I’m from NYC. I’m actually from Manhattan. I live in Texas. (Specifically, Fort Worth.) A lot of people hear those facts and say to me, “Damn! Cowtown? But you’re from the Big Apple.” My response is usually: “I actually really like Fort Worth. I’d probably never move back to Manhattan.” People don’t get that. From now on, I’m gonna show ’em these charts.
Look at that. Light blue is US as a whole. Look at the difference between the mean income of the top five percent of Manhattan — dark blue bar — and the U.S. — light blue bar — on the far right. Now lookie here:
In 2013, the median household income for Manhattan is $72K. That’s $20K higher than NYC as a whole, and $20K higher than the U.S. as a whole. $20K is a decent chunk of money; some entire families live on that. (Wouldn’t necessarily call that “good,” but that’s a topic for a different post.)
All this research originates with this blog post, FYI.
We already knew that NYC’s inequality was roughly equivalent to some countries in Africa, you need a base of about $88K/year to even sniff buying a home in NYC, and it has a brutal “95/20” ratio. But this kind of stuff, chart-wise, is sobering.
You gotta think that, at some point, young people are going to less and less want to live in places like NYC or SF if there’s no way for them to have a good life without chasing the bottom line like a rabid dog. But maybe I’m naive.
