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Long legs may equal deep pockets.

Tall people make more money than their shorter counterparts, according to studies. In the most recent study, appearing in the latest edition of the Journal of Applied Psychology, two economics professors found tall people earn about $789 more per inch, per year.

Some career experts agree that looks can play a role in landing jobs, but are not sure if they have a beneficial effect on salaries.

"Appearance is important in jobs that require interacting with people," said Terry Glover, president of Downtown headhunting firm W.T. Glover & Associates."I don't know if there is a correlation between looks and salary."

The average height of Americans today is about 5-foot-9 for men and about 5-foot-4 for women.

Keith Tilton, a 6-foot-7-inch tall Port Authority bus driver and president of the Golden Triangle Tall Club, said he has not noticed more dough on his paycheck compared to his colleagues.

He said personality traits could be the reason some tall folks make more cash.

"Tall people are more seen and they offer something of a presence," Tilton said.

Studies not only pondered the question of height and salary, but also looked at the roles attractiveness and weight play into earnings.

In their study, Daniel Hamermesh of the University of Texas and Jeff Biddle of Michigan State University found that good looking people earned 3 to 8 percent more than people of average looks.

Ugly people really lose out - earning 5 to 10 percent less than those with average looks, according to the study.

Dr. Josephine Olson, an economics professor at the University of Pittsburgh, has researched the connection between looks and earnings. She said these studies can help both employers and employees.

"It confirms something we all suspected," Olson said. "(The studies) make people more aware that this kind of thing happens so they can try to avoid unnecessary bias and develop different screening practices to reduce the impact of attractiveness."

Confidence and energy may actually be the key to success, but being beautiful certainly doesn't hurt.

"We all are influenced by attractiveness and don't think there is a way to get around that," Olson said.

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