Corp. Strategy Offer - 72K in NYC?

Just received a corporate strategy offer fresh out of undergrad in NYC with a Fortune 50 company.
The team is pretty small and seems elite, reporting to the CEO. Their offer is only 72K though, which seems really small in a city like NYC. Is this normal?

 

I work in corporate strategy for a F500. Been a little over 7 months now since I started in April, straight out of school. All-in, my compensation is similar to yours, but I live in a Tier 5? city that's significantly cheaper than NYC. As in, I can comfortably afford a fully furnished nice spot downtown without any roommates on my salary. Colleagues based in Tier 2 & Tier 1 cities around the world at an equivalent position (based on salary bands) make approximately 80k all in. So your compensation is along the lines for the industry, yes. Had you came in after an IB or IB+PE stint or an MBA stint, it'd be higher. But right out of school, this is normal for non tech F500. In fact I know some people working in similar positions at some F500 companies making around 60k, so 70-80k is a fair target.

 

Consultants and bankers compensated for being in the client services business. Your client will be the company you work for, but you won't have any billable/utilization efforts. I'd agree that's on par for CS, but would determine your interests. Usually, people move into CS, CD, BD after an IB / Co. stint.

Could be an interesting offer if it's in a field that interests you. For example, I know a lady who was in CS @ Microsoft and is now at a tier 1 VC - I think it's more pedigree vs. experience at that point, but if exits are what you chase, it's not the worst thing. Would consider looking at consulting if you're interested in strategy.

 
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Our FLDP in NYC gets paid about 75-80k base, 80 to 85k all in. Just another data point, relative to the answers provided above, if your bonus is around 5k (so a little under 10%) you'd be in the ballpark.

You know how people in IB are generally considered to live off their salary, bank the bonus? Yeah you'll probably not be banking too much. Honestly I get the whole "In NYC" concept is great and offers you the chance to network but if you're in Finance and not in IB its rough. To put into perspective the people in the same FLDP in a low COL city make 65k-70k all in. Rent and city taxes alone in NYC put the NYC analysts in a worse off financial situation.

 

Yeah probably... Or in Jersey somewhere and drive over an hour in.

I'm sure things get a bit easier once you have a spouse / dual income household.

The 80k range employees are probably still able to save but they won't live the life that an IBD analyst would live by spending 90k salary and having 25kish post tax to bank from bonus...

 

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