HHI of private school parents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is in preschool, K next year, and we are around $5mil per year and honestly almost everyone in the class seems much wealthier than us. A lot of it is generational. Out of a class of 15, there’s a couple of billionaires, some generational wealth with famous grandparents, some a mix of family money and working hard, a show biz family, and a couple of hedge fund/big law/trader types who are all clearly successful based on the $10mil apartments. Most of the families have at least one parent who grew up in the city.

A lot of the dads are much older which impacts wealth versus us in our late 30s who are newer to making this kind of money. For the most part, everyone is awesome and down to earth though?

I don’t care about the status stuff, I’m not a designer clothes kind of mom, places like St Barts seem terrible to me, but I guess that I’m guilty of being attuned to the micro symbols of status since I definitely pick up on this stuff?

Wow this can’t be the norm. This has to be the upper crust of preschools, right?

Yes this is absolutely not what most classes at a top private are like.

Agreed. This was not our experience in preschool or at a TT co-ed.

Same here at a TT all girls. A "couple" billionaires in a class of 15 reads like satire.

I’m the poster who wrote that and I truly have no idea about other school experiences because this is the only one that we’ve been at, but it’s all very easily known. I have no reason to make anything up for an anonymous internet site.

The ones who I referenced as being billionaires are founders of well known companies that IPOd and it’s all very easily verifiable. If you work in the business world, you know public figures who have been very successful by reputation without even having to think about it. There’s just a lot of money in New York?

Maybe I’m the odd one for noticing this and other people aren’t paying attention at all to who the other parents are, but I highly doubt that just because it’s so obvious! There’s no need to do any digging. It’s interesting to me because I didn’t grow up in this world and so of course I pay attention on some level. I don’t see how you could avoid it?

NP here and I believe you. There are a lot more billionaires than there used to be - that might explain why some older or clueless posters find it surprising.

78 in 2015
123 in 2025
The average age is 68

I think the point remains the same if the people are worth $800 or $900 million.

There are 818 centi-millionaires (assets over 100mm+).
The median age is 55.
Still relatively small numbers given how many schools and grades there are in NYC. Yes, you may have 2 or 3 in the same class but the majority of parents will be much less affluent.

[Anonymous]

If we're talking billionaires then geography isn't really a constraint here; most of these guys aren't living with their kids all the time, the kids live with a wife or ex-wife or girlfriend or parade of nannies or whatever. And lots of rich overseas billionaires still send their kids to TT American private schools for their educations.

[Anonymous]

We make high 6 figures combined and have assets. We have one child (one and done) and are sending them to a TT SS school for K-12. They are currently in a feeder PreK.

We don’t live above our means or own a very fancy large apartment or go on lavish vacations, but we live comfortably. If we had more than one child then we would have to go to public school route.

But for us we strongly believe in private school education and know our child will thrive in this environment, and if they change as they get older, we will reasses.

I don’t think you NEED to be a millionaire to send one child to private school, but yes, you may have to cut back on other luxuries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If we're talking billionaires then geography isn't really a constraint here; most of these guys aren't living with their kids all the time, the kids live with a wife or ex-wife or girlfriend or parade of nannies or whatever. And lots of rich overseas billionaires still send their kids to TT American private schools for their educations.

C’mon. This is getting silly now.

[Anonymous]

I have a very close friend who is a billionaire or very close. Lives in another smaller city. House is probably worth $1 million (which is nice but not super nice there). Kids went to public through elementary or middle school, though at that point he was just very rich, not super rich - hadn't cashed in yet. Has some extravagant expenses but most of the time you would never guess he is rich. Came from a very middle class background - took out loans to go to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is in preschool, K next year, and we are around $5mil per year and honestly almost everyone in the class seems much wealthier than us. A lot of it is generational. Out of a class of 15, there’s a couple of billionaires, some generational wealth with famous grandparents, some a mix of family money and working hard, a show biz family, and a couple of hedge fund/big law/trader types who are all clearly successful based on the $10mil apartments. Most of the families have at least one parent who grew up in the city.

A lot of the dads are much older which impacts wealth versus us in our late 30s who are newer to making this kind of money. For the most part, everyone is awesome and down to earth though?

