70 People Revealed What They Do For A Living And How Much It Pays, And I Wish You'd See This Kind Of Pay Transparency On LinkedIn
In the interest of normalizing pay transparency, we asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about their jobs and how much they make. Here's what folks shared with us:
1."I work in Louisiana doing HIV prevention work (such as counseling). I have a Bachelor's degree, and I make $43,000."
—Anonymous
2."I work in the film industry as an actress and stunt woman. I make anywhere from $25,000-$100,000/year. It changes each year due to the amount of work I book. I always have to be available in case a job comes. I almost missed out on a series regular role because I wasn’t available for one day...which was my wedding day. We don’t really get residuals anymore due to streaming, and we work over 12 hours a day Monday-Friday."
—Anonymous
3."I'm the founder/owner/CEO of a small craft brewery. I make $35,000/year."
—Anonymous
4."Going into my sixth year of teaching at the same elementary school. I make about $39,000. I live in Michigan and work for a small-town school!"
5."I own and operate a design and marketing firm. I average about $230,000/year — sometimes a little less, sometimes a bit more depending on the projects in the pipeline."
6."I love being a therapist, yet it is extremely underpaid. I made between $22,000 and $50,000."
—Anonymous
7."I dropped out of college and got a job as a legal assistant nine years ago making $24,500. Now, I'm a paralegal making $80,000/year before bonuses or overtime. It's all about who you know. I don't have an education and am well on my way to making six figures because someone I know told me a law firm was hiring. Fake it 'til you make it, baby!"
—Anonymous
8."Real estate agent: $300,000/year."
—Anonymous
9."I'm a gardener who grows vegetables for a restaurant (not my own business, but I'm considered an employee of the restaurant), and I make $20/hour. Compared to my last job (retail management of a garden center) where I only made $14/hour and had to put up with rude customers, bad employees, horrible corporate bosses, etc., $20/hour to be alone in nature or in my greenhouse is the dream. Plus, the pay increase is a nice perk."
10."Police detective in a decent-sized city in the Midwest. $90,000/year before overtime and benefits."
—Anonymous
11."I've been a milk and formula tech for one year. I started at $15.25/hour, and I'm currently making $15.65/hour. My job is to prepare and distribute pediatric formula and breast milk to patients."
—Anonymous
12."Traffic control/permanent sign installer. I set up traffic control for construction companies, and once construction is done, we reinstall all the signage. We also do the guardrail and other safety-related installations. I only work eight months out of the year and make approximately $65,000-$70,000/year."
—Anonymous
13."$4,000/week as a line producer of a popular reality TV show. I manage budgets and schedules, hire crew, and handle travel and logistics to name a few things. It’s a 24/7 job and pretty stressful, but I love it. It’s not corporate at all, and the things we talk about on conference calls are unreal."
—Anonymous
14."Director of conservation education at a nonprofit zoo. I oversee the education department, which does all the programming — i.e. bookings, curriculum development, animal training, etc. We also create and implement all the messaging throughout the facility. I’ve been in my role for almost 10 years, and I currently make $47,000."
—Anonymous
15."I’m the store manager for a candy shop in a (wealthy) tourist area, and I make $50,000/year plus tips. I’m in charge of scheduling, hiring, training, 75% of the supply ordering, and the daily cooking, as well as dealing with any customer issues. With what I make in tips, I can easily add around $10,000-12,000/year on top of my base salary. It sounds like a lot for a store manager, but with the cost of living here, it’s necessary."
—Anonymous
16."I'm a local insurance agent in North Carolina working 45 hours a week and making $40,000/year. I work in customer service for a small agency, so I answer phones and do whatever is needed, exchange cars, answer billing questions, deal with insurance issues, and write new policies mostly for home and auto insurance. I am an insurance expert so you don't need to be, but more often than not, people assume I'm against them and just want the insurance company to get paid. People can be rude. I'm very knowledgeable and can help determine the best course of action for potential claims and the impacts claims have to your policies.
