Details

Published: Saturday, 02 April 2022 00:41

Hits: 941

USA Salary:

This article shows a typical salary of an Indian who's working in software, IT or some engineering job, since that's what most of the Indians coming to USA do. Engineering or computer related jobs are very well paying in USA, with no stress. I'll start with a average salary (for an NRI), and then step by step walk through all the possible expenses that you might incur, and how much would you save at the end of the year. I'll include typical earning and typical expenses alongside too, for a person with engineering/computer degree. Then I'll go thru savings, that could be realized for a typical household.

Salary: $100K/year

As I've stated through various articles, any Indian with any degree from India comes to USA to do an engineering job, should make atleast $100K/year. If you don't make that much and have a green card, you should look into a new job.

Now, minimum federal salary is $8/hr. However, most of the lower income people do make an average of $20/hr (at department stores, cashiers, etc). These are mostly people with very little education. As you start looking at people who have had a high school degree and a college degree, you are looking at minimum salaries of around $40/hr. Assuming you are in engineering and have a green card, you are easily looking at $50/hr of pay. That translates into $104K/yr, assuming 40 hour workweek.

So, we'll start with a salary of $100K for a household with 1 working person who gets paid for his work. As of 2009, 10% of the income tax returns filed, show an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of $115K. You have to be in atleast top 10% of the households here, since most of these 10% are people with college education in degrees. It's very easy to get in top 10% after 5 years of work experience by switching jobs.

Expenses and Savings:

Now, that I have you convinced you, that $100K is the minimum salary that you should expect to get, I'll start with a salary of $100K/year. I'll walk through taxes, other expenses and then show your savings. Assuming you stick to the plan, you'll see that you'll be a US dollar millionaire in 12 years or less. Welcome to the club of USD Millionaires.

Year 2010: Below are income, taxes and expenses for a typical married couple living in a rented apartment as of year 2010.

Salary = $100K/year

Taxes = 15% = $15K/year

House rent = $1K/month = $12K/year

House utilities (electric, water, gas) = $70+$60+$30 = $160/month = $2K/year

Communication (phone, internet, satellite/cable) = $40+$30+$50 = $120/month = $1.5K/year

Automobile expenses (car depreciation, gas, insurance) = $1K/year (assuming a brand new car running for 10 yrs, which cost $10K to buy) + $600/year (gas assuming 8K miles/year)+ $400/year (insurance)= $2K/year

Health insurance (insurance, copay, medicines, etc) = $1K/year + $1K/year = $2K/year.

Grocery = $400/month = $5K/year

Clothes = $80/month = $1K/year

Misc items (electronics, furniture, decorations, restaurants, etc) = $1K/year

Trip to India (assuming once every year) = $1.5K*2 = $3K/year

unaccounted losses (traffic tickets, misc fines, car repairs, house repairs, theft, etc) = $0.5K

Total expenses = $30K (excluding taxes)

Total savings = $100K (income) - $15K (taxes) - $30K (expenses) = $55K.

Year 2020:  For year 2020, all these figures have gone up by at least 50% (as compared to 2010). Below are income, taxes and expenses for a typical married couple with 2 kids living in a house (with mortgage payments) as of year 2020.

Salary = $150K/year (assuming 10 years of experience in workforce)

Taxes = 15% = $23K/year

House payments (mortgage interest, property tax, insurance, HOA) = $3K/month = $36K/year

House utilities (electric, water, gas) = $70+$60+$30 = $160/month = $2K/year

Communication (phone, internet, satellite/cable/streaming) = $50+$50+$50 = $150/month = $2K/year

Automobile expenses (car depreciation, gas, insurance, misc) = $2K/year (assuming a brand new car running for 10 yrs, which cost $20K to buy) + $2K/year (gas assuming 10K miles/year @ 20mpg with gas at $4/gallon)+ $500/year (insurance) + $500 (other expenses as repair, registration, inspection, sticker)= $5K/year

Health insurance (insurance, copay, medicines, etc) = $4K/year + $6K/year = $10K/year.

Grocery = $800/month = $10K/year

Clothes = $150/month = $2K/year

Misc items (electronics, furniture, decorations, restaurants, etc) = $2K/year

Trip to India (assuming once every year) = $1.5K*4 = $6K/year

unaccounted losses (traffic tickets, misc fines, car repairs, house repairs, theft, etc) = $1K

Total expenses = $76K (excluding taxes)

Total savings = $150K (income) - $23K (taxes) - $76K (expenses) = $50K.