When we relocated to the Bay Area a realtor told us that if we weren’t making $250K a year, we shouldn’t be looking at Woodside.
That was nearly 40 years ago.
http://www.boe.ca.gov/proptaxes/pdf/pub29.pdf
Property tax assessed value in California is limited by the fair market value of the property on the date of sale or 1975 if the date of sale is earlier (construction may change the limit as well, and the limit for the property increases by 2% per year, although assessed values may be lower than the limit for the property if property values decline). Note that “fair market value” is specified and defined, so that a sham sale price may not be accepted as the “fair market value” by the assessor.
There are only a small handful of restaurants in Woodside, and of that handful, the The Village Pub is likely the most expensive. It’s not the typical Woodside dining. A few years ago, you could get a good burger for under $7 within the town border (not sure whether prices have increased), and if you are willing to venture less than a mile beyond the town border, you could go to a Subway or McDonalds.
Median income includes everyone from the 20 something just starting out to retired folks with no income, but lots of assets. The median for a family with kids can often be a better indicator of income in a suburban neighborhood. Even in the most affluent areas, there are places where poor people live, even in silicon valley, that bring down the overall median.
My CA friend’s son went to U Mich because he did not get into UCLA (or Cal) like his parents. None of the other UCs offer the large campus with football, so a lot of CA kids go OOS for that. His father is a lawyer.
I lived near Palo Alto for years, and one thing that struck me about the culture there was that no one seemed to care about clothes (fashion). That is what the author noticed when she moved to Michigan. Big revelation. I don’t think it has much to do with wealth differences.
Dstark,
Whee’s that link from a thread a month or so ago that showed the SF housing was more expensive than NYC, DC, etc? We just had that discussion.
A response piece (apologies if it’s already been posted):
http://michigandaily.com/opinion/jenny-wang-response-relative-wealth
Jym626, I do remember that.
Manhattan costs more than SF.
http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/SAN_FRANCISCO-California/market-trends/
http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/New_York-New_York/market-trends/
http://www.homebuyinginstitute.com/news/new-york-city-outlook-595/
Thanks romani, very nice rebuttal. The writer did a good job, made herself proud.
My H’s boss recently during a staff meeting said he was taking his family on vacation and was disappointed he had to fly commercial first class. He said his mom was using her jet to fly to Europe for the day, so her jet was unavailable. He also doesn’t understand how my H can deal with the local dry cleaner for his suits and ties, and not mail them to a specialist like he does.
And I’m sure it comes as no surprise that this guy constantly complains about taxes.
It is never becoming to boast one’s life style at work.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/umass-bans-iranian-nationals-science-classes-stirs-backlash-n307806 This suggest SV takes the cake
and also for renters http://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-is-more-expensive-than-new-york-city-2014-9
“My H’s boss recently during a staff meeting said he was taking his family on vacation and was disappointed he had to fly commercial first class. He said his mom was using her jet to fly to Europe for the day, so her jet was unavailable. He also doesn’t understand how my H can deal with the local dry cleaner for his suits and ties, and not mail them to a specialist like he does.”
People who truly have money don’t talk like this. Are you sure this wasn’t tongue-in-cheek?
I just read the wiki entry for Woodside which lists notable residents. I think I’m ready to move and trade my current neighbors for Charles Schwab on one side and Koko, the sign language ape, on the other.
I think it is very important for students to be sensitive to the financial levels of others. There would be a lot more truly compassionate conservatives if people knew what the reality is for families with limited financial resources (instead of “compassionate conservative” being practically an oxymoron).
With regard to the response piece by Jenny Wang, linked above, I think that it is really too bad that her mother “broke down in front of [her] in shame, and [she] felt completely worthless because there was nothing else [they] could do–[they] had no other option of paying for [their] utilities than to accept this generous donation.” In that circumstance, I would have hoped that they would instead be happy to have someone who cared about their needs. Not judging–their reaction is their reaction, and they are entitled to it–and I do understand that people often have difficulty accepting “charity.” But I think we should help each other out whenever we can. Economic circumstances change from generation to generation, and those receiving help in one generation will (or at least should) be giving it in another. Taking the long view could take a lot of the “shame” out of accepting help.
