Regarding where do we get our information, here are the results from a
Cost of Living Analysis taken from a Web page done by DataMasters (email
at datamasters.com, i didn't write down the URL for the page).
     Cost of living comparisons
     National Average = 100
     New York            219.7
     Washington D.C.     123.4
     Denver              103.9
     Dallas               98.2

Since I live in Wisconsin, here is a comparison between Madison and New
York:
     A $25,000 salary in Madison, WI offers the same buying power as a
$47,516.71 salary in NY,NY.
     A $25,000 salary in NY,NY offeres the same buying power as a
$13,153.27 salary in Madison, WI.
     Perhaps the bigger issue here is the persistant underpayment of
employees in the museum field.  I am sorry, but many of the positions
available require MS degrees with years of experience, while the
starting salary is most often in the low 20s.


            Richard Fields

The views exppressed here are my own, and in no way reflect those of the
U.S. Army or Colorado State University.