DU Income demographics

[Walt Starr]

Poll question: DU Income demographics

Please, do not reveal this openly, simply answer the question and keep this kicked. I'm just interested.

How much combined income does your household make each year?

[Goldmund]

1. So who's the suga momma/daddy?

[ex_jew]

2. Must be Will Pitt

Look how much Dean's campaign manager was getting !

[w4rma]

7. $165,000

http://changeforamerica.com/blog/archives/000015.html

[Walt Starr]

3. I don't have a clue

Maybe somebody skewing the poll but if they are really doing that well, maybe they should kick in $2000 to each of the remaining candidates in the primaries and then kick in another $2000 to the nominee.

Not to mention donate a few grand to DU ;)

[indigo32]

5. LOL

thats what I was wondering ;)

[GreenArrow]

8. clearly a lurking Republican

.

[onehandle]

15. Freeps yanking your chain. nt

[THUNDER HANDS]

4. household or personal?

My personal income is less than $25,000 but my household income is well over $100,000.

[Walt Starr]

11. Household

Poverty levels are described by family of X people at or below a specific level of household income per year.

[ringmastery]

6. How can anyone make over $1 Million a year?

I would probably retire long before that if I made that kind of money. 10 or so years saving and investing at a lower to mid six figure salary would probably give me a nest egg of a few million dollars.

That's enough to retire on. I can live off of $100,000 in interest and dividends a year, quite nicely doing absolutely nothing.

[Walt Starr]

21. There are people who make tens of millions each year.

George Bush likes to call them "his base".

[JackRiddler]

36. people making that kind of money...

generally are "retired" in the sense that you mean (living off previously accumulated wealth, or working at managing their empires, foundations, and portfolios) or else doing what they want to do: CEOs, bankers, lawyers, doctors, Hollywood-level actors & performers. The latter three groups often are sugardaddies of the left.

[Walt Starr]

38. My wife is an attorney

and we are nowhere near being sugah daddies.

:D

[JackRiddler]

39. oh, really?

I thought all lawyers made millions a year!

And actors, too, right?

No, I meant lawyers are among the professions where a select few do make millions, isn't that obvious?

[Walt Starr]

44. Yeah, I know

I added the smiley thingie but sarcasm is hard to get through in this medium.

:D

[JackRiddler]

37. people making that kind of money...

generally are "retired" in the sense that you mean (living off previously accumulated wealth, or working at managing their empires, foundations, and portfolios) or else doing what they want to do: CEOs, bankers, lawyers, doctors, Hollywood-level actors & performers. The latter three groups often are sugardaddies of the left.

[Walt Starr]

9. Damn, too many DUers at or below poverty level

Nobody in the United States should have to suffer in poverty as far as I'm concerned.

[lancdem]

10. I know there are some who are long-term unemployed

victims of the Bush economy.

[unfrigginreal]

12. That's why the comfortable in our Party are nominating

someone truly inspired to attack poverty. Thank God they always put others best interests over their own.

[Frodo]

13. That probably includes a substantial number of unemployed DUers.

The number of regulars I've run into who are unemployed is dismaying. There really ought to be a seperate category in the poll to determine who is "under"employed and who is out of work.

Having said that, there are plenty of places in this country where $25,000 is a perfectly respectable income. You're not rich, but you're not "suffering in poverty" either.

On edit - I guess it also depends on the size of the family.

[Frodo]

29. Ok, a comparison thanks to Unfrigginreal

In my new home state (NC) 31% of households fall into that first category.

[HFishbine]

46. Welcome

to NC!!! How ya'll like it so far?

[Frodo]

49. Wonderful so far!

I had no personal conception of what "cost of living" and "quality of life" were until I moved down here.

The neighbors are as nice as can be (though it may take us five years to handle all the "you've just GOT to visit OUR church!" invitations).

Where are you?

[HFishbine]

51. Just down the road in G'boro

And you've just GOT to visit MY bar!

[Frodo]

53. Oh... is THAT what you use the "author's profile" thingy for?

:-)
I wondered where you figured out where I was from.

I never aquired a taste for much alcohol and I'm a "boring drunk". Is it a sports bar?

[HFishbine]

58. Check your inbox (nt)

[ringmastery]

14. it may be misleading

There are probably a lot of college and grad students on this board. They won't be making any substantial income.

[Walt Starr]

17. That may be true, but undergrads should be part of their parent's

"household" for the most part.

The two extremes are the only places where the stnadard bell curve is not being adhered to at this point, anyway.

[no name no slogan]

47. And these are the "rich" ones

Keep in mind that the web-using demographic still skews toward higher incomes, despite the dropping cost of computers and internet service. A lot of working-class people working service jobs can't afford the $12/mo. it takes for internet service, much less the few hundred it takes to get a computer.

Also, they tend to be working 80+ hours a week at their multiple jobs to make ends meet. They don't have the time to post on web message boards.

I'm fortunate that even though I lost my decent-paying job, my wife still makes enough for us to get by. Otherwise we'd be screwed royally.

[Frodo]

16. Have you done a "total debt" or "net worth" poll?

It would be interesting to corellate the two.

