Jump to content

Menu

Family income poll


What is your gross (pre-tax/retirement/etc.) family income?  

  1. 1. What is your gross (pre-tax/retirement/etc.) family income?

    • Under $20,000
      21
    • $20,000 - $30,000
      27
    • $30,000 - $40,000
      57
    • $40,000 - $60,000
      134
    • $60,000 - $80,000
      130
    • $80,000 - $100,000
      119
    • $100,000 - $150,000
      150
    • $150,000 - $200,000
      44
    • $200,000 - $250,000
      20
    • Over $250,000
      34


Recommended Posts

Have we done one of these before? People often have stereotypes of homeschoolers as being either fairly well off or scraping to make ends meet. I'm curious what the reality is for WTMers.

 

There is a poll coming. I'm not asking you to post your income with your name!:svengo:

 

Edited to add that I know that household income doesn't necessarily say much about how well off a family is, especially since the cost of living varies so widely from place to place. Please comment on your area's COL.

Edited by Sun
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 284
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Not only does income not take in account COL, it doesn't take in account family size. $50,000/year for a family of 4 is different than the same amount for a family of 7 or 10. $200K is a good deal of money for a family of four. It wouldn't be so much in CA for a family with 20 kids, half of whom had special needs, I'd guess.

Edited by 2J5M9K
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, we make very little, but the COL here is very low so that helps a lot. Plus, we have a Costco, Winco, Sunflower Market, and Good Earth close by, so I can get a lot of our GF bulk items for very cheap. Yes, I have to grind my own grain, but those stores have been a huge lifesaver.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cost of living in FL where we have our home is pretty low. Dh does contract work away from home and we are with him. Where we are now is somewhat higher COLA. Our income varies from year to year as well. After working a good contract job for awhile dh likes to take some time off so we can all play, realizing when he works he works between 50 and 70 hours a week and is willing to travel to many places to work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our dollar might be close to the same value here as in the US, but the money doesn't go as far. It cost MUCH more to feed and clothe a family here than it would in many of the states. Even within the states, someone might barely be making it in CA but be living very comfortably on the same amount in AZ. Personally I wish I could make the amount we make up here and live with it in AZ.:tongue_smilie:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are 4 people making over $250k? I wanna come live with you!

Maybe you do, maybe you don't. They could be living in LA, Chicago, NYC and Washington, D.C. with 8 kids. That money isn't going far.

 

ETA: Then there is the tax thing. At dh's level of income we are getting hit by 28% tax. I can only imagine what the over $250,000 crowd is getting hit with.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe you do, maybe you don't. They could be living in LA, Chicago, NYC and Washington, D.C. with 8 kids. That money isn't going far.

 

ETA: Then there is the tax thing. At dh's level of income we are getting hit by 28% tax. I can only imagine what the over $250,000 crowd is getting hit with.

 

:iagree: Dh took a significant pay cut when we moved from SF to TX, but we have a much more comfortable life here despite adding two dc to the family.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We don't make all that much, but COL is low enough around here that we're pretty solidly middle class. However, it means we still scrimp a lot on things like curriculum that are bought online, and therefore cost the same everywhere.

 

We did go for a while barely scraping by while I was in school. It often feels like we're still barely scraping by, but it's definitely better than it was!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just realized I have no idea how to answer this poll, because I'm a business owner, and I only take home just enough to pay my taxes and a little more. How funny is that? Do I make lots or practically nothing? According to Uncle Sam, I'm at the higher end, for what that's worth.

 

(I'm not a homeschooler anyway, so I probably shouldn't answer the poll.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe you do, maybe you don't. They could be living in LA, Chicago, NYC and Washington, D.C. with 8 kids. That money isn't going far.

 

ETA: Then there is the tax thing. At dh's level of income we are getting hit by 28% tax. I can only imagine what the over $250,000 crowd is getting hit with.

 

So very true. Dh would need to make 3x his current salary to move to the San Francisco area.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe you do, maybe you don't. They could be living in LA, Chicago, NYC and Washington, D.C. with 8 kids. That money isn't going far.

 

ETA: Then there is the tax thing. At dh's level of income we are getting hit by 28% tax. I can only imagine what the over $250,000 crowd is getting hit with.

