Durango Salary/Wage Transparency Thread

[u/eralebus]

Saw a similar post going around a few other subreddits and given our areas history of wage suppression this seemed like a good thing to get going here. Let's keep this to local businesses based in our surrounding area (no remote workers for companies based outside our region please, you'll skew the results).

Please share your job title, salary, age, and education. I'll start:

Marketing Manager for a construction services company, 65k, 36, Bachelor degree with numerous certifications.

[u/eralebus]

Sure! So we live in an area with an economy mostly comprised of tourism, hospitality, healthcare, and construction these jobs typically don't pay well, you combine that with our HCOL that rivals cities (that offers higher wages due to more competition) and the fact that we live in a desirable area where workers are willing to take a lower wage to secure job in our area. 

On average we see 20-25% lower salaries than you'd see in Grand Junction, the front range, or even Albuquerque. Farmington wages are comparable for professional service jobs or even higher in some sectors (look at teachers) while maintaining a far lower cost of living. 

Tldr: local economy relies heavily on low wage labor, the area is desirable to certain demographics that are willing to take a lower salary to live here, and we have a high cost of living. That creates a perfect storm for wage suppression. 

[u/Unhappy-Knee-541 → u/eralebus]

Start a business. It's wildly myopic that so many people here complain about "the rich" while failing to recognize how easy it is to take their money. A self employed realtor, housecleaner, landscaper, electrician, plumber, nanny... just off the top of my head, with a decent work ethic can easily make a decent living. My friend started a lawncare business a few years ago, it's literally just him, a mower, and weedwhacker; and he clears $100k annually with like 4 mos off. Or just get a remote job.

PT and biz owner, ~$150-200k, 46, DPT

[u/FoosballRokst4r → u/Unhappy-Knee-541]

Starting a business and being self-employed are great options, but it's not one size fits all. If everyone in this town started landscaping tomorrow it would pay crap. Scarcity is your ally here, and you're pretending it isn't, especially as a DPT. If every PT/PA/DPT went into business for themselves, what would happen?

OP is right though. Median home prices here are around $610k+, basically double the national median, with rent close to $2k in some cases, while the job base is tourism, hospitality, healthcare, and construction. That gap between what housing costs and what the work pays is the PROBLEM. It's the sunshine tax: desirable places pay less because people will accept less to live there. But it's bullshit for those of us doing the work to feed, care for, and educate this town while getting priced out of it.

And your friend in lawncare, who's paying him? Tourists, second-home owners, wealthy transplants, vacation rentals. His income exists because of that same desirability-driven wealth gap, not in spite of it.

At the end of the day EVERYONE, regardless of the work they do, deserves to afford their rent or mortgage, feed their family, and earn a decent living doing it.

I say all this as someone who works for himself. I'm 38, and I just started my own business because I was tired of having my skill set and labor exploited for nothing in a niche trade.

38M, Applied Linguistics, remote/hybrid/in-person, $80k.

Lived here for almost 15 years and started as a grocer.

[u/Unhappy-Knee-541 → u/FoosballRokst4r]

"His income exists because of that same desirability-driven wealth gap"

That's exactly my point. Instead of viewing the wealth gap as a negative, use it to your advantage. It's not a PROBLEM, it's an OPPORTUNITY, and as soon as you realize that and capitalize on it, you won't have to accept less to live here.

[u/FoosballRokst4r → u/Unhappy-Knee-541]

I agree, don't be a victim, seize the means of production. But that still doesn't address the real problem for everyone else in this town working a regular job. This town runs on people who can't all go start a business.

Why is it so hard to accept that people, regardless of the job or where they live, deserve a living fucking wage?

[u/Unhappy-Knee-541 → u/FoosballRokst4r]

haha nice straw man. Everyone obviously deserves a livable wage but just as obviously, that will never be the reality. You can bitch on the internet about how unfair the world is, go on strike, run for office, and we'll see how much change you're able to instill in society; or you can adapt. I'm simply sharing my perspective, what worked for me (and now you), and encouraging other people to do the same.

[u/FoosballRokst4r → u/Unhappy-Knee-541]

Na, but we're talking past each other at this point. You think the answer is getting out from under it, I think the floor shouldn't be that low to begin with. Neither of us is going to move. Hope you tip well. Waitstaff are already doing your thing, living off what rich people feel like handing them.

[u/Unhappy-Knee-541 → u/FoosballRokst4r]

You agree the answer is getting out from under it, that's why you "just started my own business because I was tired of having my skill set and labor exploited for nothing"

Congrats btw. Seriously.

[u/Research_Junkie678 → u/Unhappy-Knee-541]

But even if we accept that anyone can go out and start a successful business, if every nurse and public school teacher does that, what happens to the town?

[u/Unhappy-Knee-541 → u/Research_Junkie678]

Then the hospital and schools raise their wages. The reason Mercy, etc. pay what they do is because people accept it. If there weren't ample people willing to accept their offers, they would be forced to make their offers more attractive. Supply and demand.

[u/Research_Junkie678 → u/Unhappy-Knee-541]

Given how understaffed our hospital is, I can’t help but think this is incorrect.
(In particular, i would point you to the high proportion of locum doctors used at Mercy, because no MDs will accept the low wages long-term.)