php). If you hunt around a bit, there is other information on this site as well. I remember seeing pay for all public school teachers in Pennsylvania as one of them. I found that one interesting because I could see how much of my elementary and middle school teachers are now making, since they were my teachers way back (1979-1985). A surprising number are still employed for the same school district as they were when I was a grade school student 25+ years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-how-much-you-make/548683/34 "2010-08-01T20:27:41Z")
My wife knows, as does my boss and my financial guy. My sister knows what I used to make, because she is not hesitant about asking. She wouldn’t be offended if I didn’t tell her, but I did. Semi-related story: When my son was about six, he was going thru a phase where he was figuring out the value of money and different jobs and such-like. He asked my dad “Grandpa, are you rich?” TO which my dad replied “Yes I am - I have you and your grandma and your daddy”. “No, Grandpa - how much **money** do you have?” My dad told hm, and up to that point I did not know how much my dad had/had made. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-how-much-you-make/548683/35 "2010-08-01T21:06:55Z")
To be honest, I don’t really know how much my annual salary is. I got a small raise recently and didn’t pay much attention to where it put me, although I could guess within a few thousand. So, probably my HR department is the only one that really knows right now. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-how-much-you-make/548683/36 "2010-08-01T21:28:50Z")
As an employee of my state, anyone can look up my name and find out my salary. No, I don’t live in CA. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2010, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-how-much-you-make/548683/37 "2010-08-02T08:15:25Z")
The local version of IRS. I’m self-employed, so although most of my work comes from a single source, it’s not the only one. My mother and brothers don’t know how much I make. ---
**Author:** ![DragonAsh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DragonAsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonAsh)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2010, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-how-much-you-make/548683/38 "2010-08-02T08:50:53Z")
Bosses and wife know salary. Wife knows net worth. I don’t think anyone else knows. Not that I care all that much. I would wager a goodly amount that I make more than **Chessic Sense** 😛 ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2010, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-how-much-you-make/548683/39 "2010-08-02T13:57:11Z")
My wife knows the approximate amount- I’ve told her the exact amount but she’s not that concerned to memorize it because she’s just satisfied it’s enough to allow us to live the lifestyle we do. Obviously, my boss, a few people in my HR department, and some in Payroll know. My financial advisor knows the approximate amount but is more concerned with the quality of my investments. When we bought our home a couple years ago I had to let the loan officer know how much I made, but they didn’t require me to verify it with pay stubs so I gave a ballpark figure. My kids don’t know because at their ages it’s just a number with no real-world reference. When they get older and more interested in how the world works, and what the number means in terms of what it allows us to have/do, and what it doesn’t allow us to have/do, I’ll tell them. But I also intend to teach them that it’s just not something that’s advisable to share freely. Many people ascribe too much meaning to another person’s income and wealth, as compared to their own. I wish it wasn’t that way, but that’s just the way human nature is. If you tell people what you make or what your net worth is, there’s a danger that the other person will take it the wrong way and assume you’re boasting, whether or not you are and whether or not the number is boast-worthy. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-how-much-you-make/548683/40 "2010-08-02T14:50:26Z")
My wife and my mortgage broker know the exact amounts. Parents have a rough idea. Couple of friends and in-laws know a general ballpark but that’s a couple of years out of date. At work (apart from HR/Finance) it’s just my boss and one colleague. The colleague only knows because we both wondered if we were underpaid so wanted a mutual baseline, but because she’s 25 yrs older than me I don’t feel in direct competition salary-wise (she’s on almost double what I’m on, but I’m several rungs down the career ladder in the same field with a lot less experience). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-how-much-you-make/548683.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-how-much-you-make/548683.md?page=3)