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What Utahns earn: Analysis of wages shows education pays off — usually

I am a Chemical Engineer with 5 yrs experience. I make almost 100K a year. I have no debts except a town home I own in Southern California. I rent it out for more then my mortgage payment. I still can't seem to afford to buy a nice 3 bed 2 bath home here in Utah. I have to rent the basement of a house in Draper where my wife and our new born son live. How do the rest of the professionals do it? Housing prices have to go down or wages have to come up. I think my problem is that I can't see myself spending more then $1200 a month on a mortgage for a 3 bed 2 bath house. I am not looking for a mansion just a decent home.

Move to California. Problem solved.

The average income nationally is approximately $42,000. Utah's average is just a bit higher. If you can't afford a house then something is out of whack. Either your debts are consuming too much of your income or you are spending more than you think in some area. Start by tracking your spending for a month (EVERY PENNY!). You will be surprise where your money is actually going. Then create a budget. People who do those two simple things usually report having about 10 to 15% more income by making small changes.

Oh and quit whining, that will help the rest of us.

This article is trying to paint a rosy picture about Utah and its labor market. But in all this how does Utah compare to say California or Denver in what a worker earns? Utah is substantially lower in what it pays its workers, many barely making it to the poverty level income. Workers in Utah need ot organize at all levels of employment if they want any hope of being able to survive in a world that has inflation and dollar devaluation exceeding income. Utah has regressive wages and it has forced many workers to take on multiple jobs just to get by on minimum needs. Whether a worker has a degree or not, there are many jobs that require degree like knowledge and experience. Not everyone has the means to aquire a 60k debt a year for schools, only a privileged few fall in this catagory so the amount of education one can get is limited. With all the illegal aliens in Utah has also made it difficult for the real american citizens to get in financial aid programs for higher education. The illeagals are given discriminatiory preferences in the education system in Utah. Business profits while workers suffer.

Intersting article, but I wonder about the accuracy of numbers. For example, the American Dental Association reports orthodontists make somewhere between $200-300K per year, and most orthodontists nation-wide will say that is low.
Makes me wonder how inaccurate other numbers might be.

$60,000 debt for medical school?! What a bargain that would be! The average nationally is actually well over $100K. I've got almost $250K of medical school debt and counting.. He's right though, it wouldn't be worth it for the money- it's only worth it if you love it.

to Mr. Hate Spending...I totally agree with you with regards to can't see myself spending more than $1200 per month on a modest home. I frankly don't see how people are doing it, paying on brand new homes here along the Wasatch Front with our low income levels !I work in health care, work in a lab as a phlebotomist and make around $30K per year. I know I need more education to earn more than what I earn now, that will come, but in the mean time, cost of living just gets worse!!!

"Smith says he is glad he went through the 12 years of post-high school education needed to become an anesthesiologist but adds, "Nobody does this for the money. ... We do it because we have the opportunity to make a meaningful difference."

Yeah Right!

Humanitarians make a difference....Anesthesiologists gas people so surgeons can operate.

Yes Jason is right. I don't buy these numbers. Orthodontists don't make that little. I bet times that number by 5 and you'd be closer. Same with anasethesiologists. These professionals are lying about their income. They are just trying to discourage kids that want to go into their profession for job security. And to B Williams, it was 60 Gs a year in the article.

Many of these numbers do seem inaccurate. Anesthesiologists do make less than orthopedic surgeons and radiologists -- even here in Utah. And orthodontists only making $60K? The number is more like 5X that.

It appears that the methodology behind the numbers is highly flawed.

Hey B Williams -- he said $60K PER YEAR, which is a little less than I've had to borrow each year for med school.

Sounds like Utah may not be the place to pay off the debt, however...

With all income counted, we make a very good living ($100K+) but cannot afford anything more than a very modest Orem home -- & very few other debts. My poor children will never make it given the low Utah wages and sky-high housing. Sad.

Mr Hate Spending, if you can't make it on almost 100k, your spending habits are way out of whack. You may be a mensa candidate when it comes to chemical engineering, but like may smart people you aren't well versed in money matters. Buy a book, or two, by my financial hero Dave Ramsey, and get your fiscal act together. His conservative politics are way off base, but he has a lot of good things to day about money.

my wife and I are both physicians and have a medical school debt close to 500K. Add that on top of our mortgage and our standard of living is still close to what it was in college.

"Nobody does this for the money, we do it to make a meaningful difference."

Whatever! You all do it for the money. Quit being such a martyr.

If it didn't pay so well, you wouldn't do it.

Is lying part of the Hippocratic oath?

As for you doctors, what are you guys doing, going through college on the George Bush, spend now, pay later plan? The median debt for new docs in 2005 was about 120k, which given a six figure starting income, should get payed off in 3 or 4 years max.

I don't know how most Utahns make it, but I have a growing suspicion: our multiple cars, boats, 4-wheelers, cabins, nicely furnished large homes, fine apparel, and several-time-a-week restaurant dinners are financed by debt. I am continually amazed to learn that people who I thought must be doing really well were just financial alchemists.

This data may be a little skewed because it all depends on who they surveyed. Within a chosen profession wages can have quite a spread. For example, Podiatrists generally make way more than the 50-something thousand stated in the article, but there are some that only make that much or less because they don't do surgery, only routine care. That is the doctor's choice and so if you get a few of them surveyed it will bring down your statistical average significantly. Also, my guess is that general surgeons make more than anesthesiologists, but some make less, some make more so it again depends on who you surveyed. Also how random was the sample? my guess is it was a pretty biased sample to start with. Statistics can be molded to say whatever you want them to say with out correct statistical procedures. Don't take too much weight into what they say.

Almost a third of all college graduates end up doing jobs that don't require a college degree. Getting an education is great, but if the jobs don't exist, it won't pay off financially.

I was very interested to read the article, and I was hoping to find the entire list of income for all jobs. I am currently in an orthopedic residency, and was specifically interested in what the report would say about my earning potential in Utah. I have been researching on aaos.org and salary.com, and both sites report that orthopedic surgeons in Utah have a mean income near $475,000. I wonder where the discrepancy occurs?

Also, the statement about some medical students accruing only $60,000 in debt during the education seems to be a gross underestimate. That may have been the case with students finishing 10 years ago. Of the 50 residents in my program, no one has less than $100,000 in school debt from medical school alone, and several are nearly $300,000 in debt due to medical school. The big determining factor is whether the medical school was state funded or private. With the discrepancy between the earning potential and the debt rate of medical students makes me question the validity of the numbers reported.