5 ms·

Fun to see these kind of maps, but they are pretty useless without a discussion of purchasing power in those areas. The Bay Area and Bos-Wash all have above ave

Fun to see these kind of maps, but they are pretty useless without a discussion of purchasing power in those areas. The Bay Area and Bos-Wash all have above average cost of living too...

kgroll 16y ago
Agreed. I'd be more interested in seeing average salary by region contrasted with the average cost of living for those same regions, which would identify the most economical places to live in the US.
- acangiano 16y ago
  Agreed as well, ratios would work well, even though there are fixed costs that are virtually identical across the country. Because of such expenses, a higher income in an expensive place may still have an edge over a lower income in a cheap place, if the ratio for the former is only slightly less than the ratio for the latter.
  - sp332 16y ago
    Hm, (Income - Cost of Living) / Purchasing Power?
    - msluyter 16y ago
      I vote for: (average income - average COL) / average COL = relative purchasing power
      - sp332 16y ago
        I don't think so. That would be p=(i-c)/c or just p=i/c-1 which would mean that purchasing power is directly proportional to cost of living.
  - _delirium 16y ago
    It's also fairly hard to find a good "cost-of-living" metric that accurately reflects what a given individual's cost of living would be, because how you'd live isn't identical between regions. For example, I've lived in both Houston and the Bay Area, and in the Bay Area I pay considerably more for housing, but considerably less for entertainment. The latter is due to most of my entertainment in the Bay Area being free outdoorsy stuff (hiking, beaches), whereas most of my entertainment in Houston was for-pay indoor stuff. That, and more of my trips in the Bay Area are nearby driving trips (up/down the coast, etc.), while most of my trips from Houston were by plane--- and I took more of them, because I didn't have as nice local weather, nice nearby hiking, etc. The end result is that I spend almost exactly as much overall, despite the higher COL by most metrics.
- harshpotatoes 16y ago
  This sounds like a job for wolfram alpha...
brg 16y ago
I wonder if there is a simple direct correlation between purchasing power and any one of those specific class segments.
lsc 16y ago
Eh, I actually think that for Entrepreneurs, income is more important than average income minus average expenses. The thing is that yeah, a room in a shared house in San Jose is going to cost you twice what it costs elsewhere... but it's still only $700 a month. Yeah, as I get older and start a family, I'll care more about the cost of a reasonable standard of housing... but while I'm bootstrapping and willing to live in a place that is beneath my means, I think average income matters more than average cost of living.

Fun to see these kind of maps, but they are pretty useless without a discussion of purchasing power in those areas. The Bay Area and Bos-Wash all have above average cost of living too...

kgroll 16y ago

Agreed. I'd be more interested in seeing average salary by region contrasted with the average cost of living for those same regions, which would identify the most economical places to live in the US.

acangiano 16y ago
Agreed as well, ratios would work well, even though there are fixed costs that are virtually identical across the country. Because of such expenses, a higher income in an expensive place may still have an edge over a lower income in a cheap place, if the ratio for the former is only slightly less than the ratio for the latter.
- sp332 16y ago
  Hm, (Income - Cost of Living) / Purchasing Power?
  - msluyter 16y ago
    I vote for: (average income - average COL) / average COL = relative purchasing power
    - sp332 16y ago
      I don't think so. That would be p=(i-c)/c or just p=i/c-1 which would mean that purchasing power is directly proportional to cost of living.
- _delirium 16y ago
  It's also fairly hard to find a good "cost-of-living" metric that accurately reflects what a given individual's cost of living would be, because how you'd live isn't identical between regions. For example, I've lived in both Houston and the Bay Area, and in the Bay Area I pay considerably more for housing, but considerably less for entertainment. The latter is due to most of my entertainment in the Bay Area being free outdoorsy stuff (hiking, beaches), whereas most of my entertainment in Houston was for-pay indoor stuff. That, and more of my trips in the Bay Area are nearby driving trips (up/down the coast, etc.), while most of my trips from Houston were by plane--- and I took more of them, because I didn't have as nice local weather, nice nearby hiking, etc. The end result is that I spend almost exactly as much overall, despite the higher COL by most metrics.
harshpotatoes 16y ago
This sounds like a job for wolfram alpha...

brg 16y ago

I wonder if there is a simple direct correlation between purchasing power and any one of those specific class segments.

lsc 16y ago

Eh, I actually think that for Entrepreneurs, income is more important than average income minus average expenses. The thing is that yeah, a room in a shared house in San Jose is going to cost you twice what it costs elsewhere... but it's still only $700 a month. Yeah, as I get older and start a family, I'll care more about the cost of a reasonable standard of housing... but while I'm bootstrapping and willing to live in a place that is beneath my means, I think average income matters more than average cost of living.