Am I Underpaid in Atlanta?
Currently working as a 1st year real estate development analyst in Atlanta and the base comp is $60,000 + 20% bonus. Am I underpaid? Would appreciate any insights.
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It depends on a lot of factors including the shop you’re working for, responsibilities and obviously how many hours you’re working. If this is your first gig with 0 experience and you’re working 40-45 hrs a week it’s not horrible. If you’re working 70 hours a week that’s definitely light.
Keep in mind Atlanta is a lower COL city and the most important thing to focus on now is soaking up all the information you can and learning new skills. You’re still in the first year of your CRE career, with a well rounded skill set the money will come.
No, that's about right for your first year out of school. I'd expect that to ramp up quickly over the next few years. With 2-3 years I would expect you to be at $100k, 40-50% bonus, and some participation in the upside on the deals you're working on. That'll all be in front of you internally or externally if you're getting good experience. There are people making more than you and people making less, and I'd say you're probably close to the median.
I am blaming you for the Braves snapping their streak tonight though...
This, 100%
Made $55k in my first job in Atlanta in RE lending. Definitely low, but just thought I’d share a data point
Definitely not. My first salary in Atlanta CRE was only 35k + 5k bonus, a used Falcons jersey and 5 copies of Lil Baby's first mixtape on vinyl.
Toss in some o bombs at Kramers and a pack of parliaments, and we in bidness!
RIP Kramers
All in $72k for first year out of UG is decent for sure for development (a field where you are probably not tons useful first year tbh). I don't know tons about Atlanta in particular, but this is a fair deal in many other big SE cities I know better. Frankly, a lot of people direct out of UG would be (and should be) happy with a base of $50-55k in real estate.
I'll add/ask, you don't mention average hours or wlb, but if you are in the 40-50 hr range with free weekends, you are def fair paid (all the "big buck" deals you hear about for UGs on WSO often come with 60-80hr incld weekend commitments to be fair).
No, that sounds about right. That was my first offer out of grad school in Atlanta. Then I used it to secure a slightly higher paying offer (65k - 20% bonus) from an overall better company
To echo the above, that is about right.
I'm a recent grad that moved to ATL. I am getting ~90k all in and working maybe 45 hours a week. I'm loving life.
No but I'm thinking about it in the next few years.
Im on $90k + ~20% bonus in RE lending in Atlanta as a second year analyst so pretty happy.
Thats solid, congrats. Are you at a debt fund?
Nope, just a bank.
$70k + 20% here. I'm a few years out of UG but am 1st year analyst (career change)
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