Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Typical postdoc pay is $40-60k/year depending on where the job is located ($40k in Urbana-Champaigne, $60k NYC or Chicago)." I say thee "Ha!", sir. The offers I was getting for post-docs were consistently on or below the low end of that range, even in San Francisco (which ain't cheap). Probably one of the biggest nudges I had away from academia was the realization that as a post-doc, I'd have a lower standard of liv…
Wow, I guess my experience (in applied math/computational science) was atypical. I didn't get a single offer below $45k, and the only person I know who took less than that was working in New Zealand. I guess applied math is the place to be if you want to stay in academia.
it probably helps to work in an area with "applied" in the name. ;-)