That's my point. A national average salary for any job position is worthless if it is not at least regionaliized.
I think most people here feel the salaries listed were too low. That's because the they are and average which means about half the people make more and half the people make less than the average. And if you don't take in the cost of living where that job high-paying job is, you may move there and end up taking a pay-cut after taxes and the higher cost of living.
I purchased my 1860 sqft house 23 years ago for $67K. Appraised value for taxes is about $100K (which is typically lower than the actual realestate value). In places like California, etc this same house would easily cost $250K and perhaps as much as $400K?? If I lived in CA, my house payments would easily double, my insurance would double, my taxes would double, but my salary would increase by only 20% at the most.
I'm sure the salaries for people who work for the various civilian contractors in Iraq are making great money, but then it's always Location, Location, Location !