Actually, I'd say that Lois's income will be somewhat higher than the average posted on the website Shayne referred to (adjustments for inflation obviously being necessary). If we're to take it that the Daily Planet is a stand-in for the New York Times (i.e., having one of the biggest circulations in the country and a daily, general interest paper covering the city, country, and world), New York Times reporters are going to make considerably more than their colleagues at New York's many, many other papers (the WSJ being the exception). My friends who work for the Times in various capacities, all make substantially more than the average posted on the site. New York has a ton of other papers, including the Post, the Globe, the Daily News, the Village Voice, and the hundred or so ethnic or country-specific news sources, like the Russian Bazaar and Urdu Times. These papers, with their much smaller circulations and reduced ability to command top dollar from advertisers pay their reporters a lot less than the New York Times does. At the beginning of the show, Lois has about four years' experience at the Planet, plus three Kerth Awards, so she's probably gotten a couple of raises.
I would liken it to the site's report on average lawyer salaries. It states that average to be $140,000 in 2011 dollars. But a fourth year associate at one of New York's top 100 law firms will actually make over $200,000. So despite being relatively junior, their salary is substantially higher than the average for the entire city (which is substantially higher than the country as a whole).
I'd roughly guess Lois's salary in 1994 to have been about $60,000, but I think Shayne's dead on in terms of what her apartment would have cost.
As far as the shoes go, I'm guessing Lois does indeed have a lot of pairs of something sensible, like Nine West shoes in her closet (though she does dress up a heck of a lot more than my reporter friends). However, she's probably got at least a few pairs of Stuart Weitzman's or Pradas or the like in her closet for when she dresses up for things like the White Orchid Ball.
Rac (a proud, long-time New Yorker, temporarily in exile on another continent).