 

 

Yeah, housing is very expensive here. Not as high as a few other places, but still. Our income puts us in a crappy tax bracket and I love how some people think we are rich.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

interesting that there are two peaks, one at 40-60 and a bigger one at 100-150. at least that makes me feel better about struggling . . . i feel like in our range (60-80) it shouldnt be so tight . .. but its a house we bought intending to have 2 incomes, a bunch of food allergies, a kid in college . ..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

70% of you make more than we do. I am officially depressed for the evening. This is with me working weekends, plus dh's full-time work. Ugh.

 

I'm completely shocked at the results. I mean wow. The people in the top bracket make more per month than the people in the bottom do in a year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll just go ahead and vent a little. We are a family of four living on $16K a year. Last year we eeked by on less than $10K. Up until 5 years ago we spent all of the $60K to $80K a year my dh brought home...so it's been positively scary at times...but we're still here. We purposely didn't sell the pop-up camper...just in case.

Sometimes life just throws hard things at people... and I'm feeling a little frazzled tonight.

 

'Nuff said.

 

Geo

Edited by Geo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm completely shocked at the results. I mean wow. The people in the top bracket make more per month than the people in the bottom do in a year.

 

Aw...but their cost of living area is soooo high! I know, I know, I'm going to hel...:angelsad2:

Edited by Geo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We purposely didn't sell the pop-up camper...just in case.

 

Oh my. :001_huh: Although maybe it would have crossed my mind if we had a camper. I have gone through the thought process of whether or not we could make it without utilities, if the only thing we could afford was our house payment if dh lost his job. I know we wouldn't starve, they don't shut off the heat here in the winter, we could use candles and just go to bed earlier if we didn't have electricity, shower and get water at other's houses. The hardest part would be how to heat food, and not being able to store food that would need to stay cold. Maybe peanut butter sandwiches?? We aren't as poor as you are, but if dh did lose his job, I have no idea how he would ever find something that paid the same. He really only got his job because his friend did the hiring. It's really scary, to be honest. :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe you do, maybe you don't. They could be living in LA, Chicago, NYC and Washington, D.C. with 8 kids. That money isn't going far.

 

ETA: Then there is the tax thing. At dh's level of income we are getting hit by 28% tax. I can only imagine what the over $250,000 crowd is getting hit with.

 

What she said. 1/3 to the government baby:glare:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I put in our current income. I'm working 28 hours, we have some income from a rental property, but Husband is looking for work.

 

For general information, my income above £8,000 is taxed at 25%, which includes health coverage through the NHS. I pay National Insurance as well (about 10%), which covers a basic pension plus some support if I become unemployed. VAT (similar to sales tax) is payable at 20% but doesn't apply to basic needs such as basic food and children's clothing.

 

ETA: when we were homeschooling, our income was much higher: we still had the property, I wasn't working, but Husband was.

 

Laura

Edited by Laura Corin
Fixing typo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We're above median income here, but also above the average number of kids. We also don't feel much of the "extra" b/c neither one of us was raised to be financially literate, so we're still paying off debts from when our income was much lower.

We're appreciative of our comforts, but it's difficult to avoid thinking about how rich we'd feel if we had learned some lessons much earlier!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The hardest part would be how to heat food, and not being able to store food that would need to stay cold. Maybe peanut butter sandwiches??

 

If you live in a temperate time zone, only meat and dairy need to be refrigerated, plus rice in summer. Of course if you couldn't afford your utilities, you probably wouldn't be buying enough meat and dairy to store anyway.

 

Rosie

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another issue with these polls is that they don't take into account assistance (cash and other) from the government, charity, family, etc.

 

Or in my case, the fact that I had more prosperous (but still frugal) years in the past and as a result have no debt and a paid-off house.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another issue with these polls is that they don't take into account assistance (cash and other) from the government, charity, family, etc.

 

Or in my case, the fact that I had more prosperous (but still frugal) years in the past and as a result have no debt and a paid-off house.

 

 

True. Insurance is a biggie, all alone. Someone close to us makes about 40% less than dh, but pays 1/2 of what we do in ins. premiums and 1/4 in copays. (I have no idea what their deductible is.) Someone who has to buy a private policy would likely see an even bigger gap.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe you do, maybe you don't. They could be living in LA, Chicago, NYC and Washington, D.C. with 8 kids. That money isn't going far.

 

ETA: Then there is the tax thing. At dh's level of income we are getting hit by 28% tax. I can only imagine what the over $250,000 crowd is getting hit with.

