Quote:
Originally Posted by karfar
I find this thread strange & a little smug. Do people actually hang out in areas based on what they feel is a certain income level? I hang out on Brady St. & also in Bayview. I don't go to certain places hoping to find wealthy people there, I go because I like the atmosphere. Same w/living in certain areas.
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I agree that income level isn't necessarily a big factor when people choose a place to live or hang out, but some things indirectly connected to income level--educational level, cultural interests, age, etc.--are often important to people.
With regard to residence and some activities, in general, people tend to cluster in ways that shows some uniformity or limited range of income level. Indebted students cluster near UWM, high-paid professionals cluster along the Lake Drive corridor, high-income managers cluster in places like River Hills and Mequon where large estates are abundant, middle class professionals find the houses in Glendale affordable, working class people find parts of the southside convenient and affordable, etc.
There are exceptions, of course. Stanley and Danko's book "The Millionaire Next Door" shows that many millionaires live in very average neighborhoods where "keeping up with the Joneses" is not so important. In Mke, you'll find high-income earners all over the place, though many will be concentrated in upscale areas. You'll also find some living below the poverty line in Mequon and Whitefish Bay and Brookfield.
It seems to me that the higher income earners more consciously look for exclusive venues where other high-income earners will congregate: country clubs, sailing clubs, certain churches and synagogues, etc. I see less socio-economic exclusivity among the middle- and low-income earners, but it probably exists in certain ways. For example, Target is seen as an "upscale Walmart" (and Walmart itself is considered more middle class than Dollar General), but it isn't all that highfalutin'.
Exclusivity via residence, as I noted, is pretty obvious by community, neighborhood, and zip code (real estate prices and the housing market say it all), but there are clearly cases of people buying into higher end neighborhoods yet cannot really afford the mortgage. Another socio-econ filter are apartments and condos--more expensive places get higher-income earners, but with regard to condos, it's the association fees. At least a couple of condos in the Mke area have monthly condo dues in excess of $750!
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