What do you suppose the median income of Styleform members is?

[Coburn]



[cough]

Hey. Manolo Blahnik signed your diploma. Did you get shoes?

 

[Jaggs]

Well, I just bought some Levi's from Macy's, so that median income figure better watch out. Free shipping, Son!

 

[unbelragazzo]



That may be the case, but would a car enthusiast with a moderate income go out and buy a brand new Ferrari? Because when you consider the ratios between a Ferrari and a "normal" car and the ratio between clothes which, to me at least, appears to be a basic standard on Styleforum, it seems to be on par with that.

1) A car enthusiast will have a lower salary threshold they need to get to before buying a Ferrari than a non-car enthusiast, yes.
2) Cars are generally more expensive than clothes. Just as it's less absurd, with an average income, to spend ten times as much on baseball cards than the average person if you're a baseball cald collector than it would be to spend ten times as much on cars, again with the average income, than the average person, spending ten times as much on clothing than the average person is also less absurd, in the sense that it is possible, by economizing on other things, to spend much more than most people on clothes with the average income and remain financially solvent. The same is not true of cars.

 

[blahman]



1) A car enthusiast will have a lower salary threshold they need to get to before buying a Ferrari than a non-car enthusiast, yes.
2) Cars are generally more expensive than clothes. Just as it's less absurd, with an average income, to spend ten times as much on baseball cards than the average person if you're a baseball cald collector than it would be to spend ten times as much on cars, again with the average income, than the average person, spending ten times as much on clothing than the average person is also less absurd, in the sense that it is possible, by economizing on other things, to spend much more than most people on clothes with the average income and remain financially solvent. The same is not true of cars.

In the case of car enthusiasts, if you consider money spent on aftermarket parts and tuning and not amount spent on purchasing cars, it would make much more sense and less absurd.

 

[norcaltransplant]



Even on the individual level (which I think is the real question), you have to look at the demographics of the site. The country average is less (maybe 5-6% over 100k) but if you start concentrating on the urban centers that most SF posters come from, it starts to look better--lot of SF posters from places like NYC where salaries like that are a lot more common.....

Both the mean and median HHI of the NYC posters I've met are definitely in the six figure range and probably approach the "fallback" job range.

 

[blahman]



Both the mean and median HHI of the NYC posters I've met are definitely in the six figure range and probably approach the "fallback" job range.

Definitely no sampling bias there .

 

[HarleyBob]



Both the mean and median HHI of the NYC posters I've met are definitely in the six figure range and probably approach the "fallback" job range.

It appears that you need to make $344,000 to be in the top 1% of wage earnings in 2009. Interesting that roughly 44% of New Yorkers are above the $344,000.

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/top-1-percent-earn.aspx

 

[LA Guy]



Both the mean and median HHI of the NYC posters I've met are definitely in the six figure range and probably approach the "fallback" job range.

PM me immediately with their identities - I'm going to need to hit them up for the $1K baller donation to the Ronald MacDonald House.

 

[mcbrown]



That may be the case, but would a car enthusiast with a moderate income go out and buy a brand new Ferrari? Because when you consider the ratios between a Ferrari and a "normal" car and the ratio between clothes which, to me at least, appears to be a basic standard on Styleforum, it seems to be on par with that.

You really are an effective troll - I can't help feeding you for some reason.

Ratio is a stupid way to think about this. Yes, it's true that 3,000/300=250,000/25,000, but the absolute difference is much larger. Someone of fairly modest income can find an extra $2,000 to spend on clothes in a year by scrimping elsewhere. They can't find an extra $225,000 to drop on an exotic car. Not to mention that the real cost of an exotic car is the maintenance - as they say, there is nothing more expensive than a cheap Ferrari.

Audiophiles are a better comp. A budget stereo nut can probably put together a basic "audiophile-approved" system for a few grand. To me that is a silly expenditure - I just don't give a crap, I live in a noisy city, and my $200 system from 20 years ago is fine with me. Frankly my crappy iPhone earphones are fine with me. But just because a normal person like me doesn't drop that kind of money on it doesn't mean it is out of reach for a normal budget - if I wanted to spend that kind of money on audio I'd just have to spend less on clothes, shoes, car, etc. Instead, I'd rather have $500 shoes and $50 speakers than $50 shoes and $500 speakers. Simple as that.

 

[mcbrown]



Both the mean and median HHI of the NYC posters I've met are definitely in the six figure range and probably approach the "fallback" job range.

To paraphrase the immortal Patrick Ewing, sure New Yorkers make a lot of money, but we spend a lot too.

 

[Quadcammer]



It appears that you need to make $344,000 to be in the top 1% of wage earnings in 2009. Interesting that roughly 44% of New Yorkers are above the $344,000.
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/top-1-percent-earn.aspx

false on the 44%, thats ludicrous.

The article said that the 1%'s share of all income in the city hit 44%, not that 44% of the city's residents earn $344k or more.

 

[OinkBoink]

false on the 44%, thats ludicrous.
The article said that the 1%'s share of all income in the city hit 44%, not that 44% of the city's residents earn $344k or more.

It also contradicts itself in the "highlights" section at the top: "Roughly 44 percent of New York City residents made the top 1 percent in 2007".

#OccupyBankRate

 

[OinkBoink]

You really are an effective troll - I can't help feeding you for some reason.
Ratio is a stupid way to think about this. Yes, it's true that 3,000/300=250,000/25,000, but the absolute difference is much larger. Someone of fairly modest income can find an extra $2,000 to spend on clothes in a year by scrimping elsewhere. They can't find an extra $225,000 to drop on an exotic car. Not to mention that the real cost of an exotic car is the maintenance - as they say, there is nothing more expensive than a cheap Ferrari.
Audiophiles are a better comp. A budget stereo nut can probably put together a basic "audiophile-approved" system for a few grand. To me that is a silly expenditure - I just don't give a crap, I live in a noisy city, and my $200 system from 20 years ago is fine with me. Frankly my crappy iPhone earphones are fine with me. But just because a normal person like me doesn't drop that kind of money on it doesn't mean it is out of reach for a normal budget - if I wanted to spend that kind of money on audio I'd just have to spend less on clothes, shoes, car, etc. Instead, I'd rather have $500 shoes and $50 speakers than $50 shoes and $500 speakers. Simple as that.

Somebody in this thread mentioned spending $50,000 on clothes...

 

[patrickBOOTH]

This should keep you all busy for a while:

http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/explorer?ref=nyregion

Very interesting.

More maps>Income> Median Income

 

[bourbonbasted]

Well my current zip code is 96% white, 65% of the people living there make over $250k and 38% have secondary degrees. Wait a second.... do I live... in teh StyleForvm?