7 ms·

Rural folk don't understand that even if you're making 100k in the big city, a lot of that is eaten up by housing costs. The fantasy of what people who don't e

Rural folk don't understand that even if you're making 100k in the big city, a lot of that is eaten up by housing costs. The fantasy of what people who don't earn 100k think 100k buys you is very different from the reality of what lifestyle 100k affords.

elicash 7y ago
Median household income in NYC is $57,782. (Individual is $50,825.) And yeah, NYC is a huge, diverse city but even Manhattan's median income is $79,781 in 2017. (Corrected figure)
- thaumasiotes 7y ago
  Hence Scott Sumner's headline a while ago, "The Typical Rich Family Is A Cop Married To A Nurse". https://www.themoneyillusion.com/the-typical-rich-family-is-a-cop-married-to-a-nurse/ https://www.themoneyillusion.com/the-typical-rich-family-is-...
  - elicash 7y ago
    Great observation, but the analysis here seems wrong to me. If you took the median income of people between 45 and 60, I bet people here would STILL be shocked at how low it is. The reason isn't a lack of taking life stage into consideration (the link has no analysis of the numbers there). It's mostly about rich folks refusing to admit they're rich relative to most people.
- RHSeeger 7y ago
  The census data [1] seems to indicate it was $79,781 in 2017 (in 2017 dollars, so $83,569.23 today). Not a large amount, but still 25% higher than the 66.7k number [1] https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/newyorkcountymanhattanboroughnewyork,bronxcountybronxboroughnewyork,queenscountyqueensboroughnewyork,kingscountybrooklynboroughnewyork,richmondcountystatenislandboroughnewyork,newyorkcitynewyork/HSG010218 https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/newyorkcountyma...]
  - elicash 7y ago
    Thank you for that correction. I had taken what Google spits out in that top box and didn't bother to look at the date of the article they were scraping from. Overall point remains, but accuracy matters.
pwinnski 7y ago
Instead of looking down on rural folk, consider the possibility that what people like you and me who earn 100k spend might be very different from what we need to spend. After all, people in big cities by and large don't earn $100k either, and yet they manage to live somehow!
- notfromhere 7y ago
  I don't look down at them, I grew up in a small town and spend a lot of time in rural America. Most will not get that 100k is not a lot of money in an urban area, especially if you have dependents, since that's more money than anyone they know makes.

elicash 7y ago

Median household income in NYC is $57,782. (Individual is $50,825.) And yeah, NYC is a huge, diverse city but even Manhattan's median income is $79,781 in 2017. (Corrected figure)

thaumasiotes 7y ago
Hence Scott Sumner's headline a while ago, "The Typical Rich Family Is A Cop Married To A Nurse". https://www.themoneyillusion.com/the-typical-rich-family-is-a-cop-married-to-a-nurse/ https://www.themoneyillusion.com/the-typical-rich-family-is-...
- elicash 7y ago
  Great observation, but the analysis here seems wrong to me. If you took the median income of people between 45 and 60, I bet people here would STILL be shocked at how low it is. The reason isn't a lack of taking life stage into consideration (the link has no analysis of the numbers there). It's mostly about rich folks refusing to admit they're rich relative to most people.
RHSeeger 7y ago
The census data [1] seems to indicate it was $79,781 in 2017 (in 2017 dollars, so $83,569.23 today). Not a large amount, but still 25% higher than the 66.7k number [1] https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/newyorkcountymanhattanboroughnewyork,bronxcountybronxboroughnewyork,queenscountyqueensboroughnewyork,kingscountybrooklynboroughnewyork,richmondcountystatenislandboroughnewyork,newyorkcitynewyork/HSG010218 https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/newyorkcountyma...]
- elicash 7y ago
  Thank you for that correction. I had taken what Google spits out in that top box and didn't bother to look at the date of the article they were scraping from. Overall point remains, but accuracy matters.

pwinnski 7y ago

Instead of looking down on rural folk, consider the possibility that what people like you and me who earn 100k spend might be very different from what we need to spend. After all, people in big cities by and large don't earn $100k either, and yet they manage to live somehow!

notfromhere 7y ago
I don't look down at them, I grew up in a small town and spend a lot of time in rural America. Most will not get that 100k is not a lot of money in an urban area, especially if you have dependents, since that's more money than anyone they know makes.