Maricopa County: 3rd most millionaire households in the U.S. (Phoenix: low income, condo)

[joninaz]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

It's not misleading because it's not about comparing square miles but about population. Take the same thing you just said...taking a grid and laying it over the NYC area and then compare that population to that of Maricopa County.

Nope.

The original post shows the number of households in Maricopa above a certain income: 126,394

It has nothing to do with ratios - but is a raw count of households achieving a certain threshold within a wildly inconsistent geographical boundary that changes for each market.

In any area, if you exapnd the borders of the sample, you are likely to add to that number of households that fall within it.

In the Phoenix area, from PV & Scottsdale to Glendale and Gilbert, most people live in the county of Maricopa, despite the city. In the Denver metro area, on the other hand, one can live in Denver, Arapaho, Jefferson, Douglas, Adams and on the fringes of a few other counties but still be part of the metro area.

Even if you drew a 10 mile circle around NYC, you'd find a heck of a lot more households with incomes equal to or above that which our 126,000 achieved. However these folks live in 10 or 20 different counties rather than one big one, so they don't show up on this survey.

[James Brown]

Sweet

[ZonyPony]

Maricopa County: 3rd most millionaire households in the U.S.


The exact same county where the 3rd Ugliest House in America was selected!

[uconn99]

Per capita, Maricopa would not be in the top 10, possibly top 25. The average per capita income in the Phoenix Metro area is quite low. I think that is a better way to guage area wealth.

Phoenix ranked 59th in per capita income for Metro areas.



1 San Francisco--Oakland--San Jose, CA CMSA $63,024
2 Washington--Baltimore, DC--MD--VA--WV CMSA $57,291
3 Anchorage, AK MSA $55,546
4 Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN--WI MSA $54,304
5 Boston--Worcester--Lawrence, MA--NH--ME--CT CMS $52,792
6 Hartford, CT MSA $52,188
7 Atlanta, GA MSA $51,948
8 Honolulu, HI MSA $51,914
9 Rochester, MN MSA $51,316
10 Denver--Boulder--Greeley, CO CMSA $51,088
11 Chicago--Gary--Kenosha, IL--IN--WI CMSA $51,046
12 New York--Northern New Jersey--Long Island, NY--NJ--CT--PA CMSA $50,795
13 Seattle--Tacoma--Bellevue, WA CMSA $50,733
14 New London--Norwich, CT--RI MSA $49,283
15 Madison, WI MSA $49,223

[Kentstate57]

I'm curious how do they gain this information?
There are many with major money in the Sun Cities who brought it here from elsewhere.
As stated earlier, anyone with a decent 401K is probably one. My brother paid in the maximum allowed, which his employer matched. Bingo. With inflation, it is not a big deal anymore.
.

[MaikeerinWA]

Agreed. Whether we're talking about wealth or income, a per capita measure is the only thing that make sense.

Originally Posted by uconn99

Per capita, Maricopa would not be in the top 10, possibly top 25. The average per capita income in the Phoenix Metro area is quite low. I think that is a better way to guage area wealth.

[fcorrales80]

Originally Posted by MichaelinWA

Agreed. Whether we're talking about wealth or income, a per capita measure is the only thing that make sense.

Per capita income does not make much sense since it divides income by the entire population...including children, the retired, and those that claim taxes in other states (2nd home owners...aka snowbirds and seasonal residents). All of these categories have much higher numbers in Phoenix in comparison to all those cities and metro areas listed on this thread. What makes more sense is a median income which is representative of what the average WORKING person makes in the MSA (metropolitan statistical area)...in which Phoenix is one of the highest. Here is some info. on the matter and a comparison of cost of living in other cities as compared to Phoenix. The average cost of housing in other cities is immense compared to Phoenix.

$46,480
Median household income for New York. The national median was $48,451.
$496,400
Median home value of owner-occupied homes in New York. The national median was $185,200

$47,974
Median household income for Boston. This is not significantly different from the national median of $48,451.
$432,800 Median value of owner-occupied homes in Boston. The national median was $185,200.

$47,265
Median household income for Arizona. In the Phoenix metro area, the median was $51,862, and in Glendale, it was $48,455. The national median was $48,451. (Glendale was not significantly different from the national median.)
$236,500
Median value of owner-occupied homes in Arizona. The respective medians in the Phoenix metro area and Glendale were $266,300 and $243,900. The national median was $185,200.

I can keep posting comparisons of cities but it all looks the same. The cost of living in Phoenix is low compared to most cities its size and the wages are higher than most cities as well.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by fcorrales80

I can keep posting comparisons of cities but it all looks the same. The cost of living in Phoenix is low compared to most cities its size and the wages are higher than most cities as well.

Actually the cost of living isn't as low as it used to be. When you factor in homeowners who prefer grass lawns over rock yards, the water bills are getting to be pretty outrageous. Also, auto insurance and car registration fees are higher on average than the rest of the nation. I won't even get into how expensive the summer electric bills can be!

Overall wages aren't bad, but they could be a lot better. One thing that bothers me about employment in the Phoenix area is how WalMart is the top employer ... but 15 or 20 years ago, the largest employer was Motorola. In that respect, we've taken a step backward. WalMart is high on the list of employers in other metro areas as well, but it's not #1 in most of the major markets.

[artvandelay]

Originally Posted by Kentstate57

I'm curious how do they gain this information?
There are many with major money in the Sun Cities who brought it here from elsewhere.
As stated earlier, anyone with a decent 401K is probably one. My brother paid in the maximum allowed, which his employer matched. Bingo. With inflation, it is not a big deal anymore.
.

I was thinking the same thing: how many Maricopa Co. millionaires earned it here?

[artvandelay]

Originally Posted by fcorrales80

Per capita income does not make much sense since it divides income by the entire population...including children, the retired, and those that claim taxes in other states (2nd home owners...aka snowbirds and seasonal residents). All of these categories have much higher numbers in Phoenix in comparison to all those cities and metro areas listed on this thread. What makes more sense is a median income which is representative of what the average WORKING person makes in the MSA (metropolitan statistical area)...in which Phoenix is one of the highest. Here is some info. on the matter and a comparison of cost of living in other cities as compared to Phoenix. The average cost of housing in other cities is immense compared to Phoenix.

$46,480
Median household income for New York. The national median was $48,451.
$496,400
Median home value of owner-occupied homes in New York. The national median was $185,200

$47,974
Median household income for Boston. This is not significantly different from the national median of $48,451.
$432,800 Median value of owner-occupied homes in Boston. The national median was $185,200.

$47,265
Median household income for Arizona. In the Phoenix metro area, the median was $51,862, and in Glendale, it was $48,455. The national median was $48,451. (Glendale was not significantly different from the national median.)
$236,500
Median value of owner-occupied homes in Arizona. The respective medians in the Phoenix metro area and Glendale were $266,300 and $243,900. The national median was $185,200.

I can keep posting comparisons of cities but it all looks the same. The cost of living in Phoenix is low compared to most cities its size and the wages are higher than most cities as well.

Corrales, that must explain why the same job in New York pays so much less than in Arizona....not. I don't know how sme of your studies are conducted, but surveys can show anything the researcher wants. By the way, I did my own study last year on city walkability, and the results are:

Considered highly walkable:

Phoenix 91.4%
Little Rock 88.3%
New York 83.7%
Los Angeles 81.2%
Chicago 77.5%
Omaha 74.4%

My sample included blind elderly between ages 70 and 85, and children under the age of 4.