How much salary?

From some time I have been reading discussions here. I have a question, I am BS in Computer Science and I have 3 years of experience in C++, VC++/NT, MFC, win32SDK in India. I am a Sun certified Java Programmer. After a one year gap, I have started looking for a job. As this would be my first job in USA, I do not know in this tough job market, how much salary I should expect?
Thank you all
Mark

Also, multiple certifications directly correlate to pay increases.
With one certification, the average pay was $53,000, with five certifications, it is $62,000, with ten, the average pay was $75,000.
*The average SQL Server Professional earned $67,294 per year in 2000
*The average Unix/Linux Professional earned $64,111 per year in 2000
*The average Visual Basic Professional earned $55,878 per year in 2000
*The average JAVA Professional earned $63,988 per year in 2000
*The average XML Professional earned $66,346 per year in 2000

http://www.trainingplanet.com/html/netg.html
(of course that is a training company - so they encourage certifications)

More general:
http://www.fawcette.com/javapro/2002_06/magazine/features/salarysurvey/default_pf.asp

Hi Cindy,
Wow...These salaries are high for today's market. It's like showing the past highs for the US stock markets. We'll we ever see the NASDAQ hit 5000 again? Probably sometime in the far future, but not now.

IHMO, If you readjust the numbers above by -10K or -15K, you would probably come closer to what an employer would be willing to pay.
-Peter
[ February 17, 2003: Message edited by: Peter Tran ]

So do you mean I should expect around 45K?
In my last interview the recuiter asked me what is your hourly rate? What you guys think I should ask?
Thank you very much for helping me in this!