The Struggles Of The Well-To-Do In The US

[RVonse]

You realize a lot of those expenses are pretty much fixed. It costs a lot to live in those areas. The only things in there that seem high are vacation & entertainment.

1.8 million dollar home and 2k a month for preschool is not high?

No, they aren't too high. The preschool cost of 2,000 dollars a month per child is what my son and his wife, a doctor and a lawyer, paid in Atlanta. They just recently moved to the suburbs of San Francisco and they are paying a little less for preschool, but they can't buy a house because they need about 400,000 dollars as a down payment for the average 2 million dollar home there. They are renting a house for nearly 8,000 dollars a month.

I don't get this at all. If anyone could live anywhere, it would be a doctor or a lawyer. Those are both jobs that are needed in practically any location.

So why do they pick the most expensive place in America? Is the status of being in the most expensive and exclusive location really that important to them? I honestly do not understand how this is a rational choice to make.

 

[RVonse]

Its higher than hell but not for a coastal city.

In a better world, people would simply move out of those areas. But for some reason, they dont. Theres just something about the status of knowing you are close to the beach even if it takes half a day of traffic to get there. Its the poluted and overcrowded beach you never have time to visit since you spend all your time working anyway. Worth paying 10 times more for a house that is half as nice.

So in a better world everyone would move to Cedar Rapids or OKC or Wichita? Living on the coast is popular for reasons that often don't involve status.

e.g. that's where a lot of the jobs are.

That is like saying the chicken is before the egg or the egg is before the chicken though.

The jobs are there because the people are already there. Take Space X for example. Elon Musk picked Los Angeles (coastal city) for the factory because he knew that was where all the rocket scientists lived. But that then begs the question why all those people were there. Im not sure what the answer is but I would be surprised if all those people with skills were located there just for the pleasure of paying a ridiculous price for housing.

 

[DBT]

We prefer to live in nice locations, scenery, climate, etc, so it is these things that attract people in the first place?

 

[lpetrich]

I like this: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "“Struggling” with what? Math? https://t.co/oDMet9QtNE" / Twitter

It seems to me that those upper-middle-class people are crying in their beer.

 

[cycomiko]

e.g. that's where a lot of the jobs are.

That is like saying the chicken is before the egg or the egg is before the chicken though.

The jobs are there because the people are already there. Take Space X for example. Elon Musk picked Los Angeles (coastal city) for the factory because he knew that was where all the rocket scientists lived. But that then begs the question why all those people were there. Im not sure what the answer is but I would be surprised if all those people with skills were located there just for the pleasure of paying a ridiculous price for housing.

SoCal has tons of space and defense jobs and those jobs have been there for decades. I personally hate the L.A. area but I'd certainly move to San Diego/Carlsbad where there are also tons of satellite and defense gigs to be had. I still own my house in Seattle and plan to move back there as soon as it's feasible with my wife's job.

 

[cycomiko]

Its higher than hell but not for a coastal city.

In a better world, people would simply move out of those areas. But for some reason, they dont. Theres just something about the status of knowing you are close to the beach even if it takes half a day of traffic to get there. Its the poluted and overcrowded beach you never have time to visit since you spend all your time working anyway. Worth paying 10 times more for a house that is half as nice.

So in a better world everyone would move to Cedar Rapids or OKC or Wichita? Living on the coast is popular for reasons that often don't involve status.

e.g. that's where a lot of the jobs are.

Right. My company recently relocated several jobs from Seattle to OKC and St Louis and expected 20% of us to accept the relocation offer to the new sites. They were surprised when less than 1% accepted and almost everyone else just jumped ship to Amazon or Google or SpaceX or any of the tech and defense companies in the NW. Now the programs they moved are beginning to fail and lose a ton of money for the company.

I was lucky and was offered the chance to open my own lab near SLC and, being a snowboarder, jumped at the chance. However, even SLC has a cost of living that's climbing very quickly.

 

[BH]

Sheesh. Where I live you are considered doing well if your salary is in the 40,000 to 60,000 range.

 

[southernhybrid]

Sheesh. Where I live you are considered doing well if your salary is in the 40,000 to 60,000 range.

Me too. That's part of the reason why we decided to stay here when we retired.

 

[Toni]

Sheesh. Where I live you are considered doing well if your salary is in the 40,000 to 60,000 range.

Me too. That's part of the reason why we decided to stay here when we retired.

Yep, me, too.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

You realize a lot of those expenses are pretty much fixed. It costs a lot to live in those areas. The only things in there that seem high are vacation & entertainment.

1.8 million dollar home and 2k a month for preschool is not high?

Not for that location.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

e.g. that's where a lot of the jobs are.

That is like saying the chicken is before the egg or the egg is before the chicken though.

The jobs are there because the people are already there. Take Space X for example. Elon Musk picked Los Angeles (coastal city) for the factory because he knew that was where all the rocket scientists lived. But that then begs the question why all those people were there. Im not sure what the answer is but I would be surprised if all those people with skills were located there just for the pleasure of paying a ridiculous price for housing.

What happens is that a city has some major employer in a given field. People who do that have moved there. If someone else wants to hire the same sort of people they'll likely move to the same city so they can hire without causing relocations. (It's cheaper and easier to hire that way.) Soon you end up with a city specializing in a given field. The more a specialty is concentrated in an area the more it concentrates there. Thus you end up with insanities like San Francisco for high tech internet stuff.

 

[fromderinside]

You realize a lot of those expenses are pretty much fixed. It costs a lot to live in those areas. The only things in there that seem high are vacation & entertainment.

1.8 million dollar home and 2k a month for preschool is not high?

Its higher than hell but not for a coastal city.

In a better world, people would simply move out of those areas. But for some reason, they dont. Theres just something about the status of knowing you are close to the beach even if it takes half a day of traffic to get there. Its the poluted and overcrowded beach you never have time to visit since you spend all your time working anyway. Worth paying 10 times more for a house that is half as nice.

Welcome to a better world. Statistical Atlas Curry County Oregon. https://statisticalatlas.com/county/Oregon/Curry-County/Population Most of population of 22k people live within five miles of 70 mile long coast. https://statisticalatlas.com/county/Oregon/Curry-County/Household-Income Median household income is about $37k.

So it's not coastal. It's city coastal. By city coastal I mean 500k persons plus city. Yeah Denver is an outlier.