"I do not personally make more money when your policies go up, so I genuinely want to help our clients find the best price and value for their coverage."
—Anonymous
17."I'm a serial fiction ghostwriter and junior editor. I'm a contract 1099 employee for a serial novel publishing house. I'm paid by word count for ghostwriting jobs. I make roughly $1,500/month, plus some extra on royalties for a book I published last year. My monthly income isn't always the same. I work from home, splitting my time between writing and taking care of my two young children (3 years old and 3 months old) while my husband works out of the house. Between our two salaries (writer and pipe fitter apprentice), we make roughly $65,000-$70,000/year."
—Anonymous
18."I’m a first-year attorney doing plaintiff’s litigation in employment matters, and I make $65,000/year plus a variable bonus."
—Anonymous
19."I'm a client service associate for a New England-based wealth management firm. I make $70,000/year (technically $33.65/hour as I'm still hourly). But with bonuses, overtime, and other benefits, my pay was more like $94,000 last year. I handle transfers, account opening, compliance stuff, working with brokerage companies, research, and a lot more."
—Anonymous
20."MRI technologist. I operate an MRI machine, set up patients' exams, and performing the scans. I make sure the images are good and a doctor is able to read them, but I don't diagnose at all. I work anywhere from 32-45 hours a week. I make $26/ hour. No sick pay, no vacation time, no benefits. If I don’t work, I don’t get paid. I’m considered a 'per diem' employee even though I have a set schedule. Almost all imaging techs (MRI, X-ray, and CT) are labeled as per diem so employers don’t have to pay us benefits or give us vacation days."
—Anonymous
21."I'm a retail banker in Houston, and I get paid $38,000/year. I hate it here."
—Anonymous
22."Summer camp assistant director. I have nine years of experience in the field, and I haven’t been paid more than $34,000/year. Something people don’t really know or understand about camp/recreation is you’re working 14-16 hour days with 100-200 campers (6-16 years old) and 50 staff members (18-22 years old) and are on call 24/7 for three to five months at a time. When you’re not in the summer months, you’re working 40-hour weeks planning, recruiting, etc., all while working with a next-to-nothing budget.
"Camping is SO similar to education — underpaid, overworked, under-supported, and employers bank on you doing it 'for the kids' and being okay without necessary resources."
—Anonymous
23."I perform mask fitting testing for all staffing at a major hospital within Oahu. Due to OSHA compliance, all employees who see patients (whether it’s a receptionist or doctor) have to have an annual mask fitting certification that I am in charge of. I’m hourly, and I get paid $24.28!"
—Anonymous
24."I’m an academic librarian (specifically an electronic resources librarian) at a small private university in the midwest. I recently got a market salary adjustment and a job description upgrade, and now I make $59,000/year. Librarians are usually underpaid, particularly for a job that requires a Master’s degree."
—Anonymous
25."Active duty military currently stationed in the Middle East. I work at a US Embassy and make $47,000/year tax-free."
—Anonymous
26."I live in Virginia and work in education. I started as a part-time special ed assistant, and I made around $11-$13/hour and got paid for 29 hours/week. Full-time gave me benefits, but I made between $18,000-$21,000/year for the three years I was full-time. I now work as a library assistant and make around $27,000. And all of this is BEFORE taxes/benefits come out."
—Anonymous
27."Nurse of 18 years making $44.83/hour."
28."I'm head registrar at an art museum. I take care of the artworks to make sure they are preserved and that the museum can legally use the artwork. Pays $90,000/year."
—Anonymous
29."I’m an associate attorney at a national law firm’s Chicago office. $375,000/year plus bonuses."
—Anonymous
30."Dental hygienist: $36/hour."
