In the News

[unforth]

The article that this particular quote comes from is actually not terribly interesting, but nonetheless, it is proof of something I've been asserting without evidence for ages:

"...in New York,...a new study from the Center for an Urban Future, a nonprofit research group in Manhattan, estimates it takes $123,322 to enjoy the same middle-class life as someone earning $50,000 in Houston..." (The ellipses eliminate an because clause that wasn't relevant to the use I was making of the quote).

Vindicated! I make considerably less than $123k, for the record. ;) Man, I feel so much better about this now...

Anyway, as usual there is little of interest in the Sunday paper...

Comments

[ultimabaka.livejournal.com]

I saw this exact same article on Friday. I wasn't surprised either. I came to the conclusion, however, that being "middle class" in New York City means something radically different than being "middle class" in Houston. For example, you don't need a car here, so the money you would be spending on that in the ghetto of Houston gets spent on higher rent here, and so on. And I might be wrong, but does having an absurdly fancy TV only make you middle clase nowadays in the city?

Because I seem to only be middle class. Which is curious, even though it doesn't change how I live my life.

[schenker28.livejournal.com]

I always assumed that was obvious -- it's crazy expensive to survive there!

The follow-up question I'm interested in is whether this cost-of-living difference is accounted for in the salaries paid to people in NYC vs. other cities. For example, if I have essentially the same job in Bloomington vs. NYC, is the salary indexed so that I have the same lifestyle?

From looking around at software engineers jobs before I started grad school, it seemed to me that I would be effectively making less if I moved to the city - I'd get a much larger salary for very similar jobs, but it wasn't even larger enough to actually equalize. I suppose it depends on the industry and particular company... I've heard this from other people in software, incidentally.