Because the profession is meant to serve the public interests and not just be a money grab. According to government data, the median lawyer is in the top 10% of income earners.
Correct. ONet data puts the median lawyer at about $127k. From what I could find, 90th percentile of income is around $126k.
While I know HN is probably SV and software biased, saying "only" $120k comes across as out-of-touch for the way most people live. For comparison, the median SF lawyer makes $191k according to BLS data. I could not quickly find 90 percentile data for the area.
Your average Enterprise CRUD developer in any major city in the US can hit that number within 3-5 years and a job hop. It’s not exclusively a SV thing.
And your number is correct according to Census data.
I agree, but it's still out of touch. (not a knock on you, we are all subjectively influenced by what we come into contact with the most and interpreting it as 'normal'. It's also why something like 90% of people consider themselves middle class.) The fact that you have to narrow it down to software development and major cities should tell you that much. That's also why my original comment included both SV and software as biasing factors.
The average person does not develop software and does not live in a major city. If somebody is making double the median wage and 2.5x the average wage and complaining about keeping a roof over their head, they can probably expect some sideways glances. It's like when people complain about the difficulty of making ends meet once they make their Lexus payment and pay their kids private tuition bill. The subjective struggle may be legitimate but it's still out of touch with the experience of most people.
