Ann.without.an.e Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 http://www.familiesusa.org/resources/tools-for-advocates/guides/federal-poverty-guidelines.html I look at theses charts and I am always in awe of the figures. I don't know why. So it makes me wonder...where do you fall? This is a completely anonymous poll :D I am just curious. Humor me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann.without.an.e Posted April 16, 2013 Author Share Posted April 16, 2013 The chart came out whack-o so I edited to replace the chart with a link :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann.without.an.e Posted April 16, 2013 Author Share Posted April 16, 2013 Also, as a point of discussion...how can a poverty guideline be so "one size fits all"? The median income per household in my area is $40,000. The median income per worker is $26,000. What is the median income in your area? The average home price here is 120,000 I edited my original median income because I hadn't verified the figure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JuanitaL Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Median income in our area is $28,000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann.without.an.e Posted April 16, 2013 Author Share Posted April 16, 2013 Median income in our area is $28,000. Do you know the average home price in your area? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
butterflymommy Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 We live in a very HCOL area. A 3 BR home in a non-gang-ridden area and schools with high test scores is going to be at least 500k if not much more. I wish they would calculate these figures by area. A gallon of milk is almost $6 here... to cross a bridge is $15... and on and on and on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Median income in the state is $47,898. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann.without.an.e Posted April 16, 2013 Author Share Posted April 16, 2013 We live in a very HCOL area. A 3 BR home in a non-gang-ridden area and schools with high test scores is going to be at least 500k if not much more. I wish they would calculate these figures by area. A gallon of milk is almost $6 here... to cross a bridge is $15... and on and on and on. I have been thinking a lot about this lately. I wonder if it evens out with income though? The median income here for one worker is $26,000 or $40,000 per household. Do you know the median income for your area. You can usually google it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiniBlondes Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Where are you getting your median income and average home cost? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 I got it from the census bureau. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnIslandGirl Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 http://zipwho.com/ has demographic info by zip code. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 I checked the job dh had when we got married, and we lived right at the poverty line at 100%. We didn't know it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Excelsior! Academy Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Our area's median income is $57,181. The cost of living here is pretty low comparatively. A gallon of milk is around $3 and you can buy a 2500-3000 sq ft. home in a good neighborhood for $150-$200K. I am not smart enough to decipher the chart. What do the percentages mean? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomtoCandJ Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Median income for our area is $35,325. Dh and I are just under that. We are above 150% but below 200%. Average home value is 109,714 (ours is about 25% of that) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Median income here is $81,000. The cost of living in our zip code is high, but there are great affordable areas around us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Um_2_4 Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Is that pre tax or after tax income...?? That would change the answer a lot as we max out retirement options. Our area is HCOL, median income is $53K (in our zipcode, but we live in an suburb that is mostly professionals, etc. I just checked where we used to live that was in the "city" and median income was $39K). Houses in both areas for a 3bd would run from $300-$600, depends on sq ft and how much a piece of land you want. ETA: Ok, city-data says this: median income $74K, median single family home: $543K. THat sounds more likely in this area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 I pulled household income from city-data. It's the adjusted gross income. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Edited: Copied the numbers from US Census Bureau (factfinder2.census.gov) Median house price $620,800 (included condos all the way to single family homes) Household income $115,344 8,891 housing units Population 23,364 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edelweiss Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Median income in my town is $103,181. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momof3littles Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 The Federal Poverty level uses AGI for the PP who posted that question. We literally straddle 400%, which is what is going to make this crazy for us. My husband's co typically pays a modest bonus, raises are usually 6-10%, etc. but healthcare costs there kill us, as they are a small business. We've been making it work by purchasing our own higher ded. plan paired with an HSA. Our max OOP is still less than it would cost on the employer's plan, and we have yet to come close to our deductible. We have a pregnancy coverage exclusion, which makes the plan affordable to us. That won't be an option with the new regulations, and I suspect that once our policy has to cover maternity (along with mental health, preexisting, etc.), our individual plan will jump sharply. So basically if my spouse gets a bonus this year (expected), or gets a raise, we won't get any subsidy. We are fairly comfortable, but getting hit with a sharp increase, losing our currently affordable private policy, and having our overall OOP expenses jump sharply is going to hurt. And looking at the rates from VT and reading up on possible expected family rates, our premiums will likely be double (or more)what we pay now, with an even higher OOP max mostly likely. I agree that it is also somewhat crazy since COL really varies. I live in a higher COL area. Not as high as say SF, CA or NY, NY, but moderate to higher I suppose. Median home price in my zip is about 275K. Median household income for 2010 was 61K Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tammyla Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 I'm not sure about that chart, but voted where we fell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisbeth Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Median income in my town is around 90K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 I voted according to the chart but I have no idea what the percentages mean. Can anyone dumb it down enough for me to understand? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenC3 Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 My dh makes 3x's our areas avg income, but we bought a house that is exacly the median home price. I think we are over 400%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unicorn. Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Median income appx $58,000 median housing cost: $171 k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ameena Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 We are so far below the poverty level that poverty level looks RICH. But we still live fairly comfortable in large city in the USA. It's all in knowing how to live on less - we live on about $400 a month, including taxes. The house is paid for which helps a LOT. Yes things are often tight, but we make do. Median Income for my zip code is $33k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann.without.an.e Posted April 16, 2013 Author Share Posted April 16, 2013 We are so far below the poverty level that poverty level looks RICH. But we still live fairly comfortable in large city in the USA. It's all in knowing how to live on less - we live on about $400 a month, including taxes. The house is paid for which helps a LOT. Yes things are often tight, but we make do. Median Income for my zip code is $33k Wow, I am not going to ask how you live on $400 a month. Thank goodness your house is paid for! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JuanitaL Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Do you know the average home price in your area? According to google, average house price is $76,300. We moved to the area <2 years ago, I think I've seen some of the houses at that price. It's not like - here's a great house at a great price! More like - just keep driving, don't even write down that address. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Portland, Oregon Median home sales price in recent months is over $240,000. Median household income is over $50,000 and probably less than $55,000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tita Gidge Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Median income for my zip code in 2011 was "in excess of 194,000" for households and $176,259 for families. I don't know what is the difference between a defined family versus household. Median house cost in 2011 was $512,000. It's not a really high COLA, as far as county, region, or state IMO. I voted, but after I did I considered deleting my vote. My situation is somewhat different than the norm in that I live with other adult members of my family, and so we have more people to account for but we also have more resources to share between us. "Back home" the median income is $140,938/household and $163,375/family and the median house price is $914,000. It's a high COL area, and our money goes so much farther in the area we are now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 you really can't have a one-size-fits-all chart for income - as cost of living varies so much. Here, according to money magazine, the median income in my city is $105K in 2011/2012. we still have a very ethnically diverse population as the elementary school for our attendance area has 34 languages. median home price is $452K . those things don't include gas, food, insurance, or utilities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murphy101 Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Ugh. I voted wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 we still have a very ethnically diverse population as the elementary school for our attendance area has 34 languages. That is very diverse. How do you find out how many languages? I'm guessing it is less than 20 for our neighborhood K-8 school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FeFe Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Median household income - $87,133 Median house value - 295,900 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 That is very diverse. How do you find out how many languages? I'm guessing it is less than 20 for our neighborhood K-8 school. the post it - they want to brag about how many languages are spoken there. back when it was 17 languages - I moved my kids to a different school as it was also the worst in the district. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 we still have a very ethnically diverse population as the elementary school for our attendance area has 34 languages. There are about 300 languages spoken in London schools. Supposedly there were more languages spoken in the surrounding borough's schools than in the Olympic village. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlmiraGulch Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 The median household income in my zip code is $70,741. Interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 There are about 300 languages spoken in London schools. Supposedly there were more languages spoken in the surrounding borough's schools than in the Olympic village. Laura and how many of those are spoken in one school of <400 students age 5 -11? London is also a major world city. I live in a city of <130K people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocelotmom Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 I've occasionally considered asking for an un-raise at work. If I made slightly less, we'd be below 200%, and the kids would qualify for state healthcare. I'd actually be getting more take-home pay, and they'd have much better coverage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embassy Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 The median household income in my city is $71,393, but the median individual income is $27,788. I live in a city where over half the population are immigrants so many households have extended family members living together. However, an average 4 bedroom house costs about $525,000 and a 2 bedroom 900 square foot condo costs about $240,000. A bachelor apartment costs over $800 to rent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaxMom Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 State median income $72,419. Median home price $319,800 County median income $61,021. Median home value $232,600. Before the housing boom, the county had much lower figures, but professionals from other areas, priced out of their markets, moved over here, added income, and inflated the home prices by 3x. Well, and we have a lot of farms that exploded in land value during that time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ameena Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 I've occasionally considered asking for an un-raise at work. If I made slightly less, we'd be below 200%, and the kids would qualify for state healthcare. I'd actually be getting more take-home pay, and they'd have much better coverage. I know several people who did just this. Most either just asked if they could work a 4 or 4.5 day work week instead of 40hrs, and that was enough to put them under. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Element Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 My city's stats, from city-data.com: Estimated median household income in 2009: $44,893 (it was $36,397 in 2000) Estimated median house or condo value in 2009: $123,300 (it was $84,000 in 2000) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 I would think that just about everyone in our town would surpass the 400% figure. I don't think they could afford to live here on less than that. Our property taxes alone cost us more than the 100% number on the chart. And every single time I read threads like this, I keep wondering why we never move. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happymomofboys Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 I had to vote other because where we fall currently, if it is based on income alone, is vastly different from where we were last year, prior to my husband's unemployment, and where we hope to be by the time this year is through. In other words, right now it's up in the air. ETA: Median income for our area: $41,504 Median home value: $73, 295 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa in SC Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 Median income for our zip code is $49,054. I'm not going to list median home price because the number would be wonky due to the huge number of foreclosures on the market combined with new homes going up all over. There isn't really a "bad" area in our little town, but housing prices are literally all over the place. You could easily buy a small, three bedroom in a nice older part of town for $60,000 or you could go for a huge lakefront for a couple million dollars . Well, I couldn't, but they're available and selling. There are homes everywhere in between. Something for everyone I suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 Median income for our city is about $53,000. Median home prices are around $241,000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 Estimated median income - $50,000 Median house value (from sales in March) - about $140,000 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 and how many of those are spoken in one school of <400 students age 5 -11? London is also a major world city. I live in a city of <130K people. I understand - that's why I mentioned the borough that contains the Olympic village - a much smaller population. Newham has 100 languages spoken in local schools. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoughCollie Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 In the town near us, the median household income $31,955. 24.1% of the population is below the poverty level. Median house price is $86,800. Where I live, the population is only 2,044. Median household income is $34,965. Median house value is $144,049, but this is 100% rural and the houses have land, not tiny lots, and there are plenty of farms.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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