Salary
Average Salary: $70,000
Expected Lifetime Earnings: $2,922,360
A good job for a linguist just starting out can pay upwards of 60,000 simoleons (dollars) a year. After five to ten years, that figure jumps up to eighty G's (source). Salary Not so bad, eh? You'll need it, too—assuming you have any student loans to pay off (it's a safe assumption).
Salary varies widely in this field based on experience, specialty, and location. The top ten percent of linguists (probably mostly made up of the most experienced) earn an average of close to $100,000. Mmm, six-figure sweetness. Even the bottom ten percent earns close to fifty stacks annually. Again, even if that's where you start, it's a start. ¿Comprende, compadre?
There are so many paths that a person with a background in linguistics can take that they can essentially design their own career paths, if they're crafty enough. If you do original research or analysis and have the writing chops, you could write a bestseller about pig latin. Ut-bay e-way ouldn't-way ecommend-ray it.