The problem with these reports is you wonder how much of it is a marketing technique for the Company in question. So, maybe Cisco has no influence here to get people to buy-in. But it does cause confusion when one gets a cert after months of sacrifice and maybe agony to accomplish only to find that in their area, they cannot find anything better than $20 per hour to start. Even with some other experience that is a high number in many areas. The problem is that salaries from LA and NY Dallas, TX are mixed in with salaries from lower COL areas and therefore, lower salary areas like Boise, ID or Redmond, WA or someone in Ames, IA. With higher numbers in those more expensive/higher paying states and far fewer people in the lesser paying states, the numbers are skewed. I appreciate the more regionally based studies that give average and median numbers. At any rate, for a starting salary, I would shoot for 10% - 15% below such numbers as a rule of thumb.