I've been wanting to get away from the Portland area for a while now, and would love to get back to the area I grew up. Unfortunately Engineering jobs are pretty rare in that area. A opportunity has presented itself with a company that a family friend works at. He's their chief engineer, and I'd go work for him. The job sounds interesting, so that part's all good. I'm being asked to name my salary requirements.
I currently earn 72K base salary, with quarterly bonuses that are typically 18-22%. On top of that, I get decent health coverage, and a stock purchase program. My total compensation is about $85K.
Does anyone have a good source for cost of living index's, that's pretty comprehensive and would include smaller, more rural areas?
I don't want to go backwards on "real" compensation, so once I've calculated an equivalent salary in that area, should I ask for an increase? It's not a huge company, and I don't want to be a money grub, so I'm trying to figure out how much to ask for.
Salary negociations always seem daunting to me.