Survey shows salary against cost of living in US cities

A new survey by the National Association for Law Placement has indexed median private practice salaries against the cost of living in 70 US cities to determine where lawyers can get the best buying power from their remuneration package. Dallas ranked number one in buying power, with a median salary of $150,000. Based on cost-of-living data, an associate in Dallas who makes $67,870 would have the same buying power as their counterpart in New York. In Chicago the median salary is $145,000. But a Chicago associate would only have to make $86,360 to be on par with their New York counterpart. Lawyers in Washington DC, where the median salary is $160,000, would need to earn just $103,000 to match the buying power of a New York associate.

Survey shows salary against cost of living in US cities blogs.wsj.com Sat, Oct 29, 2011