# Income distribution



## Fallowfox (Oct 27, 2022)

I wanted to know whether my income was typical within the USA, but I couldn't find a good curve (they are usually 'per household', and I think a comparison to people in my same age range and social status would be more meaningful). 

People outside the USA, please vote by all means. I appreciate exchange rates are variable. 
Votes are anonymous, because income is sensitive to some. I will vote at a random point.


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## ben909 (Oct 27, 2022)

sounds interesting to know, but i don't want to give such information away, especially sense its complex


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## Kumali (Oct 27, 2022)

Nobody's goddamned business.


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## Smityyyy (Oct 27, 2022)

Fallowfox said:


> I wanted to know whether my income was typical within the USA, but I couldn't find a good curve (they are usually 'per household', and I think a comparison to people in my same age range and social status would be more meaningful).
> 
> People outside the USA, please vote by all means. I appreciate exchange rates are variable.
> Votes are anonymous, because income is sensitive to some. I will vote at a random point.



It’s so variable by state and rural/city. In a rural area… $50,000 can be awesome. In a city, $50,000 could be _barely _scraping by. Some states are much pricier. I dislike going by average USA income because it’s very misleading. Someone who makes $75,000 could be worse off than someone making $35,000 depending upon where they’re living. 

What I do know is that the minimum wage in the United States ($7.25) is practically unlivable in _every _state and county. Especially when median rent is somewhere in the $2,000s at this point…

You live close to me and I can offer you that our average wages are somewhere around $45,000. It totally depends what fields you’re in but most minimum wage jobs where we’re at are paying $15-$20/hour.


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## Punji (Oct 28, 2022)

This is really the kind of information one shouldn't share over the Internet, anonymously or not.

It will also be a very small sample size with no reliability or localization. It would be better to simply research the local income rates for your location and position rather than ask a handful of furries from all over the globe.

That is, unless one wanted this information relative specifically to other furries in our local community.


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## ben909 (Oct 28, 2022)

i think the goal was the local community


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## Yakamaru (Oct 28, 2022)

Time to skew statistics.. :>


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## Dragon64 (Oct 28, 2022)

Is this before tax or after tax?


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## Fallowfox (Oct 28, 2022)

Dragon64 said:


> Is this before tax or after tax?


Before tax for simplicity.



Smityyyy said:


> It’s so variable by state and* rural/city*. In a rural area… $50,000 can be awesome. In a city, $50,000 could be _barely _scraping by. Some states are much pricier. I dislike going by average USA income because it’s very misleading. Someone who makes $75,000 could be worse off than someone making $35,000 depending upon where they’re living.
> 
> What I do know is that the minimum wage in the United States ($7.25) is practically unlivable in _every _state and county. Especially when median rent is somewhere in the $2,000s at this point…
> 
> You live close to me and I can offer you that our average wages are somewhere around $45,000. It totally depends what fields you’re in but most minimum wage jobs where we’re at are paying $15-$20/hour.



According to the US government I live in both a rural area _and _technically a city. :} 

Thankyou for the estimate; it sounds about right based on my increasing feel of the area.


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## reptile logic (Oct 28, 2022)

Historically, my income varies widely. I personally have grossed as much as $15,000/month, when running my own business; long hours, hard work, and very inconsistent monthly incomes, high taxes and insurance costs, and sales dribbling to nearly zero during the winter months (it was a motorcycle service shop).

In recent years, I have grossed as little as $4k/year monetary income, but cleaned and maintained a home in exchange for housing and meals (often the two highest money-burning expenses here in The States). I also work side jobs and gigs for cash money, so I can pay for things like my phone service, and vehicle tags and insurance.

In short, I have both put in 90 hour weeks just to make ends meet over a given fiscal year, and lived in beautiful homes, in amazing locations, for far fewer hours of weekly labor, but otherwise am near broke most of the time. Having ZERO debt, my low income levels only bother me when I find myself in need of medical attention; where all of one's saved income can be dumped, in a great hurry.

Be creative in what you trade your labor for, and you may find that cultivating good neighbors, business associates, and friends will often buy you a better living here, than just working for a decent paycheck.

*(Edit: added 'it was a motorcycle service shop')*


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## Fallowfox (Oct 29, 2022)

reptile logic said:


> Historically, my income varies widely. I personally have grossed as much as $15,000/month, when running my own business; long hours, hard work, and very inconsistent monthly incomes, high taxes and insurance costs, and sales dribbling to nearly zero during the winter months (it was a motorcycle service shop).
> 
> In recent years, I have grossed as little as $4k/year monetary income, but cleaned and maintained a home in exchange for housing and meals (often the two highest money-burning expenses here in The States). I also work side jobs and gigs for cash money, so I can pay for things like my phone service, and vehicle tags and insurance.
> 
> ...