—Anonymous
31."I am a nanny/family assistant. I take care of the children full-time, and I also make sure the household is in tip-top shape at all times. I do all the grocery shopping and laundry, and I keep the house clean every day. I also make all appointments for kids (medical, hair cuts, etc.), and if something is broken in the house (example: dishwasher), I call someone to come fix it. I do a lot, and my hours run from 7:45 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. And I often work weekends and late nights when the parents want to go out. I make $30/hour but live in the separate guest house, so I don’t pay rent or bills. It has a lot of ups and downs, but at the end of the day, I love my job."
—Anonymous
32."I was an entry level marketer in 2012 for $56,000/year. In 2022, I had to accept a $48,000 salary with 10 years of experience. I sobbed when I signed my contract. This was after months of applying to jobs and never hearing back from hiring teams."
—Anonymous
33."Accounting manager at a Marriott branded hotel: $70,000/year"
—Anonymous
34."I'm a contract specialist, and I write contracts for the government. Because I'm a federal employee, our salary information is all available online. I work as a GS12, and for my locality, I'm making about $96,000/year."
—Anonymous
35."I'm a mental health clinician at a government-funded community services board. Master's degree level. I do assessments in the ER (a 24/7, state-mandated job) for people with acute mental illness who are at risk of hurting themselves, others, or are unable to care for themselves due to mental illness. I make about $45,000/year."
—Anonymous
36."Architect in Seattle, Washington with about eight years experience: $90,000 + annual bonus ($2,000-$3,000)."
—Anonymous
37."I work at a private boarding school for children with reading disabilities. I teach full time from 7:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. five days a week. Once a week, I have dorm duties from 3:30 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. Four weekends a year I am required to have dorm duties from 9:30 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. I teach, live, and eat with these kids. I live on the campus for free in exchange for additional duties because I would not be able to afford rent otherwise. With all my responsibilities, I work about 60 hours a week. I get $33,000/year. The cost of tuition for a residential student is $90,000."
—Anonymous
38."Human resources. I was hired just under two years ago out of grad school at $68,500 running payroll and benefits admin for a small company. After 1.5 years, I received a promotion and raise to $90,000 managing all aspects of general HR. I feel lucky, especially because I found this job during the pandemic in spite of my classmates and I losing our 2020 summer internships and hiring freezes, but I have over $100,000 in school loans. I do enjoy my job.
"Advice for potential grad students: Make sure to ask in-depth questions about resources for finding affordable housing for grad students. My school didn't even have a Facebook group for grad students for housing. All the resources were exclusive to undergrads. Half my school loans were exclusively used to pay super expensive rent, and I ended up $400/month over my budget because I was desperate, and it was my only decent option a week before orientation started."
—Anonymous
39."Associate professor and undergraduate program coordinator for a communication sciences and disorders program at a public university. My base salary is $83,000, but with extra teaching and other duties, I’ll make a little over $100,000 this year."
—Anonymous
40."I’m a certified medical assistant at an Urgent Care in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where I’ve been for six years. I make $21.90/hour for 12-hour shifts, so it roughly turns out to be about $40,000/year. It sounds like good money, but for all that we have to do at work, $21.90 is nothing. We literally do the exact same things as nurses at UC except run meds through IVs, and they are paid almost $35/hour. I get the schooling difference, but for having to do the same amount of exhausting work without any difference regardless of title, it’s pretty maddening."
—Anonymous
41."I'm a senior-level group health underwriter. I calculate group insurance levels based on claims and ongoing health risks. Salary: $120,000."
—Anonymous
42."I work at the front desk at a doctor's office. $15/hour."
43."I'm a strategic planner for the Department of Defense, and I make $120,000/year as a contractor. I essentially research current national defense events and write strategy documents. In addition, I also do communications work for my team."
—Anonymous
44."I'm in my fourth year as a special education teacher in North Carolina with a Master's degree. I make $39,000/year."
