speaking of the 2 months salary rule for e-ring...

[Dancing Fire]

what is the avg annual income in the U.S. ? how many % of the people makes 6 figures ?

 

[Matata]

Average median income $43,318 in 2003 according to Census Bureau here http://www.census.gov/hhes/income/histinc/h08.html You can also check out the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but I couldn''t make sense of their data tables.

 

[Matata]

And, I just found this http://www.heritage.org/Research/Taxes/bg1791.cfm which attempts to explain the accuracies and flaws in the Census info.

 

[mrmedoes]

Keep in mind that if you''re looking for income statistics, it''s better a lot of times to look by area (as in state/county) and make sure you''re not looking at household income. Also, make sure that you understand that median is not "average" but the middle. Income is a tricky thing, even with census data.

Maybe you can check: http://www.fedstats.gov/

 

[Momoftwo]

You also need to take into account cost of living. We are in No. VA where most everyone I know has a household income of well over $100,000 and some over $200,000. But, the average cost of a home here is much higher than most of the country. Most homes of 2,000 sq ft cost over $500,000. We often joke that if we lived in Omaha on this income we''d be rich. The disposable income is what makes the difference in lifestyle. The census figures don''t really mean much when compared state to state.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 1/21/2005 4:18:28 PM
Author: Momoftwo
You also need to take into account cost of living. We are in No. VA where most everyone I know has a household income of well over $100,000 and some over $200,000. But, the average cost of a home here is much higher than most of the country. Most homes of 2,000 sq ft cost over $500,000. We often joke that if we lived in Omaha on this income we''d be rich. The disposable income is what makes the difference in lifestyle. The census figures don''t really mean much when compared state to state.

WOW !!!
household income well over 100k,i must move to VA.

 

[cflutist]

Same problem in the San Francisco Bay Area, real estate is over-priced. Sure glad I bought in 1992.

 

[jenwill]

Live in SF bay area too....I wish I had bought in 1992..but was only 22 and not making so much working at hospital during day and waiting tables at night....sad to see that as i have reached an income level that SHOULD afford property it isn't really feasible.

Thank goodness love of my life got in a little while ago. Now my decent income can make a HUGE difference to monthly payments!

Edited to add: Cflutist...I love the pics from your backyard in the sunrise thread....looks like lovely south peninsula/south bay view....I love the 10 extra degrees of warmth down there. Just moved back up to the mid-peninsula this past weekend, no more warm summer evenings!

 

[cflutist]

Jenwill, well no wonder you know about the Shadowbrook Restaurant

How about the Lafayette Park Hotel where we had our reception?

Or wedding cakes from Katrina Rozelle?

 

[moremoremore]

HA! $500,000 for 2000 sq feet is bad? Try this piece of sh*t in Queens, NY. I saw it on forsalebyowner. A whopping 1350 square feet for $595,000.00. One of the few decent parts of queens. Notice the sprawling lawn and tall trees and privacy! NOT.

And that''s NICE for Queens. Don''t even get me started on Nassau County Long Island. You''ll get a nice tiny starter house that needs tons of work for $450,000.00.

So I say here, over 100K is common.

 

[belle]

Date: 1/21/2005 10

0:15 PM
Author: moremoremore
HA! $500,000 for 2000 sq feet is bad? Try this piece of sh*t in Queens, NY. I saw it on forsalebyowner. A whopping 1350 square feet for $595,000.00. One of the few decent parts of queens. Notice the sprawling lawn and tall trees and privacy! NOT.

And that''s NICE for Queens. Don''t even get me started on Nassau County Long Island. You''ll get a nice tiny starter house that needs tons of work for $450,000.00.

So I say here, over 100K is common.

wow

 

[moremoremore]

LOL. Belle- would you like more trees? This is also in Bayside, Queens, NY.
1800 square feet. 1.5 bathrooms. A MERE 1.5 MILLION. Trees are quite expensive here LOL. Living here is a b*tch. But my parents came here from Poland...and I'm so glad they did. NY is awesome!

http://www.forsalebyowner.com/perl-bin/showAd.cgi?iListingID=20178763&iPerPage=25&iRadius=15&iPropTypeCode=0&szCity=great+neck&szStateCode=NY&iSortMethod=1&szSortDirection=ASC

 

[belle]

i shall quickly check ny off of my "places to move to" list!!

 

[Logan Sapphire]

I live in the DC area too and have friends who paid over $700,000 (a first home for them) for a 1300 sq foot house built in the 1950s. It has 2 bathrooms that are too small for 2 people to be in them at once. That''s insane! Our 900 sq foot condo in Arlington goes for $425,000 (we rent).

 

[perry]

Many years ago I was offered a job in either NY city - or in the SF Bay area. I was promised that the salary was 6 digites.... Knowing what the "cost of living" was in those areas I immediatly replied "As long as the first diget is greater than 1" end of conversation.

