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The real problem isn't necessarily just the survey source for the data. The Census American Community Survey is pretty extensive as well.
The main problem that needs to be focused on (that many on these boards are not focusing on, because they are picking the numbers they just happen to like better) there are pros and cons with different measurements of incomes... and for that matter income distribution from place to place.
First there is subjectiveness in how the spatial area of a geography is defined. Depending on what areas that are and are not included around every city can affect the overall outcome.
The other issue if whether to used mean, median, and per capita. Each have their own failing points and each can overcome different problems. The other issue is whether to examine household income vs family income vs individual people.
In some extreme cases there can be a large difference in a cities median household income vs their per capita income.
Per capita is usually the last measure of income that is examined in most research projects. If you go to a city where families have more children on average than one that has far fewer (say an avg family is 3.6 vs. an avg of 3.0) it can cause a $12,000 swing in the difference between median household income and per capita income. The problem is per capita income isn't just measuring the wealth of the families, but also the differences in family choices between different regions.
Now a marketer for a department store chain deciding where to build and what the market area is like might pay more attention to per capita income, because when they look at the population of the market area... they need a more direct measure of the wealth in that population... aka obviously areas with more kids... have more people who aren't generating incomes. Even then, they usually examine median household incomes and examine the whole income distribution for an area.
So I find it problematic when so many people look at these numbers and often don't see or know of a difference between someone ranking per capita vs mhi vs something else. To the avg person it all sounds the same, but the results will vary greatly as you at different levels of measurement.
Personally in this case... I agree the Kiplinger's measurement is probably better. From what you originally stated... it seems as if they have calculated a cost of living adjustment... I would just want to see the fine details of how they decided to do that, but the premise of doing so makes sense.
For raw data without the cost of living adjust I would look at the 2009 5-year ACS estimates from the census.
Per capita would include agricultural workers (legal and illegal). You need to pull agriculture out and then compare, or there are figures by industry type.
That would make AZ look low next to non-agriculture states.
It would help a lot if cost of living was taken into account. Otherwise you can't just sit and compare these amounts to each other and think it's apples to apples.
San Francisco/Oakland and San Jose are very high, but so is the cost of living. Tell me something I don't already know. Yeah, cost of living factors greatly in quality of life, but I'd rather be poorer here than richer in a boring or ugly city with a bad climate. Big surprise for me was #16 Casper, WY. Much higher than I expected it would be.
The Casper area must have some very wealthy ranchers and they must affect the average income because the population is so low. I can't think of any other explanation. They certainly don't have a large population of yuppie corporate office workers...LOL!
Cost of living is a big factor. When you compare #25 Minneapolis/St. Paul metro to #27 San Diego metro, one should also realize that the COL in San Diego is much greater, too. Of course, a San Diego resident never has to worry about heavy snowfall, either. (Julian, a small community of 3,000 in the mountains about an hour to the northeast of SD, is the only town that sometimes gets it and if it usually melts away in less than two days).
There are many other similar examples on this list. People in Duluth making slightly more than people in Phoenix is also a surprise.
I'm not saying COL doesn't matter anymore but in certain areas and in certain ways it is becoming less of an issue. Many things are not directly affected by regional cost of living. Like purchasing things on the internet.
A person working in SF would have 77% more disposable income than someone would in Iowa working a comparable job. This higher amount of disposable income usually gets eaten away by increased prices in the area and we wind up on an even playing field. That's the purpose of the adjusted calculator. However what the calculator does not factor in are costs not associated with the area you are living in. For example, an xbox on amazon is going to cost someone living in SF the exact same amount of money it's going to cost someone living in Iowa. However it's going to eat up a higher % of the person in Iowa's disposable income.
- Do you believe Per Capita Income affects "Quality of Life"?
Yes
- Do you think taxes, housing costs, & expenses should also be considered here?
Yes
- What are your thoughts on how some metropolitan areas performed here?
The ones ranked towards the bottom are pretty well off, anybody can live comfortably in any American metro area unless if they have crazy spending habits.
No way that intellectual wasteland and poor mans litter basket Miami is that high. It's the second poorest major city behind Detroit both city and metro. Guess I shouldn't be surprised, this info is 5 years outdated.
Wish I could laugh at that city's mayors' face, probably thinks he's running a world class city. More like world class urinal.
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