I think the pay for a CFI really depends on a several things. Location, niche, and experience. In Chicago and I would imagine the larger cities, a full time CFI can make a very liveable wage. Flight schools in the area where I worked at were charging between 45-65 bucks for instructors. I have even heard 75-80 for some Cirrus instructors. Those obviously cater to the upper crust folks. Lets face it, if you can work as an instructor in an area, you can build a client list that will pay to have a good CFI who they trust. And your students can help build your client list. The sad thing is that the schools always took slightly less than half the above rates. I think a lot has to do with being an independent contractor. Right now there is a good surplus of CFI's, but I have a feeling that will soon change.