If suburbs are "keeping up with the Jones", then the city is (Chicago: condo)

[jman07]

...Dominating the Jones's? Or is the focus more on how much you make rather than what you have?

[emathias]

Originally Posted by jman07

...Dominating the Jones's? Or is the focus more on how much you make rather than what you have?

Most of the city people I know compete against themselves, not so much against their neighbor.

To the extent people compete against each other, I'd say it's not about what you own, or even what you earn, but what you've accomplished. If you do something that only really makes you enough to live on but is really cool and/or interesting, that will trump some high-income lawyer any day of the week, no matter how cool his condo or fancy her car.

[Irishtom29]

Well I don't agree with the premise that suburbs are about keeping up with Jones anyway. And in the city different neighborhoods have different values. Generalizations are impossible. And in any event few will admit to wanting to keep up with the Joneses or living in a neighborhood where that's important. It's always the other guy and his neighborhood.

[Jandur]

Totally depends on the neighborhood. That being said, there is tons of data/research that says people in urban areas are more productive than suburban areas. So in that light, it's more competitive, and there is more to obtain.

[Larry Siegel]

Originally Posted by jman07

...Dominating the Jones's? Or is the focus more on how much you make rather than what you have?

Yes, we suburbanites, all 7 million of us, have exactly the same values and aspirations. Just kidding. We don't.

[lenniel]

This is silly. Most Chicago neighborhoods are so diverse, block to block (income wise, maybe not racially) that it's not like some Naperville subdivision where everyone has 4,000 square feet of home on 1/2 acre.

On my street, you have million dollar homes, city employees, docs, lawyers, a SWAT team member, etc and I live in arguably one of the hottest hoods in the city.

My point is, there are very few places in the city where an entire street/block is all the same and neighbors trying to keep up with eachother.