Yeah, I feel cheap too, but it's almost like the standard here :( Unless you enter google or bulge bracket banks, you won't get too far from $2k/month base salary here.

Just my curiosity, did you find this cheap after reading my other comment too: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=385479 ? And btw, by CS graduate I meant B.Eng. or B.Sc. not M.Eng or M.Sc.

So, Is it save to assume that entry level programmer will get above $50k/year in US?