I didn’t really understand the remark about an “anonymous check.” I have no idea how to write one of those. Perhaps the check came from the utility company itself?
My father used to remark from time to time that “Honest poverty is no disgrace.” (Not that we were poor) He also used to remark when he drove us past houses that were in the downwind range of the steel factories along the Ohio River, “Look, kids, this is how most people live.”
You need some understanding of the range of economic conditions in the US, to understand why the average income of people who have lunch at McDonald’s is actually something like $90,000 a year.
All of that being said, I think that the middle class in America is actually very broad, and I believe that it does include people making $200,000 a year in California. They are comparatively well off, but they are not wealthy. I think the conditions that define the middle class should be based on continuity of economic experience, more than anything else.
People who deal with food insecurity, cannot afford new shoes when the soles of the old ones are flapping around, repair their glasses with duck tape (not simply because they are nerds), and have to turn off the heat to save money are dealing with poverty. My heart goes out to them, and some of my money does, too (though I would rather imagine them being happy to receive $200 anonymously, instead of being shamed and distressed).
But a family on the San Francisco peninsula earning $200,000 a year probably has many experiences that are on a continuum with the more recognizably middle class, and they are divided fairly sharply from the truly wealthy. If they have a $1 million home, in Palo Alto that is a relatively modest home by fly-over country standards. Truly! When we were first on sabbatical at Stanford, nearly 30 years ago, we had a three-bedrom, 1.5 bath starter home on half an acre. We looked in “Homes and Land of the Peninsula” to see what we could get there, for a comparable price. The answer: a small house trailer on a concrete slab.
There are a lot of really wealthy people in the US, even though they are a small percentage of the population. I don’t imagine that truly wealthy people have to think long and hard about $60,000 a year expense for college (full pay), or have “deferred maintenance” of their homes, till they can afford various changes. For that matter, if you watch HGTV, you will see plenty of 20-something and 30-somethings who walk into a room that looks a lot like my kitchen and announce that it will need to be totally gutted. Who are these people?
QM, there has long been a war to shame those of us who gasp admit that we need help because the safety net system in this country is terrible.
I am not on public assistance now (at least- not the “shameful” ones… I still use the public assistance of public education, roads, etc) but have been before. I can’t tell you how many dirty looks I got swiping my bridge card to buy groceries.
This country has demonized those receiving assistance while also actively working to ensure that it is damn near impossible to get off of public assistance. This wasn’t the case before around the 80s. It was really in the TANF reform era that everything started to crumble.
All of this is to say that even if you don’t feel guilty about accepting public assistance, there will be no shortage of people who will directly or indirectly tell you that they control your life because you’re using “their” money. (Ignoring, of course, that the richer you are the more you benefit from handouts… but in the form of “acceptable” ones like food subsidies, good roads, good public schools, etc)
Yesterday I went and measured a house that was sold for around 540K last fall, 7700 sq ft lot, 4 BR, 2.5 bath. Gorgeous Tudor, big rooms and great details. It would be worth 200K more in our town, and probably at least twice as much in Scarsdale.
I think the big problem is that here in the US everyone thinks they are middle class. I feel middle class, but I know I have a lot more discretionary money than those on the lower end of middle class.
I am sorry to hear about your experiences, romanigypsyeyes. It really makes me sad that people just don’t understand the variety of economic circumstances in the US–which are very often not the fault of people who have few resources!!!
I agree with you about the attempts to control the lives of people who receive public assistance, and I think it is terrible. If people took the longer view, they would think differently. If people really understood other people’s experiences, they would think differently.
An econ prof at my university used to ask students to estimate the median income in the US. They almost always radically overestimated it.
Jym626, your first link has nothing to do with the subject matter…