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I live in the Park Cities and my kid's in first grade. I have to say all this talk of HP residents being racist is kind of asinine. I should know. I'm not white and I'm from the East Coast.
It amazes me how friendly the kids are at my son's school. He almost embarrasses me by being an "aloof" New Yorker kid. Kids say "hi" to him and he doesn't reply because he says he doesn't know him/her. That NY attitude has got to go.
Anyways, the kids are great. Neighbors are friendly but not too friendly as everyone is very busy doing their thing. So you have to make an effort to get to know them if you are not a natural social butterfly. But strangers will wave on the streets and it's a very peaceful, green, idyllic place to raise kids.
The bad: you might not feel so great if you are not very comfortably middle class. Kids do get held back surprisingly frequently to keep the test scores up. So if both parents work long hours, have to clean their own homes and do all sorts of errands, they might not have enough time to get their kids reading at an acceptable level for the next grade. So be prepared for some uphill battle if your kid is not gifted and you haven't time to shore up his reading skills.
One odd thing I've noticed is that the kids put a weird kind of social pressure on one another and will home in on children who say "bad words" and get called out by teachers for being "naughty." They also seem to understand class at a very rudimentary level and will be averse to kids and parents who are heavily overweight. It is very odd as they don't understand why it is that they dislike fat people yet they do.
So, expect your kid to model good behavior if he wants to fit in at school (and he'll probably do that without much prodding on your part) and your entire family to be reasonably fit . Also, your kid might feel a little odd if he goes to after-school care instead of being picked up by a parent or baby-sitter when the bell rings. It's these odd details that might make a kid or a family feel different in HP.
But you needn't worry about racism or outright classism. Race just doesn't even seem to enter the picture.
The bad: you might not feel so great if you are not very comfortably middle class.
The median household income in Highland park is almost 4 times the national average, and between 4 and 5 times the average for the Dallas area. That is not middle class. This is part of the growing problem where everyone wants to consider themselves middle class. I love looking at my old econ textbook from a class in 92 published in 88. It defines middle class as between the national average and 1.5 times the national average, as the accepted definition. Somehow we have expanded that to include 1/2 the national average up to 5 times the national average.
Nothing wrong with being wealthy, nothing wrong with being below middle class either. I'm not a class warrior, and believe me, I'm not trying to say people in the Park Cities should be ashamed of or embarrassed by their wealth. I am not one of those people; however, it IS important to me that we use our terms correctly, and by any definition someone making 4 times the average income is not middle class, they are wealthy.
The median household income in Highland park is almost 4 times the national average, and between 4 and 5 times the average for the Dallas area. That is not middle class. This is part of the growing problem where everyone wants to consider themselves middle class. I love looking at my old econ textbook from a class in 92 published in 88. It defines middle class as between the national average and 1.5 times the national average, as the accepted definition. Somehow we have expanded that to include 1/2 the national average up to 5 times the national average.
Nothing wrong with being wealthy, nothing wrong with being below middle class either. I'm not a class warrior, and believe me, I'm not trying to say people in the Park Cities should be ashamed of or embarrassed by their wealth. I am not one of those people; however, it IS important to me that we use our terms correctly, and by any definition someone making 4 times the average income is not middle class, they are wealthy.
I don't want to put words in that poster's mouth, but I think he/she meant someone could feel uncomfortable if their income is below "average" ("middle") for the Park Cities, not on the national or city scale.
The numbers don't show it, but it's easy to feel "lower income" in the Park Cities when a $2.5M, 5,500sf "chateau" towers over your $650k 1,600sf "original" cottage. Or when you're skiing Angel Fire and your kid's classmates are off to the Alps. Feeling lower/middle/upper class is all relative to where you live and is unrelated to the national statistics. For instance, very few of my friends don't make 6-figures at this point. So that's my base point; not the city's average which is in the $30k range. I'm well aware we're considered "loaded" in some zip codes, but in mine we're average to a bit below average earners.