I don’t care about the status stuff, I’m not a designer clothes kind of mom, places like St Barts seem terrible to me, but I guess that I’m guilty of being attuned to the micro symbols of status since I definitely pick up on this stuff?

Wow this can’t be the norm. This has to be the upper crust of preschools, right?

Yes this is absolutely not what most classes at a top private are like.

Agreed. This was not our experience in preschool or at a TT co-ed.

Same here at a TT all girls. A "couple" billionaires in a class of 15 reads like satire.

Agree. NYC has got 123 billionaires. The average age is 68. The chance is that 2 of them have got kids in the same pre-school in a class of 15 is not very high.

I think centimillionaire parents are not rare at TTs but billionaire parents are much more uncommon.

Also some of the people they refer to as billionaires, it may be the grandparents or great-grandparents that are billionaires. Which for low level billionaires makes the parents centimillionaires.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is in preschool, K next year, and we are around $5mil per year and honestly almost everyone in the class seems much wealthier than us. A lot of it is generational. Out of a class of 15, there’s a couple of billionaires, some generational wealth with famous grandparents, some a mix of family money and working hard, a show biz family, and a couple of hedge fund/big law/trader types who are all clearly successful based on the $10mil apartments. Most of the families have at least one parent who grew up in the city.

A lot of the dads are much older which impacts wealth versus us in our late 30s who are newer to making this kind of money. For the most part, everyone is awesome and down to earth though?

I don’t care about the status stuff, I’m not a designer clothes kind of mom, places like St Barts seem terrible to me, but I guess that I’m guilty of being attuned to the micro symbols of status since I definitely pick up on this stuff?

Wow this can’t be the norm. This has to be the upper crust of preschools, right?

Yes this is absolutely not what most classes at a top private are like.

Agreed. This was not our experience in preschool or at a TT co-ed.

Same here at a TT all girls. A "couple" billionaires in a class of 15 reads like satire.

Agree. NYC has got 123 billionaires. The average age is 68. The chance is that 2 of them have got kids in the same pre-school in a class of 15 is not very high.

I think centimillionaire parents are not rare at TTs but billionaire parents are much more uncommon.

Also some of the people they refer to as billionaires, it may be the grandparents or great-grandparents that are billionaires. Which for low level billionaires makes the parents centimillionaires.

Worth remembering that there are about 40,000-50,000 students in NYC NAIS schools and pre-schools ($70k price rag). I accept that 5-10% of them may be family members of 123 billionaires and 818 centi-millionaires but this still leaves 90-95% who do not have this level of wealth.

Another data point is HHI. There are about 5,000 families who report income over $5million. Again - 5,000 families (across all age groups) and 40,000-50,000 students. We end up with the same 5-10% estimate (since not everyone who makes $5million is a centi-millionaire).

In other words, people often overestimate the average level of wealth in private schools. There will always be a few very rich families but the majority is usually UMC (dual income households with parents working in law, medicine, finance or running small businesses).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is in preschool, K next year, and we are around $5mil per year and honestly almost everyone in the class seems much wealthier than us. A lot of it is generational. Out of a class of 15, there’s a couple of billionaires, some generational wealth with famous grandparents, some a mix of family money and working hard, a show biz family, and a couple of hedge fund/big law/trader types who are all clearly successful based on the $10mil apartments. Most of the families have at least one parent who grew up in the city.

A lot of the dads are much older which impacts wealth versus us in our late 30s who are newer to making this kind of money. For the most part, everyone is awesome and down to earth though?

I don’t care about the status stuff, I’m not a designer clothes kind of mom, places like St Barts seem terrible to me, but I guess that I’m guilty of being attuned to the micro symbols of status since I definitely pick up on this stuff?

Wow this can’t be the norm. This has to be the upper crust of preschools, right?

Yes this is absolutely not what most classes at a top private are like.

Agreed. This was not our experience in preschool or at a TT co-ed.

Same here at a TT all girls. A "couple" billionaires in a class of 15 reads like satire.

Agree. NYC has got 123 billionaires. The average age is 68. The chance is that 2 of them have got kids in the same pre-school in a class of 15 is not very high.

I think centimillionaire parents are not rare at TTs but billionaire parents are much more uncommon.

Also some of the people they refer to as billionaires, it may be the grandparents or great-grandparents that are billionaires. Which for low level billionaires makes the parents centimillionaires.

