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The problem with median income is income inequality far outpacing inflation. You can have most of a city making minimum wage (~30k pre-tax), but enough CEO's a

The problem with median income is income inequality far outpacing inflation. You can have most of a city making minimum wage (~30k pre-tax), but enough CEO's and mil/billionaires to completely skew the medium far higher than it should be. We need to look at income without the high outliers to get a real sense of the population. This is why the shocks always hit the poor first- they are the real representation of the population.

onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
You can look at HH income by decile. SF: https://statisticalatlas.com/place/California/San-Francisco/Household-Income https://statisticalatlas.com/place/California/San-Francisco/... Oakland: https://statisticalatlas.com/place/California/Oakland/Household-Income https://statisticalatlas.com/place/California/Oakland/Househ... Considering rents - I would imagine you are FAR worse off in the bottom 20% in SF than Oakland. The income for the bottom 20% is 30% higher in SF. Median rent in SF is $4k. It's 42% higher than rent in Oakland at $2.8k
- effingwewt 4y ago
  That's cool, much appreciated. I don't think any of them are livable on the minimum wage. The charts are terrifying. Add the highest gas and now electric prices in the US, California is headed for a reckoning. I know myself and several associates are looking at getting out, with some of us looking at north Washington to be close to the Canadian border. The great thing about skyrocketing everything in California on top of their already insane prices, is that it makes other places that may have seemed out of reach cheaper by comparison now. It's pushed me personally to finally open another business. Not because I was ready- or even wanted to again, but because I'm tired of making others rich for nothing. I've a friend who is maintenence for Marriott properties- they just had a housekeeper hit 20 years with the company and she is still making minimum wage (bonus- it's the 14/hr not 15/hr because Marriott properties consider each location a separate business, so they don't think they should have to oay the 15/hr for employers with more than 26 employees). Not even a $.05 raise a year. Really opened his eyes, he is now looking at taking a year off to enjoy himself since he doesn't have rent or anything. Sad, truly.
- acchow 4y ago
  You're comparing 20%ile incomes against 50%ile rents. I imagine SF 20%ile rent is not 42% higher than Oakland's 20%ile rent
acchow 4y ago
> but enough CEO's and mil/billionaires to completely skew the medium far higher than it should be Are you confusing median for arithmetic mean? Median is meant to avoid the skew from the top 1% (or top 10% or 20% or whatever). Half the population is above the median and half below.

onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago

You can look at HH income by decile. SF: https://statisticalatlas.com/place/California/San-Francisco/Household-Income https://statisticalatlas.com/place/California/San-Francisco/... Oakland: https://statisticalatlas.com/place/California/Oakland/Household-Income https://statisticalatlas.com/place/California/Oakland/Househ... Considering rents - I would imagine you are FAR worse off in the bottom 20% in SF than Oakland. The income for the bottom 20% is 30% higher in SF. Median rent in SF is $4k. It's 42% higher than rent in Oakland at $2.8k

effingwewt 4y ago
That's cool, much appreciated. I don't think any of them are livable on the minimum wage. The charts are terrifying. Add the highest gas and now electric prices in the US, California is headed for a reckoning. I know myself and several associates are looking at getting out, with some of us looking at north Washington to be close to the Canadian border. The great thing about skyrocketing everything in California on top of their already insane prices, is that it makes other places that may have seemed out of reach cheaper by comparison now. It's pushed me personally to finally open another business. Not because I was ready- or even wanted to again, but because I'm tired of making others rich for nothing. I've a friend who is maintenence for Marriott properties- they just had a housekeeper hit 20 years with the company and she is still making minimum wage (bonus- it's the 14/hr not 15/hr because Marriott properties consider each location a separate business, so they don't think they should have to oay the 15/hr for employers with more than 26 employees). Not even a $.05 raise a year. Really opened his eyes, he is now looking at taking a year off to enjoy himself since he doesn't have rent or anything. Sad, truly.
acchow 4y ago
You're comparing 20%ile incomes against 50%ile rents. I imagine SF 20%ile rent is not 42% higher than Oakland's 20%ile rent

acchow 4y ago

> but enough CEO's and mil/billionaires to completely skew the medium far higher than it should be Are you confusing median for arithmetic mean? Median is meant to avoid the skew from the top 1% (or top 10% or 20% or whatever). Half the population is above the median and half below.