My neighbours are being forced to experience my baking. lol
It's a sadistic relationship on my part.


Edit: I am surprised that we actually have, despite all the variation across geography age, career type etc, managed to get a Poisson distribution from the poll. 
Maybe it will get disrupted with more data.


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## Mambi (Oct 29, 2022)

Fallowfox said:


> I wanted to know whether my income was typical within the USA, but I couldn't find a good curve (they are usually 'per household', and I think a comparison to people in my same age range and social status would be more meaningful).
> 
> People outside the USA, please vote by all means. I appreciate exchange rates are variable.
> Votes are anonymous, because income is sensitive to some. I will vote at a random point.



Kinda private information over the Internet, but even so the results are completely irrelevant.

Even allowing for other countries currencies and exchange rates, there's nothing useful to be gathered here. Even in the same country from the same currency, what's "rich" in one area would be "poor" in another. I mean, an identical house in Toronto to some corner village in PEI could differ by a factor of 8 easily! A person living in the area where things cost less can easily feel rich making $80,000 while someone in Vancouver making $180,000 might just be scraping by. Food costs vary across the country let alone the globe, so you're literally comparing apples and oranges.

Not to mention some people don't think materialistically. I can afford what I wish comfortably and maintain my family of 2 with a reasonable enough safety net that if a meteor liquefied my vehicle my life isn't doomed. But I'm far from rich enough to go travelling around the globe as I feel. Someone else in a different land though, one with more economic hardship issues? My salary would be their upper 5% no problem and they'd be jet-setting every year.

It's like the saying goes...give $100 to a homeless man and he'll feel like you just solved his week's problems, give $100 to an multi-millionaire investment banker and he'll care so little he'll just crumple it and toss it in the "petty cash" drawer on the way to lunch.


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## Borophagus Sarcophagus (Oct 29, 2022)

I like money


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## Mambi (Oct 29, 2022)

Borophagus Sarcophagus said:


> I like money



If you had money but nobody had anything to sell you, you'd realize how meaningless it truly *is *in the grand scheme of things. 

I read once a dictator hundreds of years ago was once tortured after his overthrowing by locking him in one of his dungeons, but piling the chamber he was in with all his riches (jewellery, gold, etc). The catch is that's *all* they gave him...no food or water or clothing, just him alone naked, locked in a room with his riches until he died naturally while they occasionally ate their meals and the like outside his door to mock him, ensuring the smell waffled through the bars to drive him insane as he was surrounded by his useless riches as he begged them for mercy.

They kept this up until he eventually died presuambly days/weeks later just to prove the point to him and his successors.


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## Firuthi Dragovic (Oct 29, 2022)

I won't reveal my answer, but I can say that after watching people who make six figures... in areas where that kind of money is overkill... I wouldn't want to be anywhere close to that.

$50k/year could *probably* get me everything I ever wanted and then some.

When you get into six figures, image and presentation matter way too much.  (Especially since anyone I know who makes six figures is a salesperson.)

Living around the 1% disillusions you towards money as a goal.  *Especially* in the Internet age.


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## Mambi (Oct 29, 2022)

Firuthi Dragovic said:


> When you get into six figures, image and presentation matter way too much.  (Especially since anyone I know who makes six figures is a salesperson.)



Not always true...many engineers and doctors and the like make that cash, and image/presentation is just a matter of "look clean and reasonable".


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## Firuthi Dragovic (Oct 29, 2022)

Mambi said:


> Not always true...many engineers and doctors and the like make that cash, and image/presentation is just a matter of "look clean and reasonable".


They're.... simply not in my inner circle, is what I was going for there.


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## Smityyyy (Oct 29, 2022)

Firuthi Dragovic said:


> I won't reveal my answer, but I can say that after watching people who make six figures... in areas where that kind of money is overkill... I wouldn't want to be anywhere close to that.
> 
> $50k/year could *probably* get me everything I ever wanted and then some.
> 
> ...



It’s funny you mention this… there’s been some studies showing that the “happiness cap” in relation to income is somewhere around $100,000 (this will change depending on inflation/price gouging/area). But basically… the point still stands — people don’t get happier the richer they get. Money _does _make people happier up until a certain point. From there, any extra dollar earned doesn’t seem to contribute to a better or more fulfilling life!

Which… is a good thing to keep in mind. You don’t need to be mega-rich to be happy. Statistically, you’re at your happiest sitting just around six figures.