4 years ago I purchased my first house (or at least the bank lets me keep my name on the deed). 1300+ Square Ft (I can''t remember the exact #). Yard, 2 car garage out back (not attached). 3 Br (I use one as an office). Full basement 2 1/4 bath (there is a toilet with a shower curtin arround it in the basement - my idea of a 1/4 bath).

$100,000 even.

Who cares if I wasn''t making 6 digets when I signed the mortgage. I''d rather live in a reasonable priced place to live (and I do OK on income, but can always use more as long as it dosn''t involve a move to a more expensive place to live).

Perry

 

[perry]

Dancing fire:

As a direct answer to your question; and I am working from memory here. But a few years ago it seemed to me that the about 1% of the US population had an income of $100,000 or more; and that the average income was in the range of $26,000 per year.

Note that $12.50 per hour = $26,000 per year assuming no overtime.

Truth be told, there are not that many industrial or service jobs in my area - or my state (Wisconsin) that pay $12.50 per hour. thus I think the statistis were probably correct when I heard them.

I'll see if I can find some more current information. The Census bureuro's Medium hold income is the mediem income usually for a 2 income family. The "quartile" method is very confusing and does not provide that much information.

Note that all incomes are "Before Taxes" Rather gross, if you ask me. I'd rather have it net...

Perry

 

[codex57]

Date: 1/21/2005 10

0:15 PM
Author: moremoremore
HA! $500,000 for 2000 sq feet is bad? Try this piece of sh*t in Queens, NY. I saw it on forsalebyowner. A whopping 1350 square feet for $595,000.00. One of the few decent parts of queens. Notice the sprawling lawn and tall trees and privacy! NOT.


And that''s NICE for Queens. Don''t even get me started on Nassau County Long Island. You''ll get a nice tiny starter house that needs tons of work for $450,000.00.


So I say here, over 100K is common.

We have friends who just bought their first starter home for over $800K in San Francisco (Sunset District... not the ritzier parts of town, but not the most ghetto either). I think it''s a 2 bed 1 bath house. 1 car garage like most SF houses. I can''t remember the exact sq footage, but it''s definitely less than 2000 sq ft. It''s a fixer upper too. They were telling me and my fiance that they had at least another $80-100K just to make it look liveable. They''re not moving in for months cuz it''s gonna be under construction for all the remodeling.

 

[perry]

Updated information on incomes:

Averabe 2003 annual income in the United States was in the range of $35,000. That includes not just employees but people who own their own business or have investment income.

Take home pay, assuming you loose 1/3 of it in taxes would be $23,310 (this will vary somewhat state to state depending on state income taxes).

2 Months income (Net) would be $3885 for an engagement ring (for Mr. average American).

So there you have it folks... How big of a ring can you buy for less than $4000.

Perry

 

[Jennifer5973]

Date: 1/21/2005 10

7:19 PM
Author: moremoremore
LOL. Belle- would you like more trees? This is also in Bayside, Queens, NY.
1800 square feet. 1.5 bathrooms. A MERE 1.5 MILLION. Trees are quite expensive here LOL. Living here is a b*tch. But my parents came here from Poland...and I''m so glad they did. NY is awesome!

http://www.forsalebyowner.com/perl-bin/showAd.cgi?iListingID=20178763&iPerPage=25&iRadius=15&iPropTypeCode=0&szCity=great+neck&szStateCode=NY&iSortMethod=1&szSortDirection=ASC

Are you kidding me?

 

[cflutist]

I am willing to bet that the average income of PS members is way higher than the national average. Maybe someone should start an anonymous poll so we can find out.

 

[belle]

Date: 1/22/2005 11:19:46 PM
Author: cflutist
I am willing to bet that the average income of PS members is way higher than the national average. Maybe someone should start an anonymous poll so we can find out.

go for it cflutist, i think you are probably right!

 

[cute330xigrl]

we just bought our home in nassau county ($400's k+), 1700 sq ft (incl. the garage). Makes no sense at all. I guessed we paid for the trees.. cause we darn sure didn't pay for space. Poo.

And you guessed it. everything had to be redone. Siding, electrical, bathrooms, boiler, roof, yada yada...

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 1/22/2005 11:19:46 PM
Author: cflutist
I am willing to bet that the average income of PS members is way higher than the national average. Maybe someone should start an anonymous poll so we can find out.

This is a good idea. . .I was thinking the same thing. Seems many of us live in cities where cost-of-living is higher so it'd be interesting to do a double poll so as to also include geographical regions as well. There was a thread before asking where everyone lives, but for general purposes, we could do basic areas since we'd want to easily compare the two.