Worth remembering that there are about 40,000-50,000 students in NYC NAIS schools and pre-schools ($70k price rag). I accept that 5-10% of them may be family members of 123 billionaires and 818 centi-millionaires but this still leaves 90-95% who do not have this level of wealth.

Another data point is HHI. There are about 5,000 families who report income over $5million. Again - 5,000 families (across all age groups) and 40,000-50,000 students. We end up with the same 5-10% estimate (since not everyone who makes $5million is a centi-millionaire).

In other words, people often overestimate the average level of wealth in private schools. There will always be a few very rich families but the majority is usually UMC (dual income households with parents working in law, medicine, finance or running small businesses).

Where does this data come from? The 5000 $5M number? Not seeing it on NY State Department of Taxation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is in preschool, K next year, and we are around $5mil per year and honestly almost everyone in the class seems much wealthier than us. A lot of it is generational. Out of a class of 15, there’s a couple of billionaires, some generational wealth with famous grandparents, some a mix of family money and working hard, a show biz family, and a couple of hedge fund/big law/trader types who are all clearly successful based on the $10mil apartments. Most of the families have at least one parent who grew up in the city.

A lot of the dads are much older which impacts wealth versus us in our late 30s who are newer to making this kind of money. For the most part, everyone is awesome and down to earth though?

I don’t care about the status stuff, I’m not a designer clothes kind of mom, places like St Barts seem terrible to me, but I guess that I’m guilty of being attuned to the micro symbols of status since I definitely pick up on this stuff?

Wow this can’t be the norm. This has to be the upper crust of preschools, right?

Yes this is absolutely not what most classes at a top private are like.

Agreed. This was not our experience in preschool or at a TT co-ed.

Same here at a TT all girls. A "couple" billionaires in a class of 15 reads like satire.

Agree. NYC has got 123 billionaires. The average age is 68. The chance is that 2 of them have got kids in the same pre-school in a class of 15 is not very high.

I think centimillionaire parents are not rare at TTs but billionaire parents are much more uncommon.

Also some of the people they refer to as billionaires, it may be the grandparents or great-grandparents that are billionaires. Which for low level billionaires makes the parents centimillionaires.

Worth remembering that there are about 40,000-50,000 students in NYC NAIS schools and pre-schools ($70k price rag). I accept that 5-10% of them may be family members of 123 billionaires and 818 centi-millionaires but this still leaves 90-95% who do not have this level of wealth.

Another data point is HHI. There are about 5,000 families who report income over $5million. Again - 5,000 families (across all age groups) and 40,000-50,000 students. We end up with the same 5-10% estimate (since not everyone who makes $5million is a centi-millionaire).

In other words, people often overestimate the average level of wealth in private schools. There will always be a few very rich families but the majority is usually UMC (dual income households with parents working in law, medicine, finance or running small businesses).

Where does this data come from? The 5000 $5M number? Not seeing it on NY State Department of Taxation.

https://www.ibo.nyc.gov/content/publications/pit-overview

I downloaded tables for 2021-2022-2023 and extrapolated the trend into 2025 (assuming constant growth).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is in preschool, K next year, and we are around $5mil per year and honestly almost everyone in the class seems much wealthier than us. A lot of it is generational. Out of a class of 15, there’s a couple of billionaires, some generational wealth with famous grandparents, some a mix of family money and working hard, a show biz family, and a couple of hedge fund/big law/trader types who are all clearly successful based on the $10mil apartments. Most of the families have at least one parent who grew up in the city.

A lot of the dads are much older which impacts wealth versus us in our late 30s who are newer to making this kind of money. For the most part, everyone is awesome and down to earth though?

I don’t care about the status stuff, I’m not a designer clothes kind of mom, places like St Barts seem terrible to me, but I guess that I’m guilty of being attuned to the micro symbols of status since I definitely pick up on this stuff?

Wow this can’t be the norm. This has to be the upper crust of preschools, right?

Yes this is absolutely not what most classes at a top private are like.

Agreed. This was not our experience in preschool or at a TT co-ed.

Same here at a TT all girls. A "couple" billionaires in a class of 15 reads like satire.

Agree. NYC has got 123 billionaires. The average age is 68. The chance is that 2 of them have got kids in the same pre-school in a class of 15 is not very high.