You’re right… the hustle culture and idea that riches are best is pretty banal and meaningless. More people should consider devoting time to family and self-fulfillment rather than just the pursuit of money.


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## Kumali (Oct 29, 2022)

Smityyyy said:


> people don’t get happier the richer they get.





Smityyyy said:


> the hustle culture and idea that riches are best is pretty banal and meaningless. More people should consider devoting time to family and self-fulfillment rather than just the pursuit of money.



"A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone." - Henry David Thoreau


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## Turbid_Cyno (Oct 29, 2022)

Are you talking in your field or just Americans in general? 

You do biology or enviro-science iirc?  Could be anywhere from 35-65k at entry with a BS depending who you get hired by. So kind of a wide range.  

But the median average salary in general right now is around 50k I think.


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## Yastreb (Nov 1, 2022)

No <$10k option?


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## Fallowfox (Nov 2, 2022)

Yastreb said:


> No <$10k option?



I goofed on the poll, sorry.


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## Rimna (Nov 11, 2022)

Not enough


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## jtrekkie (Nov 21, 2022)

This is just fascinating, glad you did this. It would be interesting to see if age was a significant contributor


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## Fallowfox (Nov 22, 2022)

jtrekkie said:


> This is just fascinating, glad you did this. It would be interesting to see if age was a significant contributor



I'd have to identify the users though, since I can't make a bivariate poll. 

I agree though, it would be interesting. Does income distribution widen with age for example, or do all people see a relative increase?
What about by sex?


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## Andreas (Dec 6, 2022)

This is really complicated question. I know my annual income if watching at my bank account statement, however, there are many factors that eventually change the number at the end. Like loan, for example. Past year a big part of my income goes to pay off my loan. I've read the lightstream reviews to find out the best way to pay off my loan as soon as possible, so I hope next year I'll reach bigger numbers of pure income.


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## redhusky (Dec 6, 2022)

It really varies, so I try to make as little bills as possible. Budgets are ALWAYS important!


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## Connor J. Coyote (Dec 28, 2022)

Honestly...... it might be helpful if the OP could bother to say what he does (work or trade wise) so that an accurate comparison can be made as to what the eqivalent wages are here in the U.S., seeing that he's interested in it.

"_I'll show you mine, if you show me yours_" we could all say........ meaning: I'll devulge my wages on here when the OP "spills the beans" and "tells all" a little bit yourself, and gives us some sort of clue as to what you do.

Or........ you can simply say to me:


Kumali said:


> Nobody's goddamned business.


Then......... if so, I decline to poll this, with all due respect.


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## Fallowfox (Dec 28, 2022)

@Connor J. Coyote , I had you blocked. 

I have removed the block because the forum has little time left anyway. The poll is anonymous- and is not obligatory anyway, so nobody has to discover your earnings if you don't want them to. 

What do I do? I am a research biologist in a postdoctoral position. I study the evolution of animals; how they organise their skeletons in response to evolutionary challenges.


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## Rimna (Dec 28, 2022)

Fallowfox said:


> What about by sex?



20$ is 20$...


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## Connor J. Coyote (Dec 29, 2022)

Fallowfox said:


> @Connor J. Coyote , I had you blocked.


Well honestly - it's news to me my friend....... because according to my daily U.I. on this Forum....... all of your threads and all of your postings were visible to me. And so, *technically* that's not really a block (in my book).... and thus, seeing that this thread was visible to me..... it was fair for me to respond to I assumed.

Had you indeed blocked me - this thread would be invisible to me and placed under "ignored content".

It wasn't..... and so I made no rule violations by my posting above. In any case....... it may be redundant now (seeing this place is closing soon) but...... this posting from almost a year ago, tells one how to use the feature:


Connor J. Coyote said:


> People need to learn how to use the block feature on here. It's very simple: you hit the "ignore" button whenever hovering your cursor over another user's avatar sweeties, whenever you wish to block a user..... only then will the feature kick in on a particular user, and then they'll be aware of it.


--------------------------
Thank you for answering my question though........ I answered your poll. ☺


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## Fallowfox (Dec 29, 2022)

Connor J. Coyote said:


> Well honestly - it's news to me my friend....... because according to my daily U.I. on this Forum....... all of your threads and all of your postings were visible to me. And so, *technically* that's not really a block (in my book).... and thus, seeing that this thread was visible to me..... it was fair for me to respond to I assumed.
> 
> Had you indeed blocked me - this thread would be invisible to me and placed under "ignored content".
> 
> ...



The blocking feature has not worked this way for a long time, Connor.


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