And, I agree the average member here must make decent money as most house prices mentioned are over 400K and I've yet to meet anyone who's paying a mortgage of this amount while living off of $35,000 (or thereabouts) per year.

 

[BLINGQUEEN]

How many trees did you buy??

Man, I live in a low cost of living area. A house about that size on a city lot would run you around 85,000-95,000 depending on the neighborhood. I alway wanted to move to NY or Atlanta, but whoa!!I think I''ll stay put awhile.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 1/22/2005 11:19:46 PM
Author: cflutist
I am willing to bet that the average income of PS members is way higher than the national average. Maybe someone should start an anonymous poll so we can find out.

cflutist

i know we''re way below the househole average compare to other PS members,my wife is the only one working.

 

[Momoftwo]

The 2000 sq ft home is considered a starter home. Our home (4th in our marriage, 2nd single family) that we bought just over a year ago cost over $600,000 for 5800 sq ft (including basement) on over 1/2 acre lot is in Loudoun County, VA. Still considered a suburb of DC, but most I know work somewhre in NO VA. Our home in that amount of time has increased in value over $150,000. The main employers here are computer IT and ISP''s (AOL HQ is 2 miles from my home), government, national security, and homeland security as well as a few other highly technical fields. That''s why the incomes are high. Our neighborhood is full of engineers. Admin types typically make $20/hr and engineers make $100-$150 K. It''s what the market will bear here. It''s more than just income. Cost of living here over and above home costs is also higher. Groceries, gasoline, utilities, taxes etc. Our real estate taxes were over $6,000 this year. Income never tells the whole story. You will find this to be true up and down the east coast as well as on the west coast and a few spots in the southwest like Denver.

Example of market driven expenses, 13 year old babysitters typically make $8-10/hr. in this area. Even most starter jobs pay above minimum wage.

 

[perry]

Note that my income statistics are for "personal income" and not household income.

Any poll needs to focus on the personal income of the main breadwinner in the house, A separate poll could be done for household income. However, some of us are single and what we make is what we''ve got; which does not change the mortgage payments....

Perry

 

[cflutist]

Date: 1/23/2005 9:18:27 AM
Author: perry
However, some of us are single and what we make is what we've got; which does not change the mortgage payments....

Perry

I hear ya there. My ex and I bought what is my current home in 1992. In 1993 he has an affair, runs off with the b*tch and divorces me. In the divorce, I buy him out (thank god we didn't have too much equity at the time) so he gets most of our savings while I get the house. I can tell you it is no fun making a mortgage payment that we used two incomes to qualify for when you only have one income. After the house payment and utilities, I had only $500 left to live on each month (had a lot of canned soup and pasta for dinner). I felt like a poor college student again. But I perservered and hung on, hence the "survivor" in me that Jennifer5973 refers to in the Who's Who thread. On top of this, my grandmother and both of my dogs die that same year.

p.s. good news is that you lose weight (no steak for dinner) ...

I lost 30 pounds before I met websailor.

 

[Momoftwo]

As for personal income, my numbers still hold somewhat true. We have quite a few neighbors (moms) and friends who stay home with their children so they are living on one income. The incomes are still close to and over $100K. In this area, a 1 bedroom apartment rents for $1100 and up. Condos sell for $200k and up. The hghest population age group in our area is 25-44 which is the peak employment and income age for most people.

Most statistics you will find are "household" income because they come from IRS data. Whether that''s one or two or more incomes.

Loudoun County, VA per capita avg income for 2004 was $44,687 and avg household income was $126,102. Generally per capita figures are less than half of the household incomes because younger employees with lower incomes tend to be single and employees with less education make less. Household income avg includes singles with higher education and work experience, families with one or two incomes and retirees. Fact is, age and work experience and education have a huge impact on income. You will find more people in the more populated and higher income areas like the east coast cities tend to have more college education. This per capita average also includes your 16 year old neighbor who works at Burger King for $6.50/hr part time which skews the numbers. Statistics are useless for the most part. You can say anything you want with them. There are too many variables involved to come up with anything useful from them.

 

[cute330xigrl]

Let's see BLINGQUEEN I bought 4 trees.Tore 2 down and replanted 3. lol

If our taxes were $6k I'd be doing backflips. Funny thing, the day before closing our taxes were $7k. The day of closing they "re-estimated" @ 9k. Then3months later "re-estimated" again to 10k!

Problem is the home adjacent to us that sold for 1.7mill. Shot our block avg. in taxes thru the roof. We looked hard for the worst house on the best block. Well, we got it. The caveots to doing this weren't that obvious to us when we were shopping for it. But, it's already increased $100k in equity just in 6months. So, hooray I guess. We hope to expand it to 2200 sq ft. Rather not think about taxes again...just do it.

Both my b/f and I are in the IT profession. I believe 6 fig's is EXTREMELY common per adult here in NY.