 

 

I have to be honest, that first point actually kind drives me nuts. I see it brought up all the time in these sorts of discussions. But there are huge honking swaths of population in those cities trying to make it by on 40K and under on their own. Therefore, when we see statements which indicate that someone making 100K, 200K etc. need to because of cost of living in that city or that they are barely scraping by at these incomes, what does that say about the chunk of population in those lower brackets?

 

re the OP, cost of living here is higher; I am in the southwest side of Chicago area. DH just found a teaching position that grosses in the lower 30K, but it does not offer health insurance, so we have to factor that in as well. We will eventually move to the new area with slightly lower cost of living, but it will take a while to save up to do so.

 

Now obviously this poll is skewed because you have to be interested or actively homeschooling to answer. But income discussions like this are one of the reasons you often see people saying they don't make enough to homeschool. If you are living on a lower income in a higher cost of living bracket, even outside classes or filling your tank or buying a bus pass or purchasing a curric is difficult. If you have two parents working to increase your income, you still might have issues trying to find and pay for child care if you work similar hours. I think it's why there's this perception, especially in these higher cost-of-living areas, for homeschooling to be an endeavor for those with the luxury of having either a substantial income or a stay-at-home parent or both.

Edited by prairiebird
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have to be honest, that first point actually kind drives me nuts. I see it brought up all the time in these sorts of discussions. But there are huge honking swaths of population in those cities trying to make it by on 40K and under on their own. Therefore, when we see statements which indicate that someone making 100K, 200K etc. need to because of cost of living in that city or that they are barely scraping by at these incomes, what does that say about the chunk of population in those lower brackets?

 

Considering the point of the OPs question was to discuss the stereotype of homeschoolers either struggling or living it up, COL is a relevant factor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm baffled by the "tax" comments. Do you REALLY pay 28% of your income on taxes? Have you calculated it? Being in the 28% tax bracket doesn't mean you pay 28% of your income straight to the gov't. Subtracting out donations, deductions, house interest, we would have to pretty comfortable to pay much to the federal gov't. Our state and local taxes hit us much harder. Turbotax has this nice function where it tells you your effective tax rate :) Brownie

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We aren't in the top bracket but somewhere around there. Dh just recently started his own company and is also working PT for another company. He brings home a LOT but we have to pay quarterly taxes and insurance out of that. We are also in a very high COL area. We don't have a big house but we have debt, a kid going to college, high property taxes...

 

I lived in NJ as a single mom making around $50,000. My mother was a single mom making much much less, although it was the 70's/early 80's.

 

What I did: lived in an apartment with utilities included ($985/month) in an area of slightly lower costs, cut expenses whenever possibly, drove an inexpensive car with good mileage, I had a long commute to work but a similar apartment in the area of my job would have cost around $1,500/month with utilities possibly NOT included. I was lucky that dd was old enough to not be in full time day care but I paid for after-school care. Each month I was getting further and further behind and I'm not sure how much longer I would have been able to hold on, but I married dh.

 

My mother: lived in a very inexpensive apartment utilities included, stretched all food money very very far, no car - we walked or took the bus everywhere (easy where we lived then), and made hard decisions about not being able to go to school activities, take off when we were sick, etc. She did get some public assistance.

 

The next step would have been to rent in an area that may have been less safe, with bad schools and dangerous crime. I have an aunt who was in that situation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Until 3 years ago, we were in the 40-60 K range. After the bottom fell out of the construction industry, my husband was basically without work. He was a subcontractor, so he's never been able to collect unemployment.

 

We've been living off of my medical transcription income. He has been doing sporadic work in his field, as well as handyman type jobs, but nothing like he used to be paid. This year we probably will make 30 K total for the 4 of us. Last year on our taxes, after all the deductions, our income was at -$15,000! (yep, negative $15,000). :001_huh:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Because of dh's profession, our income can fluctuate between 3 of those categories from year to year. He is paid on contingency. It makes it very difficult to plan anything. In the good cash flow years, we repair things around the house, take vacations, buy new clothes, etc. In the not-so-good cash flow years, we basically survive paycheck to paycheck. Been doing that for over a year now.

