[onlydarksets]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

OK yeah, now it's starting to make sense.

I found this source for attorney starting salaries in the US, it's definitely not in the 6 figures. I guess to land a job at a "major" firm you need, like you said, top credentials:

PayScale - Lawyer Starting Salaries, Average Salary for a Lawyer

And this chart here seems to indicate why you guys in the DC area would be used to very high lawyer salaries:

PayScale - Attorney / Lawyer Salary, Average Salaries by City

No question. NYC and DC are the lawyer capitals of the country. NYC tends to set prices for the rest of the country, in terms of when salaries increase. Salaries have skyrocketed lately. 10 years ago, starting salary was around $85k in DC.

So, it's possible that my world-view is skewed when it comes to this. About half the people I know fall into the mid-30s, 2 kids, household income over $250k (lawyers, IT, investment banking) category. All of them can afford the increase, but only a few would I categorize as affluent, and none would I describe as "rich" or "wealthy".