Marin Most Shopaholic County in the US (Los Angeles, San Francisco: real estate, how much)

[18Montclair]

Hey Big Spender!: MapInfo found that folks in Marin County, California were most likely to open their wallets wide, leading the nation with the highest average household expenditure. Big shoppers in the Bay Area are well represented with San Mateo ranking fourth and Santa Clara ranking ninth. New Jersey, home to more malls per square mile than any other state, also topped the list with Morris and Somerset Counties ranking fifth and sixth. Below is the full list of the top 10 spending counties.

Most Shopaholic Counties, 2007
1 MARIN, CA
2 FAIRFIELD, CT
3 FAIRFAX, VA
4 SAN MATEO, CA
5 MORRIS, NJ
6 SOMERSET, NJ
7 WESTCHESTER, NY
8 SUMMIT, UT
9 SANTA CLARA, CA
10 NASSAU, NY

MapInfo Uncovers the Biggest Shopaholics

[Desertho]

I scratch my head then why Los Angeles and Orange Counties get lip from Bay Area people for being 'materialistic'.

[18Montclair]

Maybe its the idea of living beyond your means. Marin is pretty wealthy and apparently they spend a lot but its not nearly as showy as Southern OC...eek

In fact, being a Marinite myself, I only shop for clothes at Thrift Stores cause their retro looks are to-die-for and I dont see the point in dropping big bucks on clothes. Maybe I'll buy new clothes for work or dressier occasions but even then, I look for deals.

[Luke9686]

Sounds about right. I went home this past weekend (Iowa) and people look different there. There aren't all the BMW's, Prada handbags and such.

[sonarrat]

There is a limit.. remember what happened with the Fashion Island mall in Foster City.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

There is a limit.. remember what happened with the Fashion Island mall in Foster City.

I think our biggest(and only) mall is in Corte Madera..I suppose business is good-always seems brisk when I go, which is rare.

[tabithaP]

Originally Posted by Desertho

I scratch my head then why Los Angeles and Orange Counties get lip from Bay Area people for being 'materialistic'.

All the plastic surgery?

With all the shopping Britney does everyday I am really puzzled how LA did not make the list.

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

I think our biggest(and only) mall is in Corte Madera..I suppose business is good-always seems brisk when I go, which is rare.

Yeah, in San Mateo County the big thing is "downtown" shopping centers.. University Avenue in Palo Alto, the Broadways in Redwood City, Burlingame, and Millbrae, and I think San Carlos Avenue.

[WannaBNorCal]

Originally Posted by Desertho

I scratch my head then why Los Angeles and Orange Counties get lip from Bay Area people for being 'materialistic'.

You got it---material - istic alright, the material silicone.... 'tabitha' hit it--plastic surgery capital of the world here in OC. I like that word Marinite, as far as BMW's, aren't those the B-asic M-arin W-heels?
Corte Madera's mall on both sides of the 101 are really nice.
I really think that sometimes people in OC, including myself, just spend beyond our means, because irresponsibility, unaccountability, and impulsiveness seems to be wiggling its way around here.
18Montclair - your research is wonderful - thanks!

[Desertho]

Oh, here's an answer to why Bay Area people are such spendthrifts. They're greedy:



Bay Area wealthy are less giving
Study finds affluent of L.A. donate nearly twice as much

George Raine, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Bay Area wealthy are less giving / Study finds affluent of L.A. donate nearly twice as much

Los Angelenos are the most generous people in California when it comes to giving to charities.

Affluent people in the Southern California metropolis gave almost twice as much as their counterparts in the Bay Area and other parts of the state in 2004, according to a new report.

The study was conducted by the San Francisco philanthropic research organization NewTithing Group, based on 2004 tax data, the most recent available. It found that of Californians earning $200,000 or more, the median income tax filer in Los Angeles County gave most generously, donating nearly $5,000. That was roughly 1 percent of the median filer's investment asset wealth.

By contrast, the median affluent tax filer in the Bay Area, excluding Silicon Valley, gave $3,536, which represented roughly 0.5 percent of that filer's $680,774 in investment wealth.

Median giving as a percentage of investment assets for tax filers in Silicon Valley was a bit lower than in the rest of the Bay Area, but also roughly 0.5 percent. Affluent tax filers in Silicon Valley had a median of about $600,000 in investment assets and median charitable contributions of $2,800.

The Bay Area and Silicon Valley did better when the average giving rather than median was considered, with the valley coming out ahead of the rest of the state. The study said that was due to the extraordinary generosity of a small number of donors, which skewed the average.

Statewide, the median affluent Californian donated $3,900, or almost 0.7 percent of investment assets, the study found.

NewTithing mined data from the California Franchise Tax Board, said Tim Stone, its president and executive director. In calculating the value of investment assets, the study included securities and private investments, but not investment real estate, personal homes or retirement pensions.

The organization advocates that, when deciding how much to give to charity, people consider their assets in stocks, bonds and other investments, not simply their income.

Dr. Sandra Hernández, chief executive of the San Francisco Foundation, a community philanthropy organization, noted that NewTithing Group's criteria did not truly measure wealth, since many people in the Bay Area have substantial equity in their homes and other real estate. "Real estate is not captured in this one indicator,'' she said.

Stone responded that not counting personal homes or investment real estate "increases the conservatism of our estimates of giving wherewithal.''

Hernández said Bay Area people have been very generous in 2006.

The San Francisco Foundation has taken in about $66 million so far this year, which is a 108 percent increase over 2005, said Hernández.

She said that the differences in giving that NewTithing Group found in regions of the state may be a reflection of comparatively "younger wealth and newer wealth'' in the Bay Area.

"It's very different compared with people who have longtime wealth and who have been giving to organizations over decades,'' she said.

The young and newly wealthy -- including many enriched by the region's technology and biotech sectors -- are "evolving and giving their time to nonprofits, and their philanthropic practices are growing,'' Hernández said. "They are really trying to develop their philanthropic legacies.''

Emmett Carson, the newly named CEO and president of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a philanthropic clearinghouse with more than $1.5 billion in assets under management, said the state's divide in charitable giving poses "a tremendous upside opportunity.''

"We have not nearly tapped the potential to make this community all that it can be for everyone,'' Carson said "This is a relatively new or young community of people who have come from all over and who do not yet share a sense of space and place. As we build at sense of space and place, people will invest time, talent and treasure.''