I think centimillionaire parents are not rare at TTs but billionaire parents are much more uncommon.

Also some of the people they refer to as billionaires, it may be the grandparents or great-grandparents that are billionaires. Which for low level billionaires makes the parents centimillionaires.

Worth remembering that there are about 40,000-50,000 students in NYC NAIS schools and pre-schools ($70k price rag). I accept that 5-10% of them may be family members of 123 billionaires and 818 centi-millionaires but this still leaves 90-95% who do not have this level of wealth.

Another data point is HHI. There are about 5,000 families who report income over $5million. Again - 5,000 families (across all age groups) and 40,000-50,000 students. We end up with the same 5-10% estimate (since not everyone who makes $5million is a centi-millionaire).

In other words, people often overestimate the average level of wealth in private schools. There will always be a few very rich families but the majority is usually UMC (dual income households with parents working in law, medicine, finance or running small businesses).

Where does this data come from? The 5000 $5M number? Not seeing it on NY State Department of Taxation.

https://www.ibo.nyc.gov/content/publications/pit-overview

I downloaded tables for 2021-2022-2023 and extrapolated the trend into 2025 (assuming constant growth).

Thank you! Fascinating to have this data esp for the top segments.

And yes -- I agree with you, at least in the lower schools it largely seems like everyone is a high earner but only through being dual working parents. If families are already "doing well" - it's still relatively early - many have just made partner, associate partner, etc in a law/finance firm or are hitting the VP ranks in corporate or are dual doctor families.

Regardless of income levels -- what I witness at this tier is no one has so much resources that they don't feel a sense of struggle in NYC -- and many are working professionals who need to stay focused on their careers and therefore all the usual kid problems (flu, sickness, nanny calling out for the day etc) impact the family in ways that are about the same regardless of sub $1M or multi-million income.

And in the end time is most precious resource, and some dual income families that earn the most have the least time to spend with kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We make high 6 figures combined and have assets. We have one child (one and done) and are sending them to a TT SS school for K-12. They are currently in a feeder PreK.

We don’t live above our means or own a very fancy large apartment or go on lavish vacations, but we live comfortably. If we had more than one child then we would have to go to public school route.

But for us we strongly believe in private school education and know our child will thrive in this environment, and if they change as they get older, we will reasses.

I don’t think you NEED to be a millionaire to send one child to private school, but yes, you may have to cut back on other luxuries.

How do you know your child is going to a TT SS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We make high 6 figures combined and have assets. We have one child (one and done) and are sending them to a TT SS school for K-12. They are currently in a feeder PreK.

We don’t live above our means or own a very fancy large apartment or go on lavish vacations, but we live comfortably. If we had more than one child then we would have to go to public school route.

But for us we strongly believe in private school education and know our child will thrive in this environment, and if they change as they get older, we will reasses.

I don’t think you NEED to be a millionaire to send one child to private school, but yes, you may have to cut back on other luxuries.

How do you know your child is going to a TT SS?

I'm not the poster but decisions just came out so I assume their child was just admitted?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not about academics, but behavior and manners. You can identify a public school kid based on how they behave.

Yeah, public school kids are nicer and don’t bully people because their families make less than $1M/year.

Parent of Bx Sci and Stuy here.
There IS a difference culturally. My Asian kids would joke that there are a lot of NPCs at their school (non playable characters). I guess it means those kids are devoid of personalities and or extremely awkward. Most of them are from Brooklyn or Queens.
And no, they are not necessarily nicer when you get to know them.
The truth is there is a lack of social polish but that has to do with parental influence and upbringing - not something inherent to these kids.
The same goes for even the really low tier privates. I did some mentoring at an all boys catholic private way up in the bronx and those boys had that scrappy side to their interactions with people.
It isnt a public/private divide but a secure and insecure divide.
I

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is in preschool, K next year, and we are around $5mil per year and honestly almost everyone in the class seems much wealthier than us. A lot of it is generational. Out of a class of 15, there’s a couple of billionaires, some generational wealth with famous grandparents, some a mix of family money and working hard, a show biz family, and a couple of hedge fund/big law/trader types who are all clearly successful based on the $10mil apartments. Most of the families have at least one parent who grew up in the city.

