[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by hvexpatinct

It's not, because inequity hits FFC hard. In the midst of all of the high income suburbs you have Bridgeport and it's median HHI of $44K. The counties that rank near the top of the list, many of which are in MD, VA, and NJ, have much more uniform wealth distribution.

Exactly. The counties in VA are uniformly upper middle class and do not have the extreme wealth and poverty seen in Connecticut. This state, specifically FFC, has statistically the biggest wealth gap in the nation.

Tolland County, much more uniformly upper middle class than Fairfield, has a higher median HHI.

[BobNJ1960]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Exactly. The counties in VA are uniformly upper middle class and do not have the extreme wealth and poverty seen in Connecticut. This state, specifically FFC, has statistically the biggest wealth gap in the nation.

Tolland County, much more uniformly upper middle class than Fairfield, has a higher median HHI.

https://ctmirror.org/2018/05/29/alre...wealth-income/

[markfromct]

Originally Posted by BobNJ1960

https://ctmirror.org/2018/05/29/alre...wealth-income/

Great article. Thanks.

[LMPA]

The World Population Review has released 2018 State population/growth estimates. Will be interesting to see if US Census numbers that come out next month are similar.

http://worldpopulationreview.com/states/

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Exactly. The counties in VA are uniformly upper middle class and do not have the extreme wealth and poverty seen in Connecticut. This state, specifically FFC, has statistically the biggest wealth gap in the nation.

Tolland County, much more uniformly upper middle class than Fairfield, has a higher median HHI.

Connecticut is #3 for percentage of 1%ers in the population and FFC is #10 for counties. Anywhere with that kind of wealth at the top is going to have an enormous wealth gap. "Biggest" kind of depends on how you slice & dice the numbers. County is a very artificial way of slicing and dicing. State isn't a very good way of looking at it, either. Metro area is more representative of the issue.



The places that carry the rest of the country are the MSAs with a high percentage of 5%ers. San Francisco, San Jose/Silicon Valley, NYC tri-state, DC, Boston, LA, San Diego. It's where college educated white collar professionals cluster. You have huge wealth and income stratification in all those places. An unskilled job is going to look dirt poor in any of those places.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Connecticut is #3 for percentage of 1%ers in the population and FFC is #10 for counties. Anywhere with that kind of wealth at the top is going to have an enormous wealth gap. "Biggest" kind of depends on how you slice & dice the numbers. County is a very artificial way of slicing and dicing. State isn't a very good way of looking at it, either. Metro area is more representative of the issue.



The places that carry the rest of the country are the MSAs with a high percentage of 5%ers. San Francisco, San Jose/Silicon Valley, NYC tri-state, DC, Boston, LA, San Diego. It's where college educated white collar professionals cluster. You have huge wealth and income stratification in all those places. An unskilled job is going to look dirt poor in any of those places.

The Norwalk/Stamford Metro consists of FFC - so in this case, it is exactly the same.

[BobNJ1960]

Originally Posted by markfromct

Great article. Thanks.

We need to stop talking about mean income, and focus on median, as well as the year-year changes in the various tiers of the 99%ers.

Like most states with high mean incomes, we have been decimated by the 1%ers, who have crushed much of the 99%, while many of the 99% brag abut the success of the 1%, as if it makes the plight of the 99% a good thing.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by BobNJ1960

We need to stop talking about mean income, and focus on median, as well as the year-year changes in the various tiers of the 99%ers.

Like most states with high mean incomes, we have been decimated by the 1%ers, who have crushed much of the 99%, while many of the 99% brag abut the success of the 1%, as if it makes the plight of the 99% a good thing.

I think it's more useful to look at upper middle class rather than the top 0.1% or the median. 90th percentile nationally for household income is now $178.7K. That's a pretty good approximation of the cutoff for upper middle class though you have to COL-adjust it since it spends differently in Arkansas compared to NYC tri-state. About 25% of Fairfield County households make that. That's what college educated professional enclaves look like around the country. Those people are doing really well. They are capable of critical thought and get paid well for it. That's the group driving the economy. The typical median person doesn't have those job skills and isn't enjoying the compensation boost from having in-demand job skills.


It's tough because to get to that top-10%, you have to have the good fortune to be born intelligent and your odds are much better if you have good parents. It's why socioeconomic class mobility is so awful in the US. If you're born to the top-20%, you probably have good parents and your odds are higher that you lucked out in the gene pool with above average intelligence.

[BobNJ1960]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

I think it's more useful to look at upper middle class rather than the top 0.1% or the median. 90th percentile nationally for household income is now $178.7K. That's a pretty good approximation of the cutoff for upper middle class though you have to COL-adjust it since it spends differently in Arkansas compared to NYC tri-state. About 25% of Fairfield County households make that. That's what college educated professional enclaves look like around the country. Those people are doing really well. They are capable of critical thought and get paid well for it. That's the group driving the economy. The typical median person doesn't have those job skills and isn't enjoying the compensation boost from having in-demand job skills.


It's tough because to get to that top-10%, you have to have the good fortune to be born intelligent and your odds are much better if you have good parents. It's why socioeconomic class mobility is so awful in the US. If you're born to the top-20%, you probably have good parents and your odds are higher that you lucked out in the gene pool with above average intelligence.

In essence what your post infers, and I tend to agree with, is Ct is no longer a solid long term choice for those not in the top 10%. Judging by state-state migration losses Ct has suffered, it is an opinion shared by tens of thousands of Ct residents.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by BobNJ1960

In essence what your post infers, and I tend to agree with, is Ct is no longer a solid long term choice for those not in the top 10%. Judging by state-state migration losses Ct has suffered, it is an opinion shared by tens of thousands of Ct residents.

And yet the statistics prove the opposite. Jay