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Startups: the perks of working in an office with a ping pong table, the thrill of knowing you could be the next Facebook (or fear of becoming the next LivingSocial), and, as it turns out, making less than your peers in other companies at a more significant rate than your startup pals in other cities.

A new analysis from the D.C. Office of Revenue Analysis’ blog “District, Measured” compares average salaries for startup workers to other companies in the District, and to San Francisco, Manhattan, Seattle, Boston, and Austin using data from the census. It defines startup companies as firms less than 4 years old.

It’s no surprise that the average salary for startup employees is lower than for a more established company. Indeed, that’s part of the game—you chug away making less and slurping Soylent in the hopes that it will pay off later on. In D.C., the average salary for a startup employee is $4,224, as compared to $6,903 for all companies.

That means a startup employee, on average, makes 61.2 percent of what an average D.C. worker does. Only Manhattan has a lower pay ratio. It doesn’t necessarily mean that D.C. startup employees aren’t getting paid as much as their pals in other cities. In fact, Austin and Seattle startup workers have a lower monthly salary on average, but so do their other workers.

For Washingtonians and New Yorkers, unlike startup meccas like Austin and San Francisco, other career paths are more comparatively more lucrative.

Image via District, Measured.

When “District, Measured” looked specifically at workers in the 25 to 34-year-old age bracket, prime startup fodder, the ratios in all of the cities tightened, though D.C. remained the second-lowest average pay ratio between startups and all companies. That’s not because these youngsters are making more—the data show everyone is making less on average at this age, and the differences are less significant. In San Francisco, a 25 to 34-year-old at a startup actually makes more than 95 percent of the average worker.

Image via District, Measured.

“The difference in pay ratios for start-up pay likely reflects a more vibrant start up economy in San Francisco and Austin, compared to more traditional career paths in established financial and legal services firms in D.C. and NYC,” District, Measured wrote.

If keeping up with the Joneses is your thing, the data indicate, then perhaps working at a startup in D.C. is not.