I was thinking this too. I would be rich making that amount! I can only dream..

lol... let me just say that i am blessed to have parents who are missionaries in africa... they own a house here in the states that they can't live in... so they rent it to us... with what we make, we wouldnt be able to even get an apt. the cheapest apts where we live is 600... and we pay 300 for a 2 br home... and the utilities are paid for... if we didnt have my parents, we would never be able to save up any money to be able to get a place of our own... and we would probably be living in govt. housing... which is not good... at least not where we live. everyone here that lives in govt housing are taking advantage of it... instead of working, they live there for free, get food stamps, and live on welfare... we REFUSE to do that... we were on foodstamps for about a year, and now we just feel like we should be putting our faith in GOD instead... not saying food stamps are bad, but we just felt we shouldnt be taking assistance when there are people that REALLY need it.


oh yeah, and PLENTY of prayer. lol.

I'm not surprised. The difference between the haves and the have nots is ever widening.

That seems shockingly low to me.

Here's the info on my area:
This also surprises me. I have one friend who lives on a very tight budget, and her husband makes less than anyone else I know and he still makes 60k. They can barely make ends meet, and she is very careful with money. Nobody in our area could live comfortably for less than at least 75k, so it really makes me wonder how half the population of our county is living on less than 54,099. The half that is living on more than that (with the exception of a small middle ground) is living on A LOT more than that. Three houses down, I have a neighbor who makes well over 200k. Most of the families in this neighborhood make at least 100k, and I live in a nice, but not extravagant, neighborhood.

__________________
~Vicki~
Mama to Hailey, 4 and Ella, 2

you also have to figure in like others said how much some are making some are not since its an average. like the president and ceo of dh's corporation makes over 17 million a year with base pay and incentives but dh only make around 50,000 so you have to take in acct the wide gaps and that it is averaged. i don't think its a true representation of the medium household income there are just to many factors.

__________________
SILENCE IS GOLDEN BUT DUCK TAPE IS SILVER.

I think that this is definitely another area where the media has done us all a disservice.

Where we live in "rural Indiana" (it takes me about 30 minutes to get to the University of Notre Dame campus) what the above previous poster just quoted is about right. We bought a house 1600 sq ft home (not including basement) 3 BR, 1 and 3/4 BA in a nice older subdivision and could probably sell the house for $175K (maybe) - we've done a lot of work on it - but it still needs more.

My husband makes somewhere in that salary range, he does some freelance on the side, I have my own Mary Kay business and do some teaching on the side. We live frugally partly because we have to and MOSTLY because we want to. We have no debt besides our mortgage - I even paid off all $40K of my private college loans in 5 years. We do not have cable/dish, high speed interenet, cell phones (dh's work pays for his), boats, campers, or other such toys. I love clothes just like most other women do, but when I watch those shows on how to get the newest styles for less and they say that the "cheaper" look is "only" $230 I want to choke on my homemade pizza.

My dh and I watch TV and will laugh together at how the media - especially on the East and West coasts think that everyone is like them. Not everyone in our country lives in an area where the average home is $300K in fact most of the homes in my county are probably right around $100-150K. When the cost of living is so low, the salary ranges are going to be much much lower. I hear thru the internet that a gallon of milk is going for well over $4 in some places - well here it is like $3.50 and I even saw a sale this week where it was 2 for $5.

What I am trying to say is that most of the country is able to run much more "cheaply" than the large cities. Just b/c people "have to have "x" money in order to survive" in the city doesn't mean that is the case here where the rest of the country lives.

Sorry, I will get off my soapbox.....

I'm not really surprised at the number. I live within 20 miles of 3 refineries and the oilfield is booming around here. If I had to guess I would say that most people make $60,000-$70,000 around here.

__________________
DS-16
DD-13
DD-5
DS-3

i grew up in a house where my mom made less than $15 k a year (min. wage, single earner, sometimes unemployed), and of course money was very tight. after i got married, though, my husband makes about $25k a year, and that seems like so much! so i am surprised by that number. i guess a lot of it plays into who has a professional job and whether or not both mom and dad are working full time. i guess it's feasible under those circumstances.

I thought the US median income would be higher, too. According to the statistics reported by the local chamber of commerce, the 2003 HH median income for Alabama was $36,131; my county had a lower median income than that.

Obviously a specific area's COL goes into play here. I thought the national median sounded low to me, but was even more surprised by the median income in my county.

And, honestly, 300k for the average cost of a home sounds like heaven to me. The average home in my part of the city (a small city, but it is in N. California so obviously ridiculous) is more like 500-600k for something average, nothing special. I had no idea that it's common in other areas you can find a home for 100-150 k. You can't even break into the market here for less that 375k and that is for a dump. I'm so jealous of my good friend who lives in Colorado Springs (considered expensive to some but I think it has an awesome COL). She just bought a beautiful, 3000 sq ft, 2 year old home in a great neighborhood and I think she only paid 275k. So, that sounds wonderful to me but might sound ridiculous to someone in Enid, Ok or near Colombus AFB in Miss.

We have lived in areas where we were "comfortable" at 60 k but that wouldn't fly here. ((shrug))

__________________
~Vicki~
Mama to Hailey, 4 and Ella, 2