Ok can we stop saying $300k is "rich" in DC?

[Anonymous]

I think not many people are realizing that those numbers are the AVERAGE income of ALL the top 1% people, not the income needed to qualify for top 1% ( which is around 500k). Big difference!

[Anonymous]

Id be interested to know what job that requires a college education pays less than $100k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Id be interested to know what job that requires a college education pays less than $100k.

Literally most of them. Let me guess, you're a lawyer.

Browse a very long list of professions here: http://www1.salary.com Note that $80k and up are considered "high income" on Salary.com

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Id be interested to know what job that requires a college education pays less than $100k.

Literally most of them. Let me guess, you're a lawyer.

Browse a very long list of professions here: http://www1.salary.com Note that $80k and up are considered "high income" on Salary.com

All teachers in MD for one. Nurses, most Feds. Research Scientists. People at the brookings institute have phds and start at less than that. Journalists. Actually pretty much everyone except lawyers, some doctors, and high end business people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Id be interested to know what job that requires a college education pays less than $100k.

I teach full time at a community college. I need a master's andI do not make 100K>
However, HHI is 350K. Which makes us...rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Id be interested to know what job that requires a college education pays less than $100k.

Literally most of them. Let me guess, you're a lawyer.

Browse a very long list of professions here: http://www1.salary.com Note that $80k and up are considered "high income" on Salary.com

+ 1 I can't believe the skewed perspectives of the DCUM elites! In fact, other than a few professions (lawyer, dentist, doctor, engineer), the average salary for careers requiring a college degree (like accountant or architect) average less than $100k.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:DH and I earn a little less than 200k together and we are rich. We save about 60k for retirement every year, and can cover all of our expenses, like private school for our kids, and a lot of what we want, even in this area. No, we don't live in a prestigious zip code, and my commute is about 45 minutes, but that's because of choices that we made.

Damn. I'd love to see your budget.

Not seeing how the math works on this. After saving 60k and paying taxes you are spending in the low 100s, and covering more than one private school tuition, and all other expenses, comfortably?

Our housing costs are minimal, the private school is inexpensive, and our retirement contributions are pre-tax because of a 457b contribution. And we are not spenders. We probably spend less than 1k on clothes and eating out over the course of the year, and some years we don't bother with a full vacation other than visiting family. It's just the way we are but it's our choice, we don't think about money.

But you don't live IN DC. You have low housing costs and low private school costs. So your budget is about as relevant to someone who lives in Upper NW DC as someone who lives in Kansas or Idaho. That's the point. $300k in upper NW provides a stable lifestyle with occasional niceities, but when you factor in the high cost of living you are far from rich.

So do tell -- why live in NW then? And I do know someone who lives in Brightwood whose mortgage is about 1400 a month so there are choices even within DC.

People -- lots of them -- live comfortably in DC and arent rich earning $300K.

Sorry, screwed up the quote thing.. Again, I'm curious why. I'm bored fighting with the other idiot that insists on launching ad hominem attacks against me just because he is jealous that my commute isn't 90 minutes and I have a pool. I wasn't trying to be a jerk about it, I am genuinely curious. Throw the commute thing out for a minute. I spend 30 minutes driving each way so I don't really care if I can cut that in half because it wouldn't be worth it to me due to the other downsides I mentioned. Aside from the commute issue why do people want to live in NW. I know it's a nice area since my office is in NW, but I don't have any desire to live there.

You just answered your own question when you said NW is a nice area. So what if you don't want to live there? Other people also think it's a nice area and want a short commute, so they live there. You're being purposely dense yet you call the other guy an idiot, the irony...

[Anonymous]

Is this what you are saying?

Below $50k= Poor

Between $50 and $100k = Middle class

Above $100k = rich

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this what you are saying?

Below $50k= Poor

Between $50 and $100k = Middle class

Above $100k = rich

I'd say this, per INDIVDUAL Income:

Under $30K = Poor
$30 - $60K = Working Class
$60 - $90K = Middle Class
$90 - $150K = Upper Middle Class
$150K = Upper

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this what you are saying?

Below $50k= Poor

Between $50 and $100k = Middle class

Above $100k = rich

Middle class is roughly the 25th to 75th percentile. You know, the middle 50% of the earning curve. Nationwide the average HHI is around $60K, but in the DC metro region, it is closer to $90K. The 25th to 75th percentiles for this area are around $60-150K so that is essentially middle class. Over $150K you pass out of middle class and are affluent/upper class, but not rich/whatever you want to call it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Id be interested to know what job that requires a college education pays less than $100k.

I don't understand how people can be so clueless. In my profession you need at Master's degree and after a decade, I made about 60k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are so deluded about how privileged they are. I know a lawyer earning $150,000, and she compares herself to all the big-time lawyers making $800,000 and has therefore convinced herself she's one of the poors. She complains all the time about how she can't afford to eat out unless she has a 1/2 price coupon, and even refused to take a $15 taxi home at midnight, preferring to save the $11 on Metro (and walk home four blocks in the dark.)

Well, this story is clearly out of date -- you can't take Metro home at midnight anymore, alas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not getting why housing in NW is so "high demand". Why would you want to live in a tiny old rowhouse with no yard for your kids to play in where it isn't safe for them to ride their bikes, etc. and the schools are absolute shit? I don't see the draw at all. So you can walk to cafes and Starbucks? So you shave 20 or 30 minutes off your commute? I must be totally missing something here.

The most in-demand housing in NW has (a) yards, (b) quiet streets, (c) low crime, and (d) good schools. As well as walkable cafes and shorter commutes. So yes, it's possible you are missing something there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are so deluded about how privileged they are. I know a lawyer earning $150,000, and she compares herself to all the big-time lawyers making $800,000 and has therefore convinced herself she's one of the poors. She complains all the time about how she can't afford to eat out unless she has a 1/2 price coupon, and even refused to take a $15 taxi home at midnight, preferring to save the $11 on Metro (and walk home four blocks in the dark.)

Well, this story is clearly out of date -- you can't take Metro home at midnight anymore, alas.

Yeah, this was a few years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not getting why housing in NW is so "high demand". Why would you want to live in a tiny old rowhouse with no yard for your kids to play in where it isn't safe for them to ride their bikes, etc. and the schools are absolute shit? I don't see the draw at all. So you can walk to cafes and Starbucks? So you shave 20 or 30 minutes off your commute? I must be totally missing something here.

The most in-demand housing in NW has (a) yards, (b) quiet streets, (c) low crime, and (d) good schools. As well as walkable cafes and shorter commutes. So yes, it's possible you are missing something there.

Plenty of places in NoVa that you can walk to cafes and Starbucks. The only real draw I see is if you work downtown, and you have an easier commute.