Title: Pathology Resident
Age: 30
Experience: 5 (PGY5 in the jargon)
Education: MD
Salary: $61,800 Base ($500 BS bonus, contract disallows outside gigs for the most part), good health insurance
401k match: Ha!
Vacation: 15 days
Work Hours/Week: 60ish Plus occasional at home call (reasonable for a resident)
Current City: Denver
Next year I will be a "fellow" in NYC with ~$82-85K salary. After training salary depends on type of practice (academic, private practice or industry) and desirability of city (you can make 2-3x in places that docs don't want to live). Ballpark first year salary in my ultimate field (Molecular Genetic Pathology/Clinical Informatics) is $200,000-$250,000 in a major city outside of the South and Midwest. Depending on partnership/academic structure, 3-6 years in, one can probably expect $225,000-$350,000 but it is widely variable, that range probably captures 1.5 SDs (assuming mediocristan).
As you might imagine, this field (like all of medicine) puts one way behind in savings, because one does not start saving in earnest until 28-35 years old. Most people, like myself, have $100,000-300,000 in medical school debt at graduation that grows during residency because salary is not sufficient in higher COL cities to even pay down interest on this debt (6+% interest is the norm).
Fortunately, the end game salary more than makes up for the years of poor pay and what some would consider being overworked during residency. The trick is realizing one is not rich when you are 32 years old with $300K education debt and minimal retirement savings. This is where most fail. :)