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Interesting article. Seems it would be ideal to use post-tax income. Is the norm that you shouldn't pay more than 30% based on pre- or post-tax income? The gr

Interesting article. Seems it would be ideal to use post-tax income. Is the norm that you shouldn't pay more than 30% based on pre- or post-tax income? The graph on education level does not include those not graduating high school.

1986 9y ago
> The graph on education level does not include those not graduating high school. The data appears to come from a company that largely handles refinancing student loans.
VLM 9y ago
I would assume that would be section 8 housing which they should exclude as its the government paying. They missed a pretty interesting demographic issue in the analysis that education didn't quite cover, which is stage of life. The suburban city I live in has renters who are almost exclusively college students or retired / assisted living elderly. I know my uncle who was in assisted living paid something ridiculous like $6K/month for 24x7 nursing coverage until his assets were gone and the gov pays for him now, and that likely distorts the averages. Meanwhile the other end of the elderly spectrum is 55+ housing where they get gov kickbacks and incentives to charge less, to help social security recipients pay the bills. I'm sure there is a numerical average elderly rent payment but I suspect roughly zero population because the distribution isn't even remotely bell curve-ish. Meanwhile college student used to mean "poor despite 8 roommates" a generation ago but now it means infinite gov guaranteed student loans so start charging California rents, after all the .gov will pay and guarantee any expense remotely related to education regardless of ability to (re)pay. My suburb city has a quarter mil people and a private college and a state extension uni and a community vo-tech so we have megatons of college renters, whereas the suburb city to the east is slightly larger but has zero higher ed and therefore zero renters other than assisted living. I'm just theorizing this discrepancy might extend to states. Surely there are vastly more foreign and american college students in CA than in OR or WA even in percentage relation to population? The boomer stereotype of "retire move to Florida" is still alive, isn't it? Even though I don't personally know anyone who's done it. Surely that would distort the numbers.

1986 9y ago

> The graph on education level does not include those not graduating high school. The data appears to come from a company that largely handles refinancing student loans.

VLM 9y ago

I would assume that would be section 8 housing which they should exclude as its the government paying. They missed a pretty interesting demographic issue in the analysis that education didn't quite cover, which is stage of life. The suburban city I live in has renters who are almost exclusively college students or retired / assisted living elderly. I know my uncle who was in assisted living paid something ridiculous like $6K/month for 24x7 nursing coverage until his assets were gone and the gov pays for him now, and that likely distorts the averages. Meanwhile the other end of the elderly spectrum is 55+ housing where they get gov kickbacks and incentives to charge less, to help social security recipients pay the bills. I'm sure there is a numerical average elderly rent payment but I suspect roughly zero population because the distribution isn't even remotely bell curve-ish. Meanwhile college student used to mean "poor despite 8 roommates" a generation ago but now it means infinite gov guaranteed student loans so start charging California rents, after all the .gov will pay and guarantee any expense remotely related to education regardless of ability to (re)pay. My suburb city has a quarter mil people and a private college and a state extension uni and a community vo-tech so we have megatons of college renters, whereas the suburb city to the east is slightly larger but has zero higher ed and therefore zero renters other than assisted living. I'm just theorizing this discrepancy might extend to states. Surely there are vastly more foreign and american college students in CA than in OR or WA even in percentage relation to population? The boomer stereotype of "retire move to Florida" is still alive, isn't it? Even though I don't personally know anyone who's done it. Surely that would distort the numbers.