That's good it works that way in Finland, but my point was focused on the United States. I don't think making everyones' income public would suddenly make those

That's good it works that way in Finland, but my point was focused on the United States. I don't think making everyones' income public would suddenly make those in the US think like those in Finland. I also think the social services in Finland raise the bar for everyone - everyone has more basic services than in the United States, so it starts off more equal. This happens with any disparity - education, income, wealth. Differences in these cause some people to act differently. I've met many people who think earning $100,000 a year qualifies you as "rich", and there are a lot of people who think they won't have anything in common with someone who is educated beyond undergrad. I imagine it would suddenly be a metric on Zillow and Realtor - "average neighborhood income". People would self-select based on that, making neighborhoods less financially diverse. No one would want to be seen as the broke person in the neighborhood, and no one would want to way over-buy the neighborhood. Maybe you would, but people would "know" whether you could afford to live there or whether you were taking a house from someone else when you could afford to live in a nicer place. Either way, it would not be comfortable, not to mention if you lived somewhere for a while and your career took off - you'd then maybe out earn the neighborhood and be forced to move, rather than be able to remain and blend in. On my earlier comment, I guess 1/4 wasn't the right ratio. My point was more that someone making 200k may not move into a neighborhood where the average income is 50k, when they otherwise would have, because they would be viewed very differently among neighbors and it would be hard to blend in. This would lessen tax revenue for low-income areas as people would be less willing to move in. In general, talking about salary in the States is taboo, but not among hourly workers. If you hear a conversation about work between hourly workers, it generally comes out pretty quickly what they are making. I read an article stating it happens for price discovery - they mention it regularly so they can charge the right rates and work at the highest paying location.