A lot of the dads are much older which impacts wealth versus us in our late 30s who are newer to making this kind of money. For the most part, everyone is awesome and down to earth though?

I don’t care about the status stuff, I’m not a designer clothes kind of mom, places like St Barts seem terrible to me, but I guess that I’m guilty of being attuned to the micro symbols of status since I definitely pick up on this stuff?

Wow this can’t be the norm. This has to be the upper crust of preschools, right?

Yes this is absolutely not what most classes at a top private are like.

Agreed. This was not our experience in preschool or at a TT co-ed.

Same here at a TT all girls. A "couple" billionaires in a class of 15 reads like satire.

Agree. NYC has got 123 billionaires. The average age is 68. The chance is that 2 of them have got kids in the same pre-school in a class of 15 is not very high.

I think centimillionaire parents are not rare at TTs but billionaire parents are much more uncommon.

Also some of the people they refer to as billionaires, it may be the grandparents or great-grandparents that are billionaires. Which for low level billionaires makes the parents centimillionaires.

Worth remembering that there are about 40,000-50,000 students in NYC NAIS schools and pre-schools ($70k price rag). I accept that 5-10% of them may be family members of 123 billionaires and 818 centi-millionaires but this still leaves 90-95% who do not have this level of wealth.

Another data point is HHI. There are about 5,000 families who report income over $5million. Again - 5,000 families (across all age groups) and 40,000-50,000 students. We end up with the same 5-10% estimate (since not everyone who makes $5million is a centi-millionaire).

In other words, people often overestimate the average level of wealth in private schools. There will always be a few very rich families but the majority is usually UMC (dual income households with parents working in law, medicine, finance or running small businesses).

Where does this data come from? The 5000 $5M number? Not seeing it on NY State Department of Taxation.

https://www.ibo.nyc.gov/content/publications/pit-overview

I downloaded tables for 2021-2022-2023 and extrapolated the trend into 2025 (assuming constant growth).

This is super interesting data. After taking a look, I believe the number of super-high-earning couples is even rarer.

In 2023 there were 4,750 filers with nominal income $5M and over. But just 2,676 claimed dependents on their filings (about 56% of that filing segment) -- which makes sense as some might not have kids, others might have kids that have grown up, etc. Just 1,056 filers with $10M+ incomes had dependents.

So yes it feels like everyone makes a lot of money but as a sense of comparison, there are about 22k filers at $500k to $1M nominal income with dependents in NYC, and 10k filers at $1M to $2M bracket. Sadly I would wager that even many $1M to $2M earners psychologically don't feel like they've "made it" in a city with COL as high as NYC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not about academics, but behavior and manners. You can identify a public school kid based on how they behave.

Yeah, public school kids are nicer and don’t bully people because their families make less than $1M/year.

Parent of Bx Sci and Stuy here.
There IS a difference culturally. My Asian kids would joke that there are a lot of NPCs at their school (non playable characters). I guess it means those kids are devoid of personalities and or extremely awkward. Most of them are from Brooklyn or Queens.
And no, they are not necessarily nicer when you get to know them.
The truth is there is a lack of social polish but that has to do with parental influence and upbringing - not something inherent to these kids.
The same goes for even the really low tier privates. I did some mentoring at an all boys catholic private way up in the bronx and those boys had that scrappy side to their interactions with people.
It isnt a public/private divide but a secure and insecure divide.
I

Yes. And the problem is that these kids often lean into their NPC (love that term - thanks) - characteristics. They stick together and act like they get some joke that no one else gets while the joke is on them. If it was just a few of them it is one thing but their presence is non-trivial, particularly at Stuy. So though a smart, well-adjusted kid will definitely find their crowd at one of these schools (and note that there are smart, well-adjusted kids of all races, wealth levels, boroughs, etc.), they cannot avoid having to spend their days dealing with these types.

My child got into one of these schools and just couldn't fathom the thought of spending four years in this environment - they visited and all of these "cool kids" were acting like they owned the place. My child came from a very diverse public school, but it was a different type of diversity. We are not wealthy but we have enough money that we were able to make private work, and found a place that is a good fit. We are almost definitely in the bottom half financially but have enough that we can play the game. I sometimes question our decision but overall I think it made for a happier HS experience for our child.