—Anonymous
45."Travel agent: $28,000/year. I am lucky to be paid hourly in a store-front agency. But COVID rocked our world. Pre-COVID, we would get quarterly commission checks (anywhere from $300 to $2,000). But, still making just at or less than $30,000. We were regularly working over 40 hours a week (up to 60 sometimes) and not getting paid for our extra time. COVID hit, and we worked the hardest we ever have, with some of the worst people, and horrid expectations.
"Now, we're all burnt out and not making commission, living paycheck to paycheck, and waiting for the next pandemic-related issue to cancel another round of bookings."
—Anonymous
46."I’m a quality assurance specialist for a large online university. Easiest job I’ve ever had, and I make $52,000/year. Free college (graduated *completely* debt free with a Bachelor's and Master's), great retirement plan, and all I really have to do is listen to calls all day at home."
—Anonymous
47."Licensed clinical social worker. I work for a federal subcontractor doing suicide prevention for the US Navy, and I make $73,000/year."
—Anonymous
48."I’m an assistant property manager for high rises in downtown Los Angeles, and I roughly make $70,000/year before taxes. From what I have been told, senior property managers make $100,000/year starting out and, depending on your portfolio, up to $170,000/year. It’s a very busy and tedious job where you get hated on ALL the time because of the stereotype of landlords, but sometimes, you will meet some really great tenants who make coming to work not so bad."
—Anonymous
49."Security engineer at a tech company (fully remote): $174,000/year + stock."
—Anonymous
50."Clinical research coordinator. I manage clinical trials and act as a go-between for patients and physicians in Madison, Wisconsin. I make $50,000 annually, and I also get paid $2,100/year for not being on my employer’s health insurance plan. I am in my 20s but will get a pension from my job."
—Anonymous
51."Aerospace engineer — spacesuit assembly and integration lead. I make $135,000/year."
—Anonymous
52."I am a claims specialist for a large insurance company. I deal with unclaimed funds where I research members, see if they are deceased, and then reach out to next of kin to see if they want to claim. I make $47,500, just enough to pay all the bills and rent, but not enough to live on. Add in my student loans ($158,000), and I had to make a choice: Pay the student loan and be homeless, or forbear the loan and barely pay rent/bills with no room to breathe. I took the latter, knowing that I’ll never be able to escape the struggle to survive."
—Anonymous
53."Social worker in the state of Mississippi: $37,885/year."
—Anonymous
54."I’m a resident (the years of training doctors go through right after finishing medical school). I regularly work 80-hour weeks. Weekdays, weekends, holidays…you name it, we work it. I make $55,000/year before taxes, which comes out to just over $13 an hour. This is all while having over $300,000 in student loans. We do this for three to eight years, depending on what specialty you're in. The pay goes up a little each year (still not comparable to how much work we actually do), but there’s no way we can practice medicine without a residency, so we are all forced into the overworked and underpaid jobs."
—Anonymous
55."I’m a digital editor for a marketing strategies firm based in DC. Most of my day is editing fundraising emails for various political candidates, advocacy groups, and PACs. I make $54,000/year, but I also get a lot of great benefits — health insurance with no deductible, lots of PTO, compensation for several things from commuter expenses to books by diverse authors (diversity training is considered part of our professional development), and more."
—Anonymous
56."Regional transportation planner (planner 2) working at a metropolitan planning organization in Iowa. Been here seven years. I help allocate federal funding to service transportation projects and assist with long-term planning in my metro area. I have a Bachelor's in public administration and a Master's in urban planning. When I started at this job in May 2015, I was making $44,158 as a planner 1. In August 2020, I now make $63,773 as a planner 2."
—Anonymous
57."I'm an engineering coordinator in a major shipyard. I'm earning $70,000/year."
—Anonymous
58."I've been a federal agency bank examiner for 30+ years, now making $153,000/year. I examine smaller community banks. It's a bit like being an auditor."
—Anonymous
59."I'm a research scientist/product developer at a biotech startup. I've been here five years, and I make $85,000, up from $60,000 when I started. It's my first job out of school, and I have a BS in biology with no advanced degrees. I would like to make more, but I know it's the best I can get right now as a biologist without an advanced degree."