[Walt Starr]

20. Nope, another thread got me interested when one poster wished

somebody would do a poll on this.

I tried to draw standard income blocks and realized I was very close to going from one to another when I voted in the poll. I'll probably cross that line this year, in fact.

[Frodo]

27. Congratulations on "moving on up"

[ringmastery]

28. Can you do a debt and net worth poll?

THat would be very interesting, thanks.

[Frodo]

32. How do you think it should be worded?

Pure debt? Then someone with an expensive house and no other debt looks troubled while someone renting with tons of credit card debt looks better.

And net worth may be skewed by real estate as well... many here think the housing market ("bubble") is inflated and lots of that value will go away.

[OhioStateProgressive]

18. seems to me there are about 35 wealthy pigs on this list(nt)

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

22. have to have someone calling for privatizing Social Security, offshoring

what would DU be without our resident neo-libertarians?

[Frodo]

23. Anything into six figures is a "wealthy pig" to you?

For an entire household?

Ever live near New York?

[Walt Starr]

31. Lower six figures in California or major metropolitan areas

is the mid to lower middle class for the most part.

[unfrigginreal]

40. If it takes lower six figures to be lower middle class in California...

then there's a lot of people hurting in that state with 50% making under $50,000yr.

[Walt Starr]

41. Lotta poor people all over this country

I know in Chicago, $25,000 for a family of four is about poverty level.

$100,000 is middle class, but definitely no upper middle class, that requires nearly a quarter million per year in this area.

[Frodo]

42. Obviously it depends on WHERE in California.

There are plenty of perfectly affordable places to live... as long as you are willing to commute three hours each way to the city.

But there ARE places where a family made up of a cop and a school teacher will probably be in the six figures and struggling. Places where they can't afford to live within an hour of the county they serve.

[dawn]

57. Huh?

Sorry, we don't make anything remotely close to six figures in Southern California and are managing. It's tight, but it's OK.

Now, we don't have kids or a house but we also don't have tons of expensive toys, expensive cars, clothes, etc.

[Robb]

24. Nice.

Don't forget all the welfare cheats, too. :eyes:

[JI7]

33. take into account where they live

you have to take into account where they live. in places like new york, new jersey, california and other high cost of living places it might not be much. also how much are these people working to make that much ? how many hours a week ? how much vacation do they get etc ? and it's also household income so i assume most are combining 2 or more incomes here. in the end it may not be as much as it seems.

[molly]

61. What makes someone who is wealthy into a pig?

just because they have money makes them a pig? I am really curious about your reasoning.

[OhioStateProgressive]

63. yes

I believe we should all have relative equality as to wealth...as in no one should have 10 times more than what is the average.

call me a commie

[arcos]

19. I don't live in the US...

So the poverty level thing doesn't apply... but we make about $25k in my household.

[Goldberg]

25. I'm lucky if I can make Six Grand a year.

Of course, I'm only a college student. :)

[Beaker]

50. most college students should include their parents income in "household"

unless they are totally independent. that is to say- accepting no financial/room & board support from their parents or others- (except for scholarships, TA positions, etc...) during school or on breaks.

[unfrigginreal]

26. General population comparison

http://www.usatoday.com/graphics/census2000/usnav/usnav.htm

[JackRiddler]

30. breaks up very close to the actual income distribution

skewed a bit at the top; but who knows, 40,000 members, you can have a couple of annual-income millionaires in there I suppose.

[Walt Starr]

34. Either that or...

we have three "internet" millionaires.

:evilgrin:

[Frodo]

35. Sure (and I'd love to get to know them)... but part of it may be

Unemployed and hyper-wealthy may have more time to be online.

[vision]

43. I've always wondered about this

Many posters have been here for years and have many posts others have been here less than a year and have over a thousand posts. I have been here since March of 2001 and have less than that. I know that working Retail I don't have internet access, lunch hour now :). Internet access availability is interesting in the demographics of what people make.

Since there are quite a few mid to upper income 50000+ than I would assume that they probably have access to the net while at work or maybe are retired/unemployed.

[Walt Starr]

45. Kick

Just to keep it on page one

[molly]

48. Is this another rich-bad - poor-good thread?

it should not matter one little bit how much money anyone makes.

[Walt Starr]

52. Nope. It is purely a research thread

Just curious about the demographics. I don;t care what any individual makes, just overall demographics.

Other than the two ends of the spectrum being a bit skewed, looks close to a bell curve to me.

[julialnyc]

54. freelance

I for one work freelance, so I jump between demographic very quickly (Bush has made times make or break for me...I used to always "get by", but some times were better than others, now either I can pay my rent, or I can't!)

[Endangered Specie]

55. College - $0

[Beaker]

60. college students should include parents income-

as a part of "household income", unless totally and entirely independent of parental/family support.

[eissa]

56. To those making over $1,000,000

I love you :loveya:

Yours always,
Gold Digger

[NewYorkerfromMass]

59. I think everyone over 500k is BS'ing

I could be wrong but if you're making that kind of money you're not hanging around on DU.

[ex_jew]

62. I'd like to prove you wrong (if I live long enough)

Making a fat living would not subtract from the value of DU (at least in my eyes).