{"id":457,"date":"2023-12-04T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-04T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/the-feeling-bad-for-the-joneses-economy\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T18:53:56","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T18:53:56","slug":"the-feeling-bad-for-the-joneses-economy","status":"publish","type":"essays","link":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/the-feeling-bad-for-the-joneses-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cFeeling Bad for the Joneses\u201d Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

We recently conducted a survey<\/span><\/a> with the Money with Katie audience on Instagram, and the results shocked us. We had asked for a handful of economic data points, like age, location, what people spend money on, and how much their household earns. I\u2019m not sure what we were expecting to hear, but it wasn\u2019t this:<\/p>\n

The median income for married couples in our data set was $217,000; the median for single earners was $119,000.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

After we reviewed the results, we got on a call. \u201cWait,\u201d one of our team members said, trailing off. \u201cAre our readers\u2026rich?\u201d Well, it certainly appears that way for those who took the time to fill out the survey, huh?!<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of selection bias at play, of course: This is an audience that seeks out personal finance advice, has the disposable time to fill out a survey about their money, and probably felt comfortable enough with sharing their data because they were proud of it. <\/p>\n

Still, it made me curious enough to go poking around for data that could help me make sense of the gaping disparity between the widely reported \u201cmedian income\u201d numbers and what I was seeing within our community.<\/p>\n

Pitying the Joneses<\/h2>\n

Part of the reason the results were surprising in our #CurrentEconomicEnvironment is because the general consensus across society right now is that\u2026well, the struggle is real<\/span><\/a>. Every three years, the Federal Reserve tries to understand the economic wellbeing of consumers. They ask how they\u2019re feeling about their own finances, as well as about the state of the economy as a whole. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the weird thing: When asked how they think everyone else is doing, survey respondents were quick to tell<\/span><\/a> the Fed that the economy is trash. But when asked about their own<\/em> financial situation, they felt decidedly rosier<\/span><\/a>. The last time people felt this \u201cokay\u201d about their own finances, the number of people rating the national economy as \u201cgood or excellent\u201d was more than twice as high:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"

Federal Reserve (2023)<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

Rather than keeping up with the Joneses<\/em>\u2014admiring their shiny new Buick Lacrosse and spending our way into oblivion to win a material arms race\u2014we feel bad for the Joneses<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
>
\n \u201c<\/span>In short, everyone thinks the economy sucks\u2026for everyone else.\u201d<\/span>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

In short, everyone thinks the economy sucks\u2026for everyone else.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s substantial evidence that people don\u2019t<\/em> feel that they personally are doing badly. Both surveys and consumer behavior suggest, on the contrary, that while most Americans feel that they\u2019re doing OK, they believe that the economy<\/em> is doing badly, where \u2018the economy\u2019 presumably means other people,\u201d Paul Krugman wrote for the New York Times.<\/p>\n

Is bad data obscuring a rosier income picture?<\/h2>\n

The oft-quoted statistic for median family income in the US is somewhere in the $75,000<\/span><\/a> range. This is, obviously, troubling. It\u2019s hard to see how anyone<\/em> could afford to live a decent lifestyle (and still afford to save for the future) anywhere besides low-cost-of-living meccas, like Harlingen, Texas<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

If nothing else, it certainly paints a bleak picture for laborers today. But this number is slightly misleading, because it includes elderly adults living on a fixed income (like Social Security) who are no longer working. <\/p>\n

Perhaps unsurprisingly, things look much more encouraging when we exclude retired people. For example, in 2021, the median family income in households with two full-time earners was $130,000<\/span><\/a> (*1)<\/em>. [The median for a household with only one individual working full-time was $86,500. (*2<\/em>)]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
>
\n \u201c<\/span>Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.\u201d<\/span>
\n <\/blockquote>
— Quote Source<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

In San Jose, California, the median household income for families with two full-time earners was $261,000. Not one of the largest 100 metro areas had a median household income below $100,000 when both individuals worked full-time.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t to belittle the economic challenges that the average American family faces. I\u2019m aware of the obvious pushback here: the rising costs of housing, healthcare, education. I\u2019ve covered<\/span><\/a> all<\/span><\/a> of<\/span><\/a> these<\/span><\/a> topics<\/span><\/a> extensively on this site and elsewhere. Like I said: It\u2019s not that we don\u2019t have problems. But the income side of the labor equation is broadly underestimated, which might explain why 82% of Americans think the economy is bad. <\/p>\n

Our own survey results fit comfortably within this data set, if slightly above average (they\u2019d land in the top 25% of the medians listed). Of course, these are still averages and medians\u2014which means, by definition, roughly half of people earn less than these figures. Regardless, it was nice to experience a jolt of optimism about how much people are earning. <\/p>\n

After all, three in four Americans<\/span><\/a> told the Federal Reserve they were doing \u201cat least OK\u201d financially at the end of 2022, consumer spending is still strong<\/span><\/a>, and inflation is down to 3.2%<\/span><\/a>.  <\/p>\n

While it\u2019s important not to project our own comfort on others, the data suggests the Joneses are doing just fine. <\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

1: This figure was for Grand Rapids, Michigan. The data set, which draws from the IPUMS US Census data, includes median family incomes for the 100 largest metro areas, and Grand Rapids, MI, at $130,000, was smack dab in the middle.<\/em><\/p>\n

2: This figure was for Milwaukee, Wisconsin.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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