—Anonymous
60."I'm an executive assistant/personal assistant to a CEO in Tampa, Florida. I was given a raise to $62,000 (which I had to heavily negotiate and fight for) from $55,000, which had been my salary since Q1 2020. I do not have set hours. I have office hours 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday-Friday, but am expected to be on call seven days a week, any hours of the day. I do not have the option to work from home unless the boss is traveling. I am expected to take my PTO while he is traveling (out of the office), but I still have to be on call for any changes he may need to make while traveling. Day to day, my job consists of anything from making him his morning coffee, hunting down a 'must have' item, and scheduling and canceling meetings on a whim. Every day is different, but my time is not my time.
"After five years, I’ve put in a transfer request to work in another department. It was approved, thankfully. The real kicker is that my replacement's starting pay will be between $60,000-70,000/year. So the CEO values the position apparently, just not me."
—Anonymous
61."I'm a graduate assistant and instructor of record at a university in New York state. I make $23,000/year. While the tuition for my PhD is paid for, my salary is not enough to survive in New York. My husband makes more money than I do, so we're able to live on our combined income. Most of my colleagues have to balance multiple jobs, go to food pantries, and struggle to make ends meet."
—Anonymous
62."Secretary to the superintendent (public school). I handle the superintendent's calendar, prepare and publish the board meeting agendas, handle all calls that come to the superintendent, and function as the HR department. I post all jobs and do the first screening. I track staff licensing and renewals, and submit background checks and track those expiration dates. I handle all general HR questions. I create and distribute all employment documents and track their return. I also back-up the transportation department and drive a school bus when necessary. I have an A.A.S. in office administration, and I make $17.87/hour, 40 hours/week. I am in the midwest."
—Anonymous
63."I'm a remote associate editor for a large online media company making $55,000/year. I spend my days writing and editing content, working with freelance writers to conceptualize ideas and improve their writing, and attending a bunch of Zoom meetings."
—Anonymous
64."I am a credentialed shift lead for a corporate veterinary practice. This means that I have a license to practice in my state and am also a shift supervisor. In addition to working closely with the practice manager to help the clinic function efficiently and oversee staff performance on-shift, I also see brief appointments for patients with an established veterinarian/client/patient relationship for simple well-pet things, such as vaccine boosters/updates, suture removals, and bandage changes that do not require a full doctor visit or prescriptions. I started in February 2022 as a vet tech and was earning $25/hour. I was promoted in June 2022 and now make $27.48/hour."
—Anonymous
65."Sanitary pipe fitter/fabricator. We build and install equipment and tubes for edible fluids like juice, concentrates, and beer. $85,000 gross per year."
—Anonymous
66."Lead line cook at a scratch diner. I make $20/hour plus tips. I've been in the industry since I was 14; this job feels like my reward."
67."Senior product engineer at a manufacturing plant for a large corporation in the electrical sector — specifically panel boards and switchboards. I process orders and complete drawings for the assembly floor and also will communicate with sales and customers. I am paid $86,000/year now with a possible 10% bonus if we meet certain requirements. I have been in this role for eight years and have been promoted once and also received a raise when I asked earlier this year."
—Anonymous
68."Court research attorney in the Bay Area. $150,000/year with 10 years of experience. I make significantly less than an entry-level attorney at a private firm, and 1/3 as much as a private firm attorney with comparable experience. No pension, lousy health insurance. Government workers are vastly underpaid."
—Anonymous
69."I'm a senior brand manager working in advertising. I'm basically the liaison between clients and creatives, and I handle a lot of project management. $120,000/year in Los Angeles, California."
—Anonymous
70.Finally: "I'm a stay-at-home mom, and I take care of a 6-month-old 24/7. I make zero dollars."
—Anonymous
Puts a lot into perspective, doesn't it? Super interesting! If you'd like to tell us about your job, feel free to share in the comments below.
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
