NYC BigLaw Associates- How much after taxes? Forum

[Anonymous User]

How much do you take home each year after Federal and NYC taxes and fees? Or how much did you take home your first year? I'm asking based on a $160K starting salary. Thank you.

Also, how much do you pay back in loans each month?

[pu_golf88]

Off the top of my head, I would estimate between $90,000 and $100,000.

[HAMBONE]

How much do you take home each year after Federal and NYC taxes and fees? Or how much did you take home your first year? I'm asking based on a $160K starting salary. Thank you.

Also, how much do you pay back in loans each month?

this would depend on how much loans you take out and over how long a period do you intend to pay it off in.

why so anonymous

[Bryan]

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[Bryan]

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[Anonymous User]

Start with 160 000. Assuming you are single.
$5718.80 in city income taxes (1706 plus income above 50k taxed at 3.468%)
$10562.78 in state taxes (6.85%of all income over 20k. The first 20k is taxed at rates from 4 to 5.9%)
$36923.60 in federal taxes (ranges from 10 to 28%, all income over $82k taxed at 28%, basic personal deduction of $5700)
FICA is $6324 (all income up to 102k taxed at 6.2%)

So, you take home $100 470.83

This is probably an overly conservative estimate since I only included the basic personal deduction. I'm not a tax guy and I've never taken an accounting course but I imagine there are a whole bunch of ways to significantly reduce your tax liability.

I'm not positive that these are all the most recent rates and brackets, but it should be pretty close.

Like the other guy said, the loan question depends on how much you borrowed, how long the repayment program is, and what type of loans they are.

State and City tax (approx 16280) are deductible on your fed return- at a marginal 28% tax rate that saves you $4558 not $1000.

You also forgot about the medicare premium (.0145), which is levied on all income (no cap) ($2320)

[Bryan]

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[mec30]

Wow, complicated maths.

1) Take salary.
2) Take out 33.333% (repeating, of course)
3) ....
4) Profit!

[vamedic03]

Y'all know this doesn't really represent your take home... You should probably factor in at least some % for retirement/401K, health care, disability, life, etc (unless your firm is paying for every cent of it).

[como]

Y'all know this doesn't really represent your take home... You should probably factor in at least some % for retirement/401K, health care, disability, life, etc (unless your firm is paying for every cent of it).

Maybe factor in some student loan payments too?

[Anonymous User]

My friends who are BigLaw take home 93k after 160k in NYC. Then they pay 25k a year for loans(if they are on the 10 year plan, some are on the 5 year plan which means they are paying about 45-50 or something). So my 10 year plan friends get 67k after taxes. Still a lot of money but not much more than I made my 3rd year out of college.

[BunkMoreland]

Why don't more people go to Chicago/Houston/even DC BIGLAW over NYC? Is it all about living in MANFUCKINGHATTAN?

[270910]

Why don't more people go to Chicago/Houston/even DC BIGLAW over NYC? Is it all about living in MANFUCKINGHATTAN?

1) There are probably an order of magnitude more biglaw jobs in NYC than in Chi/Huoston, and still substantially more than in DC as well.

2) Region neglects the X-factor of practice area. It's hard to lobby Congress from Nebraska, it's hard to do financial industry work from California.

3) NY pays substantially more than other markets long term. The PPP for top NYC firms can literally be 4x that of the top flight DC firms as an example. And in many markets that astart at 145 or 160, the raises are MUCH slower. A senior associate in NYC is likely to be making dozens of thousands of dollars more than other cities, and likely getting a bigger bonus as well.

4) Outside of all of those factors, the expense of NYC is compensated for by the fact that it's NYC. Some people are in to that kind of thing.

[thecilent]

Why don't more people go to Chicago/Houston/even DC BIGLAW over NYC? Is it all about living in MANFUCKINGHATTAN?

YES. manhattan >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> any other city.

[high0034]

http://www.paycheckcity.com

Free site, use the basic salary check calculator and choose an annual pay frequency (or choose biweekly and divide salary by 26 to figure your per pay period check). It will show you take home for any location in the US, you can also enter in 401k, med ins, etc as you see fit and experiment with different federal, state, and local exemption levels.