The median household income in Highland park is almost 4 times the national average, and between 4 and 5 times the average for the Dallas area. That is not middle class. This is part of the growing problem where everyone wants to consider themselves middle class. I love looking at my old econ textbook from a class in 92 published in 88. It defines middle class as between the national average and 1.5 times the national average, as the accepted definition. Somehow we have expanded that to include 1/2 the national average up to 5 times the national average.
Nothing wrong with being wealthy, nothing wrong with being below middle class either. I'm not a class warrior, and believe me, I'm not trying to say people in the Park Cities should be ashamed of or embarrassed by their wealth. I am not one of those people; however, it IS important to me that we use our terms correctly, and by any definition someone making 4 times the average income is not middle class, they are wealthy.
It's all relative. I once said folks in Park Cities lived hand to mouth on a higher plateau and was reprimanded. But many people here must work to maintain their lifestyle. They may make more than the average American but their cash flow is due to working. This is different from someone with an estate on Preston, whom if the never worked another day in their life, life would go on at the same level they're accustomed to.
Upper-middle class used to be the proper term. Middle class is a misnomer these days as well.
The Gaussian distribution is reset inside the Park Cities. When the average price for a home is $1M, $1M becomes the mean although in reality it's more the mode. Funny thing is while $1M is the average, there's not much below that mark and there's some but not a ton over it.
Outside of the people who treat the shops at HPV like it's a dollar store, most here are working stiffs in a higher income bracket, but working. Income is like climbing up a mountain. If you're low on the path you see the cloud line and think that's it. You get to the cloud line and realize the mountain is a whole lot taller with clearer site. There are people that give away to charity each year the equivalent to what the average house costs in HP. People that buy 2-3 cars that are the equivalent of a house here. And that may seem rich. Then there are people that want Law schools named after themselves, a million dollars isn't even a rounding error on their taxes.
I was at the Oregon-LSU game, they showed Phil Knight (CEO Nike) and Jerry Jones. Now Jerry is rich, richer than most. But Phil is a Titan of industry and could buy an sell Jerry several times over...it's all relative.
"Wake up, will ya, pal? If you're not inside, you're outside, okay? And I'm not talking a $400,000 a year working Wall Street stiff flying first class and being comfortable, I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player, or nothing." - Gordon Gekko
I could have saved TC and Ganon a whole bunch of time typing by quoting that icon of blue blood living, Christopher Wallace who said simply "Mo' money, Mo' problems"
I don't want to put words in that poster's mouth, but I think he/she meant someone could feel uncomfortable if their income is below "average" ("middle") for the Park Cities, not on the national or city scale.
The numbers don't show it, but it's easy to feel "lower income" in the Park Cities when a $2.5M, 5,500sf "chateau" towers over your $650k 1,600sf "original" cottage. Or when you're skiing Angel Fire and your kid's classmates are off to the Alps. Feeling lower/middle/upper class is all relative to where you live and is unrelated to the national statistics. For instance, very few of my friends don't make 6-figures at this point. So that's my base point; not the city's average which is in the $30k range. I'm well aware we're considered "loaded" in some zip codes, but in mine we're average to a bit below average earners.
I would say that if one is judging based upon their zip code, or in the case of HP 2 square miles in a metroplex of a few million, one has lost touch with reality. In that particular case I think the often derisively used term of "the bubble" used to describe Highland Park would be true. There is no objective standard - and income levels are perhaps the most objective standard there is - by which anyone living in the park cities is middle class, and that is just fine. We are not a society where everyone makes the same amount. We are not "from each according to his abilities to each according to needs," thank God.
I walked way from the corporate world when I was 24 and moving into "middle management" because I realized I was happier when I was unemployed and doing art. I consciously chose to live a life @ or below middle class levels, which is an economic decision I traded money for increased happiness, and free time. I have no quarrel with someone who finds happiness in a job that makes HP kind of money, or someone who trades one kind of happiness - free time - for another - higher income level. I do have a problem with describing that lifestyle as middle class. " Middle class" is not based on the average income or lifestyle within a 2 mile radius, or the average among one's friends. If this were the case then the terms Middle class, Upper class, wealthy etc would be meaningless.
