what is your annual household income?

[LSK]

If you have 2 working adults, add them up.

Also anyone know what the average nationwide is? Anyone got stats that breakdown by region?

How about world stats?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

U.S. average is $43,318, according to the Census

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/002484.html

[LSK]

3. cool thanks n/t

[ProfessorGAC]

6. That's Not The Average. It's The Median

Big difference. It means half the people make more than that and the other half make less than that. The average is WAY(!!!!!!!!!!!!) higher because of people who make $100 million per year. Just ONE of them raises the Mean Household Income by 80 cents. Now add in people like Gates, Buffet, Bezos, Ellison, Allen, and these guys, making $2 billion per year raise the average $1.80, each.

So, you can see that people making far above the median move the average toward a much higher value, but it doesn't change the fact that half the people make less than that median.
The Professor

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

7. My bad - didn't read carefully enough.

[TahitiNut]

9. Here's a graphical representation of Wage Income for 2005. (Shows median and average)

[TahitiNut]

14. That's an old PR. Here's the most recent. (Median household income for 2005 = $46,326)

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/007419.html

Household (all persons) income (all sources) is different than individual wage income, which I personally regard as more revelatory. (When more people must work it makes the 'household' income look 'good' when, in fact, it reflects some 'bad' effects such as loss of separate homes and more people working to sustain lifestyle.)

Here're the wage statistics for the same year (2005) ...

[Dr.Phool]

1. You forgot

"not enough".

[A HERETIC I AM]

2. US Census info

http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/hhinc/new01_001.htm

[LSK]

4. good link, thanks n/t

[Zensea]

5. another link

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

8. We're Now At 112,000. Course, In North Jersey, That's More Like 50,000.

Total income of over 110,000 yet we still have almost no disposable income. Fucking Jersey.

[MindPilot]

12. Yeah I hear ya -- same here on the left coast

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would make close to six figures, but here I am and still basically living pay day to pay day.

[LSK]

13. whats so expensive over there?

I can get by with less than half that in Chicago suburbs. Realestate/rent? Grocery prices up?

[AllieB]

23. Our housing prices are WAAAAY higher in the Northeast

NJ, NY metro, CT and MA have very high housing prices-to buy AND to rent. NJ also has very high property taxes. The cost of living is higher here than in the Chicago area.

[Silent3]

20. I'm curious... Where does all the money go?

I grew up in NJ, and a sister of mine was living there until just a couple of years ago, so I know taxes are high and the cost of living is a bit higher than where I live in NH now. It's still hard for me to imagine how $110K leaves you with no disposable income.

How many kids do you have, if any? That obviously can make a big difference in how far your money goes, and that's not something I can comment much on.

I'm lucky in that I make $110K myself, and have no kids at all. I'm in a pretty strange living arrangement at the moment -- my ex-wife is living with me in a roommate sort of situation, ever since I let her move back in when she'd be out of work for over a year, a few years back. Considering she has a Master's degree, she gets paid spit, and adds only about another $35K more to our household income. Our finances are mostly separate, but I pay a bigger share of the household expenses. After that, my disposable income is completely separate and all my own.

I hardly consider myself rich, but I live comfortably enough, and certainly not from paycheck to paycheck. I save a lot of money, even apart from the 10% of my income I put into my 401k. I could safely go a year or two, even three if I were frugal, without a single paycheck, just drawing on my savings account. I have no credit card debt apart from whatever is on my cards from month to month, always paid off in full, and I bought my last car -- nothing fancy, just a mid-level Subaru -- cash.

The only debt I currently have is the mortgage on my house, with payments of about $1200/month. I've been making extra principle payments lately to get the mortage paid off faster. The regular payments include about $4500/year in property tax. I also pay a few hundred more for household insurance separately.

There are two main areas where I'm a bit lavish with my money: I like my tech toys, like new computers and big screen TVs, and I buy pretty much what I want when I want to. I also eat out practically all of the time (which earns the State of NH 8% tax on all of that), because both my ex-wife and I hate to cook. We could save hundreds of dollars per month just by eating at home more often (money my ex needs to be saving much more than I do).

I don't spend a lot on clothes. I don't spend much on travel or vacations (last year being a major exception, when I went on only the second big trip in my life, on a two-week tour Egypt and Libya, ending with watching a total solar eclipse from a camp site in the Sahara). I know a lot of colleagues at my income level for whom nothing but a BMW or Lexus or huge honking SUV will do -- which has to be new every 3-4 years, whereas I held on to my last two cars, another Subaru and a Honda Civic before that, for 9 and 7 years, respectively.

I don't participate in any expensive sporting activities. I don't redecorate my home every few years or buy lavishly expensive furnishings. Although I eat out a lot, it's seldom (practically never) anywhere very expensive. I don't throw big parties, I don't go out drinking and partying.

I have no idea of your particular circumstances -- so please, don't take anything I say here as personal, since I really can't comment on you specifically. As a general comment, however, I often get the impression that some people with decent incomes end up living from paycheck to paycheck because they spend as if they're obligated to live up to a certain kind of lifestyle, one which really isn't obligatory at all.

