Related Posts
What careers pay the best in the Uk?
More Posts
Additional Posts in Advertising
How long were you a junior?
Tips for dealing with procrastination?
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.



I think humans have a tendency to overcompensate. NY is on the extreme side of the scale, but you don’t have to move to Peoria, Illinois to feel a difference. I lived in NY for many years and live in SF now, and while it’s still a big-ish city, it’s crazy how much more manageable it is. Work life balance is much better, the speed of things much slower and people are much nicer than in NY.
My point is that there’s plenty of cities more liveable than NY where you can keep your paycheck - and still make good work and work for good companies. Look into Austin, SF, LA, Chicago, Kansas City, Boston, Seattle and Portland.
Making 100k in a city in the Midwest is like making 250k in NYC. And everyone goes home at 5pm.
And... they’re eerily friendly
Go for the balance. Life is too short.
How will you eat without seamless tho
Be prepared to work on drastically different clients. If your career isn’t motivated by winning awards or other acts of vanity, it should be fine. One of my former co-workers moved from our huge NYC agency to a small one in the Midwest and started working on accounts for car dealerships and other small businesses.
Pro’s
Work life balance = +100% (yay)
Cost of living = -150% (big yay again)
Cons
Quality of work = - 50% (maybe not so yay 🤨?)
Salary = - 50% (boo)
Conclusion
Still a net gain of 150% (super wow)
Do it.
We are in a smaller city and work with top tier clients (Google, Spotify, adidas, etc.)
Not every shop outside of NYC, SF, and LA means trading work for life.
Depends on your age. 40+? Do it and enjoy the downslope. Still on the way up? This kind of thinking this early leads me to think this may not be the gig for you. Austin is lovely, BTW.
There are plenty of coastal clients at smaller agencies in non-coastal markets. For example, I’m in NYC once a month at least for a giant client, but live in the Midwest.
Do it. You’ll live like a king (comparatively)
You can still be on the up outside of NYC.... and richer, even making 50% less.
Oh, and my salary is very comparable to what I see posted on here for my position in nyc
For what it’s worth, when I left LA for a second tier city I increased my salary. Not a very small city, but small for ad opportunities.
100% do it. Trust me.
Check out some cost of living calculators and factor in no income tax