Pocatello, Idaho

According to many publishers, it damned sure is. Those same publishers think you should be able to get by on that salary without embarrassing the company by either getting a second job or applying for food stamps, too.

 

run making 25K and living in Pocatello, Idaho by most of your friends and wait for the reaction ... all laughs and/or frowns

then tell someone in a different occupation and they ask 'why would you be interested in that?'

my neighbor is 23 and just got her first out-of-college job ----- 9 to 5, weekends off, no thinking involved, starting at 47K with a bonus after six months

all depends on your standards ------ if they aren't very high, Pocatello is the place for you

 

What sort of business is your 23-year-old friend in?

 

Yeah, worked in Cd'A years ago. $11 per hour. But had a nice apartment for $425 and gas was $1.45 per gallon. Didn't have a car payment, student loans or credit card debt, so I broke even with a little left over.

It really depends what the cost of living is. I don't think one could do well on 25k where I live now, but in Pocatello, perhaps. And I suspect the paper is prepared to hire either entry-level or someone with 1-2 years of experience. It's a young person's market.

 

I doubt a candidate right out of college will get 25k.

 

As far as I can tell, industry standard for entry-level and living in a rural, remote area is about $21k.

 

Just to be clear: I'm not advocating anyone going anywhere to make 25k. But, if you want to get into this field, get used to being paid much less than most everyone else your age who you graduated with.

It's really up to you.

 

Well, to make this opening's 25K sound rather lucrative, I am making 20K at a small daily a few miles north of Pocatello (oddly enough, I live three blocks from the the Journal in Poky). That's page design, the coverage of six high schools, periodic ISU football and basketball home games, taking photos, maintaining a blog, managing a stringer budget and, let's not forget, (unwillingly) acting as more of a PR guy than an SE.

Slave wages, baby. But it's the price I (was) willing to pay to get better, having worked at a weekly in Oregon prior. If you're eager enough to get better and truly want to be in journalism, you'll make the low wages work one way or another.

Anyway, the Idaho State Journal has done a pretty solid job. It really sells the Idaho State University sports scene and balances it well with preps. Nice page templates and clean copy, too. It's produced award winning writers fresh out of prominent schools (Kansas, Syracuse, Washington State, etc.) that get to travel during ISU's away games (depending on beat).

I'm not a fan of southeastern Idaho, but Pocatello is a decent place. A town of 60K has everything you need and it's just a couple hour drive to Salt Lake City.

Hope that helped.

 

Very true. It's comparable to what I'm seeing for other jobs in similar sized markets. So, I'm not faulting them. It's a buyer's market and they can get what they need at that price.

Those are the facts. As others said, each person has to decide for themselves if they want to do it and at what price.

 

Anyone know what's happening with this job? Has it been filled yet?

 

Drive up there and check.