Considering what skinflints my parents were, I'm stunned and amazed at how lavish people with ordinary incomes often are when it comes to their children -- they have to have designer clothes, the have to have the best toys and video games and iPods, they have to have their own cell phones, they have to be able to participate in each and every sporting event and other after-school activity they choose to get involved with. If the kids are are teens, they have to have their own cars and have to to able to go to the prom in a stretch limo, etc.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

22. It Goes Here:

Mortgage/Taxes: $1800
Daycare(2): $1885
Electric: $150
Garbage/Water/Sewer: $75
Phone Bill: $80
Cable TV/Modem: $150
Gas Bill: $100
Car Payment 1: $160
Car Payment 2: $270
Car Insurance: $165
Food @ 125/w: $500
Diapers/Clothes: $150
Gas For Autos: $350
Medicine/Dr.Copay: $100
Car/Home Repairs etc: $100
Cell Phones: $70
Sponsoring Of Two Children: $30

That's $6130 a month right there, and undoubtedly there is some miscellaneous stuff left out. 112,000 comes out to be about $6300 or so after taxes, so there's a little bit left over but not a whole hell of a lot.

[Silent3]

24. Looks like daycare is the real killer here

Makes it like paying to live in two homes at once. At least that's not a permanent expense, and I hope you're lucky as the kid (kids?) get older, that he/she/they don't stay quite so expensive.

And anyway, does it really have to cost nearly $100/work day?

I know a guy who had to be certified with a degree in education to qualify to work in a daycare center, and even with those professional qualifications, he got paid about the same as if he was bagging groceries. If one person can supervise, say, 5-10 kids at a time, and parents are paying $100/per day/per kid, and that person is making less than $10/hour... someone, somewhere, is making out like a bandit.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

26. Yup. And That's By Far The Cheapest One Around Here Too.

I've told my wife we should buy a 400,000 dollar house, of which the mortgage would be the same as what we're payin for daycare, then put an ad in the paper saying "Free House! Just watch my kids till 6 pm!" LOL. Hey, at least I get the tax deduction then, right?

[demnan]

10. I'd like to know who voted

$750K - 1 million. I'm sure they would be hit up for a DU donation if we all knew their name. :)

[LSK]

11. we could have lurking celebrities in our midst

From reading Gore's book, it sure as hell seems like he reads DU regularly.

[HeeBGBz]

15. As a $12,000aire, I offer my services to the DU rich folks

As some domestic potential labor force willing to relocate.

[blondeatlast]

16. Could be Beelzebud. Check out his "Funny Thing" post in GD... nt

[Poiuyt]

19. It's Skinner

[scarlet_owl]

17. $24,000 per year.

[Xithras]

18. National averages are meaningless in the USA

There is too much regional variation for averages to mean anything. Where I live, even tiny little 80 year old run down hovels on the bad side of town sell for $275,000 and a new home with no yards in some subdivision will set you back $450,000. And I live in the CHEAP part of California.

My household income was $124,000 last year, but I'm not rich by any means. Comfortable? Sure, but not rich. I could live like a king in most of the midwest for that kind of money, but out here it just makes you middle class. My neighbor is a tractor salesman, and he makes almost as much as I do.

Of course, I also have my welfare company to support. Part of that income was my take-home pay from the small software company I own, and that company is losing money right now. A good chunk of that money (too much, according to my wife) was "loaned" back to the company to cover the yawning chasm between our sales and our bills last year. If you factor that out, I probably brought home about $80,000 last year.

Still sound like a lot? Well, I had to work two jobs, 16-18 hours a day, 6-7 days a week, with NO VACATION days and only one sick day last year to do it. July 4th? I was working. Christmas? Went in to the office for 7 hours after the kids finished opening their presents. New Years? I watched the fireworks at midnight from my office window. My kids first baseball game of the season? Missed it, I was teaching a class. My kids last baseball game of the season, where they finished undefeated in first place for their league? Missed that one too...meeting with a client.

Yeah, making lots of money is fun.

[Locrian]

21. nice work if you can get it.

You can live great in the midwest - if you can find a good paying job. I make about $108k, 2000 sq foot house almost paid for, no car loans etc. But if my nice areospace job goes bye-bye there is NOTHING for me were I work or even close.

[SaveOurDemocracy]

30. I'd suggest you may want to see what you can do ...

to rearrange some things. My boys are 16 and 18 now and striking out on their own ... they grew up so fast. No 'do-overs'.

[underpants]

25. My household doesn't have an income

it's a house it just sits there

[GreenPartyVoter]

27. I would have broken up the lower amounts more. The difference between nothing and $24k

and $24k and $50k really is a lot. :(

[nonconformist]

28. High 40's in a normal year

By "normal", I mean a year where my husband is gainfully employed. It's been hit or miss the last few years.

[guitar man]

29. ok, someone voted $1million +

Come on out of hiding, where is my new best DU friend :shrug:

:evilgrin:

[DFW]

31. Maybe George Soros looks in every now and then

He probably earns $1 million a month just with his interest-bearing checking account.

[kineneb]

32. $14,800 - SSDI, two people

Donations of food are always gratefully accepted.

[kath]

33. Before or after taxes????