Growing up my dad was an oil exec, a vp of one of the "seven sisters." Now even adjusted for inflation someone in his job today makes 5 times what he did back then, but he still did quite well. He went to great pains to ensure we knew that we were not middle class. Not out of arrogance or superiority, but so that we never thought of this as "normal" or had unrealistic expectations as we entered the world. I can remember him saying. "Anyone who makes 3-4 times the average income isn't upper middle class, they are middle upper class." His point being that making that placed them in the upper 15% or so of the US. And that wasn't the upper part of the middle, that was the middle part of the upper. Failing to remember that is a problem.
BTW TC80 that is not directed personally - can't stress that enough! I remember you and I having a very similar conversation once before where we were mostly in agreement. There is a big difference between saying one is average for one's zip code, and extrapolating from that to "middle class."
MacBeth- no harm! I totally get your point about "middle class" and still think the othe poster just used a bad term for Park Cities "average".
And yes, this country is crazy for thinking anyone making $35k-$250k is "middle class"! That's not the 25-75th percentiles; it's probably closer to the 40-98th percentiles!!
I would say that if one is judging based upon their zip code, or in the case of HP 2 square miles in a metroplex of a few million, one has lost touch with reality. In that particular case I think the often derisively used term of "the bubble" used to describe Highland Park would be true. There is no objective standard - and income levels are perhaps the most objective standard there is - by which anyone living in the park cities is middle class, and that is just fine. We are not a society where everyone makes the same amount. We are not "from each according to his abilities to each according to needs," thank God.
I walked way from the corporate world when I was 24 and moving into "middle management" because I realized I was happier when I was unemployed and doing art. I consciously chose to live a life @ or below middle class levels, which is an economic decision I traded money for increased happiness, and free time. I have no quarrel with someone who finds happiness in a job that makes HP kind of money, or someone who trades one kind of happiness - free time - for another - higher income level. I do have a problem with describing that lifestyle as middle class. " Middle class" is not based on the average income or lifestyle within a 2 mile radius, or the average among one's friends. If this were the case then the terms Middle class, Upper class, wealthy etc would be meaningless.
Growing up my dad was an oil exec, a vp of one of the "seven sisters." Now even adjusted for inflation someone in his job today makes 5 times what he did back then, but he still did quite well. He went to great pains to ensure we knew that we were not middle class. Not out of arrogance or superiority, but so that we never thought of this as "normal" or had unrealistic expectations as we entered the world. I can remember him saying. "Anyone who makes 3-4 times the average income isn't upper middle class, they are middle upper class." His point being that making that placed them in the upper 15% or so of the US. And that wasn't the upper part of the middle, that was the middle part of the upper. Failing to remember that is a problem.
BTW TC80 that is not directed personally - can't stress that enough! I remember you and I having a very similar conversation once before where we were mostly in agreement. There is a big difference between saying one is average for one's zip code, and extrapolating from that to "middle class."
Using census data a six-figure income puts you at the 94th percentile of income in the country. 30k at the 50th. Of course the values are skewed to the right by the extreme wealth of the top 1%, which basically means those in the middle make less than what's calculated.
So the middle class encompasses such a wide breadth in this country. There is the true upper class which is really an oligarchy and folks that make alot of money. If you need to work to pay the bills, I wouldn't call you upper-class, but well-off instead.
My daughter knows she's lucky to be in the position she is. But it's her parents position, not hers. The life she is afforded is because of our hard work and sacrifices. There is nothing for her to ever be ashamed of for living where she lives. However, after college, her life is all up to her. Poetry degree? Go for up, blessings with both hands, but don't expect to live in a Dupont Circle townhome.
So while many in HP may be 4,5, 10x the national average. It's nothing compared to those who measure their net worth in the tens of millions or billions. There is a massive drop-off from upper class to everyone else.
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