Wayne Marr points us to a study ranking universities in the US by total compensation package (on average across departments), adjusted by cost of living. The highest paying institution, in cost of living adjusted terms, is SUNY Buffalo at $113,200. At the bottom are CUNY Purchase and CUNY NY City Tech on $18,600 and $18,700 respectively. Scott Beaulier previously lauded the cost of living adjusted salaries at Mercer.
Of course, though, the whole comparison is rot if most of the cost of living differences are because folks have bid up scarce property to reflect amenity value differences across cities. Your New York City cost-of-living adjusted salary will be less than $19K if you place zero value on the amenities available in New York as compared to those available in Buffalo. Otherwise, wouldn't the best measure of amenity values be the amount folks are willing to pay to live in a place?
"if most of the cost of living differences are because folks have bid up scarce property to reflect amenity value differences across cities" ---- I would say, that a great deal of the cost of living differences are not due to amenity differences. A lot of people live in/near New York because that is where the good jobs are in their chosen field, which population pressure adds considerably to the cost of housing, without adding anything to the 'amenity values' of living there. I would say that a lot of people live in New York, and other places based on their job prospects rather than their preferences for a vibrant social scene. For instance, consider all the jobs in finance, law, accounting, publishing. These people, or rather, this job pressure, drives up the cost of housing in New York to be far above than the intrinsic amenity value of the city.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, but why are those jobs there rather than in places with lower costs of living?
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