5 ms·
By not calling yourself middle class like many single tech workers making 200k a year in the bay area do. The upper middle class (really the top 30% of earners)
by zjaffee 9y ago
By not calling yourself middle class like many single tech workers making 200k a year in the bay area do. The upper middle class (really the top 30% of earners) have continued to see gains in income growth where the rest of the economies wage growth has largely stagnated.
- astrange 9y ago200k/year tech workers can’t achieve home ownership and are therefore working class.
- lazyasciiart 9y agoThat's not part of the definition of middle class for most stats you'll see - http://money.cnn.com/infographic/economy/what-is-middle-class-anyway/index.html http://money.cnn.com/infographic/economy/what-is-middle-clas...
- akhilcacharya 9y agoThe only place $200k a year tech workers can’t afford a house is the SFBA. Literally everywhere else it’s doable with a commute (a shorter one than SFBA at least!)
- tropdrop 9y agoBut the reason they're making $200k a year is because they're in SFBA... right out of college I briefly considered an offer to be an "administrative assistant" at Facebook - a job that normally nets you about $40K/year anywhere else. At Facebook it was $90K. My point is you can't easily land that same tech job somewhere else in the country and keep that inflated salary, too.
- magduf 9y agoExactly. A $200k salary will let you buy a palatial home in Omaha, but you're not going to get a programming job paying $200k in Omaha.
- sashimii 9y agoAdjusted for an equivalent tech job in another city, $200k/year in San Fancisco would still probably put you in the uppermost tax brackets in a place with cheaper housing.
- ng12 9y agoI guess I don't understand why token statements like that are important. It doesn't lessen my impact on the local economy. It also doesn't mean I can't be unhappy with the city's socioeconomic landscape.
- zjaffee 9y agoI'm not saying any of these things aren't fine. I'm just saying it's important that higher income people actually recognize that they are higher income, where for any economic issues they may be facing, others have it much worse. Anecdotally, one of the biggest problems I've seen long time urban residents have with gentrifiers is they don't make any effort to get along with the existing residents, and participate in the long time culture of the neighborhood. Through recognizing one's wealth, they would better understand that they are in the position of power, and should be more of their responsibility to integrate with the existing community than the other way around.