I know H&H moved to 135K but the firms there don't have the same lock step pay increases that big law in NY or other major markets have. A senior associate in CO is probably making like 160-170k vs. the 290k one makes in a major market.
Not to mention that the partners at firms like that have PPP's of like $300-400K so you will never make the really big money and the hours aren't really that much better, especially if you are trying to make partner.
Which reminds me, what M Cool notes here is yet another significant difference between NY Biglaw and Biglaw in other states: Compensation.
The firms in New Jersey, for example, have many of the same clients as the firms in NY, and in most cases, practice in both NJ and in NY. They even have pretty high starting market rates (usually $135k-$145k) however their pay increase is not lock step as M Cool mentioned, and furthermore it increases by like 5 or 6k, as opposed to 10 to 15k like NY.
When I first started in NY Biglaw one of my buddies from my class started in NJ Biglaw and he was always talking about making the move to NY at some point, and at the time it didn't make any sense to me b/c I was operating under the false assumption that NJ firms moved up every year just like NY firms do. Not the case. As my friend broke it down for me, it may not seem like a big deal when we start out (he started at $135k) but as we get more senior the gap widens.
We did the math and (assuming we actually stay in firm life) we figured that by the time we're both 8th year associates he would be making about $180,000/yr whereas I would be making $320,000/yr for doing the exact same thing he was doing about 15 minutes away across the Hudson River.
Doesn't really seem fair when you think about it.
Don't get me wrong, $180k is nothing to sneeze at. If you're a struggling student, and somebody comes along and offers your that much money, you're going to take it. It sure as hell beats contract attorney pay! But when you know that you could have gotten an additional $140k if you had simply chosen to see what's behind door # 2, I can see how that might keep you up at night.