Ft Lauderdale (Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood: homeowners insurance, incomes, rent)

[farve2driver91]

honestly why do some people make it seem like the place is so hard, I stayed there for a while and I didn't feel like i was in the ghetto, i felt like i was in a palace wit all those huge cinderella-like houses

[Wild Style]

what do you mean by "the place is so hard"

If you mean that its expensive well as it has been stated over and over again, the average income is 28,000 and rent is from 750 to 1000 a month. That is difficult in every since of the word rent/mortage is supposed to be a third to a quarter of your pay not half.

[chisoxfan]

If you mean "hard" in terms of crime, traffic, etc., this place isn't all that different from most big urban areas. Nice in some places, not so nice in others.

But if you're trying to make it here financially, that's been a different story here since about 2003. Most of those "palaces" are owned by people whose lifestyles aren't going to be crimped too much by skyrocketing homeowners insurance rates and taxes -- they might need to hold off on buying their next Mercedes or Jaguar for another year or so, but they'll be fine otherwise. For the rest of us, it's a challenge.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by Wild Style

the average income is 28,000

For the record, the average income is 69 thousand, and the PER CAPITA is 28 . The average wage is a pathetic 33k.

As far as crime, no it's not really the dirtiest, most dangerous city, actually it's relatively clean as far as U.S and Florida cities go, but go take a drive on Sistrunk, around Sunrise Blvd, some areas along 7th avenue, parts of Oakland Park, parts of Hollywood, Lauderdale Lakes, and basically the entire city west of Dixie Hwy and tell me that it's mostly "Cinderella houses". It's bad, as bad as anywhere, always been bad, and although some areas are getting better, for example I drove along Broward Blvd to Plantation from downtown today, and they tore down a lot of crap to build a decent sized business park, and it's fairly clean looking now compared to how it used to be (well within the past 15 years), most of these areas probably always will be bad. No, not the hardest city in the world, far from it,crime and blight get very exaggerated on this website in basically every Florida city (ESPECIALLY Lauderdale), but there are some parts you wouldn't catch me in broad daylight, let alone night. You also can't forget about violence in the schools, which cover all of Fort Lauderdale's high schools and many of the schools in the suburban areas. The county probably has five safe school districts. That's not good for a county of 1.8 million. It's not some "Cinderella" utopia.

[PBCboy]

Fort Lauderdale's crime rates are below both West Palm Beach's and Miami and the average income for the city is also higher than both.

[tallrick]

Perhaps the original poster was being sarcastic. I was not aware that Cinderella ever had her own house? She wore rags and sat in cinders. Definately seems like some parts of south Florida!

[Wild Style]

ECONOMY: #17 Residents in Labor Force 974,486 #18 Annual Unemployment Rate 3.1 #19 Number of Businesses (Firms) 56,087 #20 Number of Jobs in the County 652,609 #21 Median Household Income $46,673 #22 Median Family Income $55,151 #23 Per Capita Income $26,281 #24 Businesses and Employment Broward by Industry:
link

Per capita income means how much each individual receives, in monetary terms, of the yearly income that is generated in their country through productive activities.

link

The number that matters is the per capita income or better still the median income. This will tell you what each individual makes.

When you look at this information you then have to look at the cost of living in a given area and see how much you have (disposable income) after living expenses in a given area. As said before, these numbers mean nothing with out looking at the cost of living in a given area.

Would like to add the median family and household income means nothing to a single person living on their own. Household and family income is two or more individuals, but even then you have to look at the cost of living in a given area and then see what the disposable income is after living expenses are paid out.

[tallrick]

And to think, when I was growing up the family income was the same as the average wage because only one person needed to work.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by Wild Style

ECONOMY: #17 Residents in Labor Force 974,486 #18 Annual Unemployment Rate 3.1 #19 Number of Businesses (Firms) 56,087 #20 Number of Jobs in the County 652,609 #21 Median Household Income $46,673 #22 Median Family Income $55,151 #23 Per Capita Income $26,281 #24 Businesses and Employment Broward by Industry:
link

Per capita income means how much each individual receives, in monetary terms, of the yearly income that is generated in their country through productive activities.

link

The number that matters is the per capita income or better still the median income. This will tell you what each individual makes.

When you look at this information you then have to look at the cost of living in a given area and see how much you have (disposable income) after living expenses in a given area. As said before, these numbers mean nothing with out looking at the cost of living in a given area.

Would like to add the median family and household income means nothing to a single person living on their own. Household and family income is two or more individuals, but even then you have to look at the cost of living in a given area and then see what the disposable income is after living expenses are paid out.

But that's still not the average income. Thats the per capita income . I agree it's a good measurement, a better one than the mean, but that doesn't change the fact that the average(mean) income is actually 69 thousand. The best measurement to see how people are actually living is the median, because (unfortunately), most people do have more than one income earner in a household, and that the average income is close to useless.

Also, all of that data was based off of the 2005 community survey, not the 2006. For one thing, unemployment is up slightly, median incomes are up fairly signifigantly, the per capita is up slightly, and the cost of living skyrocketed, not keeping up with any of those factors. So yes, it can be tough to survive here, to say the least.

[eufo]

Originally Posted by farve2driver91

honestly why do some people make it seem like the place is so hard, I stayed there for a while and I didn't feel like i was in the ghetto, i felt like i was in a palace wit all those huge cinderella-like houses

Making blanket statements of an area is a sure way to be wrong. Not all of Ft. Lauderdale is "hard" and not all of Ft. Lauderdale has "huge cinderella-like houses". To deny either of them is just ignorant.