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Haydn W

Income distribution of New York City: What does it take to be rich? - 1 views

  • So You’re Rich for an American. Does That Make You Rich for New York?
  • New Yorkers have a notoriously skewed sense of wealth—at least when they work in industries like finance or media and live in Manhattan or Brooklyn. It’s hard not to, seeing how we’re surrounded by expensive restaurants, expensive apartments, and expensively dressed people who seem able to afford it all.
  • If I mention that a six-figure salary counts as rich in much of the country—that just $250,000 gets you into the top 2 percent—the response is usually, “Sure, but that’s not New York rich.”
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  • The greater New York metro area may be home to an enormous share of the country’s 1 percenters, and it's certainly a magnet for exorbitant, plutocratic wealth. But in the city itself, the basic income curve isn’t that exceptional. In the entire U.S., according to the Census, about 22 percent of households earn six figures. In NYC, it’s about 25 percent.
  • Real estate here is expensive, and we don’t get much square footage for our buck. But as I wrote yesterday, the high rents in this city are balanced out somewhat by the low, low cost of commuting on the subway. (Not paying for a car, or gas, or car insurance is pretty financially sweet.)
  • Combine that with the fact that salaries are somewhat higher than average here, and New York is reasonably affordable compared with other large cities.
  • The upshot: If you’re rich by U.S. standards, you’re probably also rich by New York standards. Now, if you do want to see a city where incomes are crazily out of line with the national norm, check out San Francisco, where 39 percent of households make six figures—it really is becoming a city for the rich.
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    This article from Slate tackles the issue of income distribution in one of the most notoriously expensively cities on Earth - New York. The article relates the economic principles learned this week to real life and the cost of living in a bustling city, with an interesting conclusion that might surprise some.
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