 

I really do think you need to factor in COL. Especially housing costs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm baffled by the "tax" comments. Do you REALLY pay 28% of your income on taxes? Have you calculated it? Being in the 28% tax bracket doesn't mean you pay 28% of your income straight to the gov't. Subtracting out donations, deductions, house interest, we would have to pretty comfortable to pay much to the federal gov't. Our state and local taxes hit us much harder. Turbotax has this nice function where it tells you your effective tax rate :) Brownie

 

I can't tell you how many people I've met that thought that people in the 28% bracket paid 28% to federal govt in income tax, not realizing it is a graduated tax, rather than a flat percentage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It might be easier to look at the bring home amount. I'm not even sure what dh's income pretaxes and such is anymore. I don't look. It's just too depressing to seeaghast much bigger number that I could have if it wasn't for all the stuff taken before we ever even get it. I only bother to look at the number I actually have to work with, which is after taxes and deductions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It might be easier to look at the bring home amount. I'm not even sure what dh's income pretaxes and such is anymore. I don't look. It's just too depressing to seeaghast much bigger number that I could have if it wasn't for all the stuff taken before we ever even get it. I only bother to look at the number I actually have to work with, which is after taxes and deductions.

 

Except that "take home" pay is going to vary so much, even for those with the same income, and is not just dependent on taxes. Some things are "choices": 401k percentages are going to vary greatly, for example.

Edited by CathieC
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fairly low COLA here. Housing is cheap...with all of the repos, the bottom has dropped out of the market and this was never a higher market anyway.

 

Food is more reasonably priced than what I see posted for many areas and there is a farmer's market with lovely fresh produce in just about every town plus roadside stands. Third most fertile area of the world, so growing food is easy compared to most places.

 

Heating can be expensive but if the house is well insulated and the windows decent, it is comparable to A/C down south or in the Southwest.

 

High unemployment here though.

 

Faith

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It might be easier to look at the bring home amount. I'm not even sure what dh's income pretaxes and such is anymore. I don't look. It's just too depressing to seeaghast much bigger number that I could have if it wasn't for all the stuff taken before we ever even get it. I only bother to look at the number I actually have to work with, which is after taxes and deductions.

 

Except that "take home" pay is going to vary so much, even for those with the same income, and is not just dependent on taxes. Some things are "choices": 401k percentages are going to vary greatly, for example.

 

Yes. Some of us have health or life insurance premiums deducted from paychecks as well as extremely variable 401K contributons.

 

We have always used automatic savings plans so that we don't "see" part of the paycheck.

 

Regarding these sorts of surveys: I think gross income says little. Some retired millionaires have less income than working people because they do not require the income stream. Net worth is more revealing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Until 3 years ago, we were in the 40-60 K range. After the bottom fell out of the construction industry, my husband was basically without work. He was a subcontractor, so he's never been able to collect unemployment.

 

We've been living off of my medical transcription income. He has been doing sporadic work in his field, as well as handyman type jobs, but nothing like he used to be paid. This year we probably will make 30 K total for the 4 of us. Last year on our taxes, after all the deductions, our income was at -$15,000! (yep, negative $15,000). :001_huh:

 

:glare: Well at least there is no self-employment tax on the negative. :grouphug:

 

I'm sorry.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We're in the top tax bracket but barely, 7 kids, very high COL (might be highest in the country?), self insured. We pay a lot in taxes, even after all deductions (no child tax credit past 110k) 401k contributions etc..

 

From looking at this poll the hive is definitely middle/ upper middle class, but HSing is a middle class phenomena by all the studies I've read so it's no surprise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm baffled by the "tax" comments. Do you REALLY pay 28% of your income on taxes? Have you calculated it? Being in the 28% tax bracket doesn't mean you pay 28% of your income straight to the gov't. Subtracting out donations, deductions, house interest, we would have to pretty comfortable to pay much to the federal gov't. Our state and local taxes hit us much harder. Turbotax has this nice function where it tells you your effective tax rate :) Brownie

 

Even a graduated tax rate approaches the full % once you reach a certain income (not as high as you might think). After a certain point your deducations phase out and you lose the benefit of the lower rates. I don't get personal exemptions / standard deductions, nor can I deduct my state and local tax among other things, if my tax preparer decides that my share of the business income was above something like $150K (I can't remember the exact $ thresholds). (Needless to say, I've never qualified for child tax credits etc.) Now keeping in mind that I also pay a nice chunk of state and city and property taxes and FICA, the rate is quite high. Then add in the fact that this profit was used to pay for building repairs which have to be deducted over 40 years, and you get a pretty high tax rate. Mine is sometimes over 100% when you exclude income I can't touch. There's something really unsettling about having to take $30,000 out of my savings to pay a quarterly tax bill. Theoretically I have an asset out there, though the zoning law prevents me from moving my kids into the building should we run out of cash. ;)

Edited by SKL
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share


×
×
  • Create New...