[como]

Why don't more people go to Chicago/Houston/even DC BIGLAW over NYC? Is it all about living in MANFUCKINGHATTAN?

1) There are probably an order of magnitude more biglaw jobs in NYC than in Chi/Huoston, and still substantially more than in DC as well.

2) Region neglects the X-factor of practice area. It's hard to lobby Congress from Nebraska, it's hard to do financial industry work from California.

3) NY pays substantially more than other markets long term. The PPP for top NYC firms can literally be 4x that of the top flight DC firms as an example. And in many markets that astart at 145 or 160, the raises are MUCH slower. A senior associate in NYC is likely to be making dozens of thousands of dollars more than other cities, and likely getting a bigger bonus as well.

4) Outside of all of those factors, the expense of NYC is compensated for by the fact that it's NYC. Some people are in to that kind of thing.

Also, NY has the most jobs and is the least likely to care about ties.

[270910]

Why don't more people go to Chicago/Houston/even DC BIGLAW over NYC? Is it all about living in MANFUCKINGHATTAN?

1) There are probably an order of magnitude more biglaw jobs in NYC than in Chi/Huoston, and still substantially more than in DC as well.

2) Region neglects the X-factor of practice area. It's hard to lobby Congress from Nebraska, it's hard to do financial industry work from California.

3) NY pays substantially more than other markets long term. The PPP for top NYC firms can literally be 4x that of the top flight DC firms as an example. And in many markets that astart at 145 or 160, the raises are MUCH slower. A senior associate in NYC is likely to be making dozens of thousands of dollars more than other cities, and likely getting a bigger bonus as well.

4) Outside of all of those factors, the expense of NYC is compensated for by the fact that it's NYC. Some people are in to that kind of thing.

Also, NY has the most jobs and is the least likely to care about ties.

[Kohinoor]

Lawyers: Worrisomely bad at math.

[BunkMoreland]

Why don't more people go to Chicago/Houston/even DC BIGLAW over NYC? Is it all about living in MANFUCKINGHATTAN?

1) There are probably an order of magnitude more biglaw jobs in NYC than in Chi/Huoston, and still substantially more than in DC as well.

2) Region neglects the X-factor of practice area. It's hard to lobby Congress from Nebraska, it's hard to do financial industry work from California.

3) NY pays substantially more than other markets long term. The PPP for top NYC firms can literally be 4x that of the top flight DC firms as an example. And in many markets that astart at 145 or 160, the raises are MUCH slower. A senior associate in NYC is likely to be making dozens of thousands of dollars more than other cities, and likely getting a bigger bonus as well.

4) Outside of all of those factors, the expense of NYC is compensated for by the fact that it's NYC. Some people are in to that kind of thing.

Also, NY has the most jobs and is the least likely to care about ties.

1) assuming you get an offer outside of NYC of course.

2) Taken, I guess, but this goes more to "prestige" I'd think.

3) Who cares about partner? Let's get in and get out. Partnership is a shot in the dark even if you gun for it.

4) That's just it though. If you are going to live like a pauper for a few years to pay off your debts, do you really want to to live it in the most accessible place in the world to easily and quickly spend all your money on myriad forms of entertainment

[12262010]

so, do we still not have a definitive answer?

[NYAssociate]

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[Renzo]

A first-year is taking home to the tune of 8k-9k a month, sometimes around 7.5k.

Some people here seem to be under the impression that there's more income potential in NY. This is probably true, but also useless. I'd wager that associates will have a significantly higher chance of lasting longer at a non-NY firm. What's the use of the fact that you can make a ton of money as a 6th year if you'll never make it?

NYC biglaw epitomizes up-or-out. That's why (among other reasons) you pay your loans off as soon as possible. And though billable hour expectations were lower last year because of the economy, I wouldn't be surprised if averages jumped above 2,200 again this year. It's insane-busy right now. I've barely gotten any sleep.

Given the up-or-out nature of Biglaw, especially in NY, how highly do you value the potentially improved exit options from a "household name" NYC firm vs. a secondary market firm?

[Anonymous User]

Lawyers: Worrisomely bad at math.

Lawyers: "worrisomely" bad at neologisms.

[kazu]

why so anonymous

[Thomas Jefferson]

why so anonymous

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