Talk:Six figure income

Six figure income; a status symbol?

Is a 6 figure income still seen as a great status symbol? 100,000 Canadian dollars is only £48,000, and even 100,000 US Dollars is just £54,300. By way of comparison, 3 years ago the average income in London was £46,288 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/inside_money/3132575.stm), with wage inflation of 4% that's £52,000 today (2006). Perhaps it's time to rename this entry to Seven Figure Income? Markb 10:00, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

US dollars a six fgiure salary is still a status symbol. Only 15% of households have incomes exceeding $100k, and that's households with a mean of two income earners! Only few Americans earned six figure salaries by themselves. Please try not to convert currencies, a millionaire in the US, measured in USD wouldn't be millionaire in Great Brtian, measured in Pounds, either and I doubt that London's population is that wealthy. For instance, the median household income of Beverly Hills is $75,000 a year, less than that of the city of London- the entire city? I do understand your point, but six figure incomes, espcially individual incomes, are still relatively rare at least according to 2005 Census data gathered US-wide (See the tables in the Household income in the United States article). FYI: If you have time for a pet project relating to status symbols look at the status symbol article, which truly is a mess. -and thanks for the interseting BBC published data. Signature^brendel 14:55, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

I've given you a reference about the average household income in London, and it exceeds the £40,800 you quote for Beverly hills. Why shouldn't I convert currencies - more people, for example are paid in euros than in US dollars. Markb 06:56, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Becuase even though a Euro may be currently 30% worth more than a dollar, in a month it might only be 10% more than a dollar. So does a Euro actually loose pucharsing power inside Europe? In other words, the currency exchange rate does not always despict the actual domestic buying power- do 75USD in BV really buy less there than 46k Pounds do in London? BTW: I don't doubt that London is very wealthy, as far as big cities go, but I doubt that London's average income is higher than that of nearly 85% of all American households- nearly double the American median household income! Signature^brendel 03:42, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

The latest government statistics (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=285), give an average London wage of £29,000 - so for a two-worker household that's £58,000 per annum. Given the continual rise in house-prices, and that most mortgage companies lend up to three times joint-income, I'm not surprised. I take your point about the 'worth' of money in different countries & that 10 Euro will probably buy more in the USA than in Europe. As to Londoners earning more than 85% of the US, I don't see why this should be so surprising , London is an exceptional place within in Europe, let alone the UK. Given the above, maybe a six-figure income is still considered notable in the US, but the sterling equivalent in the UK is not. Markb 11:02, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, that is indeed very plausable, a six-figure income may be more of a status symbol in the US while "the sterling equivalent in the UK is not." Often status symbols also change from place to place. A salary of $80k might be a status symbol in Witchita, Kansas whereas it would certaintly not be one in say, Manhattan or London for that matter. Signature^brendel 18:17, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

I should also mention that most household in the US that have six-figure incomes, only have them because they also have two income earners. Best Regards, Signature^brendelNow under review! 21:00, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Double numbers

Left a similar note on the Household Income article. Why are two years given for the data. Are they averages? Cheers, AlpineNevada

No they arn't. Some of the data in the graph is from 2004 and other data is from 2005. Regards, Signature^brendel 07:11, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

This graphic is useless.

The percentage of households and individuals over the age of 25 with incomes exceeding $100,000 in the US.

This graphic is useless. It doesn't show you anything save that there are about three times as many households with 6-figure incomes as there are individuals, and that's really a kind of useless thing to show. Give me a pie chart or something that can actually compare the 15.8% figure and 5.63% figure to the rest of the country! -Fennec (はさばくのきつね) 20:39, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

How is this chart useless??? It clearly shows the percentage of individuals and household w/ six figure incmes- information that people are most certainly looking for when googleing "six figure income." I also don't quite understand what type of pie chart you are proposing. The percentages are very clear in their meaning. 5.63% of people made $100,000 or more; 94.37% did not. A pie chart would make things more complicated as we need to mention the household and personal income percentage in two seperate greaphs. That said, I of course open to suggestions. I do, however, think of that fact that three times as many households as individuals have six figure incomes is worth knowing! Then again that's a non-factual issue and I suppose there is enough room for a second graph if you have good suggestion. Signature^brendel 00:25, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Take off the numbers from the axis and the top of the bars. Look at the bars. The bars themselves fail to communicate anything. If you need the numerical labels to give people any idea of what's going on, the graph has failed; you could replace it with a table (and that would be easier to read, too). No good. Show me how this 16% relates to 100%. Make the height of the bar (or the slice of the pie) mean something. That will show me something better than the number will.

Note to self. Why doesn't Wikipedia have built-in chart generation yet? :) -Fennec (はさばくのきつね) 05:31, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the suggestion. You gave me an idea for a new graph-now that I understand what it is your suggesting. The graph you pointed to above does does serve one purpose, the difference between the percentage of households and persons w/ six figure incomes. The new graph combines both sets of info and relates them to the overall population. I also included data for the $75k treshold so I can use the graph on other articles as well. BTW: If you come up w/ WP built-in chart generator, I'll be the first to give you a barnstar ;-) Signature^brendel 05:47, 11 February 2007 (UTC)