I have a sport fishing tour business that I run on the Great Salt Lake. My business is always down and I don't know why?

The articles doesn't account for cost of living and inflation and overpriced homes that should be 40-50% less than what they're being appraised at. Furthermore, $50,000 a year in Utah is not that great UNLESS you make that kind of money and live very modestly. Maybe one new car, very modest clothing, eating out once in awhile. If you're single, that can be a great salary. But if you have a family of 3 or more and your wife doesn't work, you will live better than some people but you will still be poor. The magic number in utah to really live it up instead of just survive from paycheck to paycheck seems to be in the $100,000 PLUS again with very little or no debt. Food, gas, insurance, utilities, unexpected expenses, tithing, etc all eat up your money. Anyone making less than $50K a year and in debt is really in trouble in this state.
ANd if you make $100,000 plus but buy more than you can afford, you can be worse off than someone making $40,000 a year who is debt-free and on very tight spending budget.

Most decent homes in Utah are in the 300,000-400,000 range. MOST people in Utah live in poverty and under stress whether they have degrees or not. Degrees without experience don't land you the greatest paying jobs either. There are plenty of people out there with 4-year degrees waiting on tables or doing stupid jobs because they can't get the jobs they went to school for. People need to work to pay bills but everyone should always strive to find some way to make money online or run a small business to break free from the "job" mentality. TO an employer, you're only good as long as you're useful. You're just a number of productivity. Like the doctor said, he does it because he makes a difference so in his case the money is good but not relevant. But it takes more than 12 years of schooling to make his $191K. He also had to have brains for his job. Not everyone has the intellectual capacity to become a doctor. It's not just a matter of attending school. Brains do count as well.

Stewart | 4:58 p.m. Apr. 13, 2008
They forgot to put the bottom on this. What is the pay for an uneducated illegal alien working for the cheap labor employers?

Answer: statistics show that the average pay for illegals working (1) jobs is $1,000 per month. When Americans run into hard times, the jobs they could do will already be taken.

I don't know where you are doing your residency, but I suspect I know where. Do your own survey. Contact the last 32 graduates of your program. If they found a job within a year they are blessed. Used to be all you had to do was open an office and within a few months, success. Not so any more. If your are in this for the money, and 95 percent of you are, there are big surprises ahead for you. All this of course is mute if you are going home to take over daddys practice. But if your are going back to live near mommy in Utah or Idaho you are in trouble.........

I think that it it Salt Lake, Davis, and Utah counties that have the problem, not the entire state of Utah. I have taught high school for five years, have a small part time job, and a wife that sells art work. We make around $45,000 a year. We have two kids, two cars (paid off, combined age of 22 years old), and a house. We are able to meet our basic needs and save a little money. The key is that we live in Brigham City and not in SLC. We were able to buy a home for less than 100k, and spend less than $100 a month on transportation. If you are willing to look around there are jobs and cities that you can live in with them, you just can't expect to have everything.
As a side note- I don't teach English, so I don't care if their are mistakes in the editing of this post.

I barely reached seven figures this last year and I still struggle to get by. Give me a break people.

Be thankful you have a job in a beautiful state at such a great wage as a Chemical Engineer. I am a Chemical Engineer with an MBA that lives in Houston, Texas. I would love to live in the Salt Lake City area (where I grew up). By the way, where do you work?

The average American spends 16% of monthly income on housing, 14% on medical, 10% on food, 8% on transportation, etc., and 31% on Taxes. The average American gives 2.7% to charity. (Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2006)

If one gives 10% to charity, minus taxes, then many Utahns have less than 60% of gross to buy larger families their larger homes, larger meals, larger school taxes, etc.

Try Arkansas where homes, land, education, taxes and fried chickens are cheaper. :-)

I'm selling my house for 220K. It's 4 bedrooms 2 baths built in '97. Payments would be ~$1250 not including mortgage insurance and taxes. Interested?
Email me agw@juno.com if you are.

The more you make, the less happy you are. The question is, how unhappy do you want to be?