A lot of this would depend upon the size of the agency.

I believe that Don was making around $35k a year, and was given a 12% raise by Bert the first year he became a partner. That was a nice chunk of change back in the early 60's

A larger agency like McCann or BBDO might pay more ~ and Don's offer to jump ship was around $45k.

I don't recall any figures mentioned for Roger, but he's probably hovering around $60k a year.

Bert Cooper might be as high as $85k to $100K a year, but these are only arbitrary figures.

Every agency I worked for had a salary structure, with leeway for yearly increases, bonuses, etc.
But, there were many differences between them all.

A starting Jr. copywriter at JWT in the early sixties might be making between 3k and 4k a year. That means Peggy is making diddlysquat at SC. I would guess that Paul is making about $2.5k to $3.5k a year. I don't know what the SC salary structure is for the creative department. Sal might be making $12k to $15k. It could be less.

Pete is haulin' in about $3k a year, if we believe what he says about the apartment downpayment being a year's salary.

My first full-time job - at Compton - didn't pay much more than 10K a year. My first impression was, "I get paid for doing this? GROOVY!" When I left the business 22 years later, in 1990, I was making over 100k ~ and I had a pretty good reputation by then.
But, by then, my impression was "They can't pay me enough to put up with all this s_it!!" I eventually chucked it all to get my life back and regain my sanity.

The Mad Men were making a decent living for the era. Much above what others were getting paid for their hard work. But, there were trade-offs: i.e. broken marriages, broken spirits, ulcers, anger, depression, the commuting, the backstabbing, the office politics ~ interspersed with some bits of levity, happiness, and a sense of accomplishment.

I'm sure others will have some good info on salaries at the time. I'm just speaking from the experience of one individual on the Creative side of the business.

Last year, Pete told his wife he was making $75 a week. That's $4000 in 1960. ($27000 in 2008 dollars.)

When Roger found out Don was considering the McCann-Erickson position, he offered Don "40" Don said that "45 sounds better." That's about $300,000 in today's money

In 1966 and wet behind the ears, I was making $75 in an entry level job at Benton & Bowles, one of the largest ad agencies in New York. Seeing little opportunity there, I left to work in advertising at Faberge and then Seventeen Magazine. The magazines were havens for ambitious women and were inhabited by all "girls." Interesting that the Sterling Cooper women had little opportunity because elsewhere women were making their mark. The Mad Men portrayal of SC is as a traditional WASP agency but other agencies -- which will probably be shown in future episodes -- were more liberal, open, and female friendly. In fact while I was laboring for $75 a week, other women were making it big. For example -- Mary Wells, author of "My Life in Advertising," was working at Tinker on the Braniff account in 1966. While she was called the driving force of the agency, copywriter Richard Rich and art Director Stewart Greene were right behind her backing up her moves with incredible advertising. The three had worked together on many award winning accounts at Tinker and were a well established team. On April 4th, 1967 the three decided to break away from Tinker and start their own agency, Wells Rich Greene. They each invested $30,000 and got a $100,000 bank loan with the help of a financier who also happened to be a director for Braniff. Almost immediately after Wells, Rich and Greene left Tinker the Braniff account (a $7 million account) left Tinker to be handled by Wells Rich Greene. In their first weeks of business Wells Rich Greene operated out of a hotel suite, but shortly thereafter moved into a Madison Avenue office. Over the next several years, 11 staff members from Tinker would resign and join Wells Rich Greene. So it wasn't all bad for the truly talented, pleasantly "assertive" and capable woman in those days. But it wasn't the norm.

My dad worked for a cable company in Glenside, PA, in the 1960's. He did quite a bit of promotional and advertising work, and ne visited the south, where his company set up cable tv systems. I believe that my dad said that at the time, if an executive made $12,000 a year, they were considered to be doing quite well. He said that he reached $12,000 a year around 1965 or 1966. I also know that some public school teachers in the area where I live (Eastern PA) were starting at $4800 in 1965. According to an online inflation calculator, $4800 is a little over $31,000 in 2007 dollars. $12,000 is almost $80,000 in 2007 dollars. So, we see the difference is about the same.

Also...in season one, Peggy was making $40 a week as Don's secretary. When she started to do some copywriting, she asked for a $5.00 per week raise. Don was not thrilled about that kind of increase. However, I do believe he gave it to her after he made partner. At $45.00 per week times 52 weeks, her yearly salary was $2340, or somewhere around $16,700 a year in 2007 dollars. Remember how they had that party during Election Day, 1960, watching the results, etc.? During the party, somebody stole $3.00 of "mad money" from Peggy's locker during the night. (That was $21.12 in 2007 dollars.) Peggy called building security, and the African American elevator operator was fired.

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