Interesting article in this week’s National Law Journal: Does It Pay to Make NY Pay? Big Apple Takes a Bigger Bite of Pay, by Leigh Jones:

With more law firms now paying first-year associates in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Boston the same amount they are doling out to their starting lawyers in New York, it seems that attorneys in the Big Apple are getting shortchanged in the deal. Several big law firms in the last few weeks have boosted salaries for first-year associates in large cities to match the $160,000 that their New York beginners receive. …

Cost-of-living differences are huge among major U.S. cities. According to the Council for Community and Economic Research (CCER), the equivalent of a $160,000 annual salary in New York is $205,631 in Los Angeles. The CCER, a 46-year-old nonprofit organization, comprising economic development organizations, government agencies, universities and others, produces the Cost of Living Index. In Chicago, $160,000 balloons to the equivalent of $278,573, according to the CCER. In the pricey San Francisco market, the equivalent of $160,000 in New York is $190,789. In Boston, it equates to $241,397.

For more, see David Lat.