Depends on the Degree. Graduates with a degree in Computer science average starting salary is between $70k - $120k. After 5 years’ experience they can be expected to earn $150k. Places like Silicon Valley Ca those salaries can rise to over $250k. And these engineers don’t have to spend THOUSANDS of dollars on tools/equipment to do their job.
And because of the cost of college these days many kids are bypassing college and getting certificate programs for computer science. Just giving them the basic skills for entry level jobs. Their starting salary is less, but after 5 years they are earning about the same as their college graduate counterparts. There are some specialized areas in Computer Science that a college graduate is really needed.
Agree… Notice I said degrees with “no market value” which certainly does not include CS degrees.
Yes, but they DO have to spend tens of thousands of dollars on their education.
I would. A sales associate at WalMart averages about $18 an hour or $37K a year. A department manager makes $50K to $67K (see below), That is growth from an associate. AI tells me a store manager at Walmart makes about $108K with bonuses and stock a year on average but some managers earn as much as $400K a year (surprised me!)
And you still can’t afford a home or live in a decent neighborhood in many parts of the country including New England. There are people in homeless camps here in New England who make more than that.
Those salaries are regional. They pay higher in high cost of living states and lower in low cost of living states. Glassdoor and other sites point that out.
Key and a heater 1999 Corolla cosr slightly less than a new 2025 model adjusting for inflation. But you could go to certain dealers in oregon and find new base Corolla with a rear defogger as the only option for $7795 in 1990.
Base Mazda3 is close in 2025 dollars to the cost of the 1990 Mazda Protoge with features and safety the 1990 could only dream of.
If a Corolla is $24k, nobody’s buying a Yaris for $23k. Friend made that exact decision when he went to the Toyota dealer looking for a Yaris, ended up with a Corolla for just a little more. Ford only managed to sell a lot of compacts by losing money on most of them, in order to make EPA mpgs.
Mostly, I agree, but some people have specific needs/wants that drive them toward the smallest car possible. I knew a guy (recently deceased) who decided to buy a car after being without wheels for several decades. He lived in the most densely-populated area in The US, where parking is problematic and–even more importantly–his ability to park a car was very poor–by his own admission.
First, he told me that he wanted to buy a Smart car. I pointed out to him that these little buggies required premium gas, and that they actually didn’t get very good gas mileage in relation to their size and their low power output.
Then, he focused on a Fiat 500. I explained that this model is/was extremely unreliable, and that he would wind-up spending a LOT of time at the distant dealership in order to have it repaired on regular basis.
He was stumped at that point, so I suggested the Scion IQ, which had typical Toyota reliability, and which was economical. I actually drove him to three dealerships in order to facilitate the buying process, and he wound-up buying one. IIRC, he spent ~$18k for a brand-new IQ.
While he was incredibly cheap (and his cheapness likely contributed to his death), he said that he would have paid more (if he had to) in order to own a really small car that he would be able to park, given both his abilities and the environment in which he lived.
Admittedly, not a lot of people have the same needs/wants that this guy did, and there are probably not enough of them to make it profitable to sell tiny cars in The US.
Someone I worked with bought a new Toyota Echo. As you may recall, the Echo is as spartan as it gets. As a senior aerospace systems engineer he could have afforded a lot more car. The standard issue for other folks like him that I worked with was a BMW 330ix. He said the he and his wife wanted to keep a low carbon footprint and they lived modestly despite having the income for a lot more.
Was it as spartan as a Scion IQ? While the IQ did have a/c (which he never used), I was very surprised to find that it didn’t have Cruise Control. Toyota must have saved ~$2 by deleting that feature.
Those vocational programs are a ticket to a nice middle to upper middle class lifestyle. I’ve been preaching the same thing for years. Unfortunately it pretty much falls on deaf ears.
For about $10 grand (less with grants and scholarships easily obtainable ) you can get a degree from a community college in welding, plumbing, electrical, auto mechanics, etc. and be pretty much guaranteed at least a high 5 figures income. Many are make 6 figures.
A friend of mine became a plumber. He’s well north of a $100k. Loves his job. Hands on. Loves meeting and talking to people. And the customers are grateful they got their problems fixed. In his 60s. Doesn’t ever plan to retire. Will just ramp down hours. Travels all over.
I always tried to steer students to those community college programs, instead of the private non-degree-granting diploma mills. Most listened, but some fell for the hard sell from the private vocational school sales people who would visit their homes.
The most relevant example was Lincoln Tech, (private, profit-making, and pricey) which couldn’t grant a degree, and which was so poorly-equipped that students could only get hands-on experience once or twice each week. They or their parents were paying big bucks (I don’t recall the exact amount at this point, but nowadays a program at Lincoln Tech can cost upwards of $30k while the degree-granting county college still costs less than $5k per year!)
I had several former counselees visit me to say that they wished they had followed my advice, as they felt that they had learned very little at Lincoln Tech.
Unfortunately yes. Fixed factory overhead is now the bulk of manufacturing cost. That’s about the same for all cars regardless of size. Labor is pretty much the same too. Materials will be less but it’s a pretty small fraction of the cost.
Engineering costs are pretty much the same given that most tech is now on all cars except exotics and lux cars. Sales general and admin too.
Unless you’re involved in a cost-plus endeavor, you charge not based on costs but on what the market will bear. Why would I waste my precious resources building and selling economy cars with slim margins when I can build and sell trucks and SUVs that allow premium pricing consumers are willing to spend to buy them?
